In the past, the most important building in Hawija was the headquarters of the district council. This building has now become the centre for tribal relations. “ISIS – Public Relations – Tribal Section” was written in large letters on the building’s wall.
Asking around some of the locals later, they say that ISIS is adopting a different, more moderate strategy here. It is fostering good relations with local Sunni Muslim tribes and has told them that they will be in charge in this area. It has also assigned local individuals to start a dialogue with other Sunni Muslim tribes in the area to try and get them to enter into alliances with ISIS too.
However our taxi driver also tells us that although ISIS has informed the tribes that they own the city, the extremist group has also said that the city will operate under ISIS’ rules. Anyone who violates those rules will be punished by 80 lashes, the taxi driver explains.
We drive on. The former Hawija police headquarters has become the ISIS military headquarters. There’s a sign saying “Main Unit – The Army of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria”.
The town looks relatively normal and people are moving around even though work in all state institutions has ceased. There are a lot of cars carrying militants and flying their distinctive black flags driving around the city and according to the locals, some of those cars probably also contain members of local tribal militias; however these have been instructed not to carry any flag other than ISIS’.
It is clear to everyone who lives here that ISIS is the most senior authority in the town. That is even though the Naqshbandi army has been involved in resistance activities in the area for some time. The group, which has strong links to the outlawed Baath party and which calls for ongoing resistance against the “Safavid”, or Iranian and Shiite Muslim, occupation of Iraq, is classified as a terrorist organization by many. In 2012, the Naqshbandi army tried to attack Hawija’s council buildings but the Iraqi army was able to wrest control back from them.
Hawija was also the site of ongoing Sunni Muslim anti-government protests that were eventually closed down violently by the Iraqi army in early 2013, resulting in as many as 50 deaths.
So perhaps it is no surprise that ISIS have found sympathetic allies here.
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