P2JW072000-2-A00600-1--------XA CMYK Composite CL,CN,CX,DL,DM,DX,EE,EU,FL,HO,KC,MW,NC,NE,NY,PH,PN,RM,SA,SC,SL,SW,TU,WB,WE BG,BM,BP,CC,CH,CK,CP,CT,DN,DR,FW,HL,HW,KS,LA,LG,LK,MI,ML,NM,PA,PI,PV,TD,TS,UT,WO A6 | Friday, March 13, 2015 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. * * WORLD NEWS Shiite ‘Soldiers of God’ Color Tikrit Battle Iraq prepares to retake city from Islamic State, but religious overtones of fight spark concerns Keeping the Faith Sectarian conﬂict has plagued Iraq since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Dahuk Erbil iver is R Tikrit Baghdad h ra t sR i v er e MOUNT BENTAL, Golan Heights—This mountaintop on the edge of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights offers a unique vantage point into how the complexities of the Syrian war raging in the plains below are increasingly straining Israel’s ties with the U.S. To the south of this overlook, from which United Nations and Israeli officers observe the fighting, are the positions of the Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al Qaeda that the U.S. has targeted with airstrikes. Nusra Front, however, hasn’t bothered Israel since seizing the border area last SAUDI ARABIA Predominant ethnoreligious groups Associated Press Sunni Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, center, on Thursday said he expects Tikrit to be recaptured in days. force of 20,000 Shiite militia fighters. Their role alongside as many as 10,000 government soldiers has also raised questions about plans for a more-ambitious effort to dislodge Islamic State militants from Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city—an operation in which the U.S. expects to play a major role. Iraqi officials and militia leaders said it would be nearly impossible to keep the militias out of the battle for Mosul, Islamic State’s de facto capital since its capture in June. U.S. officials have said the Mosul offensive would be a partnership with Iraqi government forces, not Shiite militias. Security officials on Thursday said Islamic State militants remained in control of only one part of Tikrit, a large palace campus once used by Mr. Hussein. Defense Minister Khaled alObeidi said he expected the city to be fully recaptured within days. Iraqi officials have expressed surprise at the relative ease of the operation, which began March 2 after two attempts to retake the city last year failed within days. In interviews, Shiite militia fighters and leaders said experience gained in previous battles against the insurgency, combined with better coordination among the militias under Iranian supervision, had facilitated their gains in Tikrit. Fighters and their commanders said they have gained battle- field advantage over Islamic State by using remote-controlled drone cameras to scout its territory and by training their own soldiers to defuse improvised explosive devices planted by the militant group. They said also credited cooperation by the local Sunni population in providing intelligence on the region’s geography. “The development of our capabilities came gradually with experience fighting Daesh and understanding their capabilities and techniques,” said Abu Murtada Al Hattab, an official with Saraya Al Jihad, a Shiite militia, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. “We have completely understood their techniques.” He and other commanders Shiite Kurds 100 miles summer—and some of its severely wounded fighters are regularly taken across the frontier fence to receive treatment in Israeli hospitals. To the north of Mount Bental are the positions of the Syrian government forces and the pro-Iranian Shiite militias such as Hezbollah, along with Iranian advisers. Iran and these militias are indirectly allied with Washington in the fight against Islamic State in Iraq. But here in the Golan, they have been the target of a recent Israeli airstrike. It would be a stretch to say that the U.S. and Israel are backing different sides in this war. But there is clearly a growing divergence in U.S. and Israeli approaches over who represents the biggest danger—and who should be seen, if not as an ally, at least as a lesser evil in the regional crisis sparked by the dual implosion of Syria and Iraq. This gap isn’t just with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose recent public clash with President Barack Obama over the White House’s outreach to Iran triggered the worst crisis in U.S.-Israeli rela- tions in decades. “There is no doubt that Hezbollah and Iran are the major threat to Israel, much more than the radical Sunni Islamists, who are also an enemy,” said Amos Yadlin, the former head of Israel’s military intelligence who is slated to become minister of defense should the center-left Zionist Union, led by Isaac Herzog, unseat Mr. Netanyahu in Tuesday’s elec- Approaches as to who is an ally in the region, or the lesser evil, are diverging. tions. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war. The frontier has remained mostly peaceful despite Nusra’s presence within a few yards of Israeli outposts, and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly highlighted that fact to depict the rebels seeking the end of his rule as Zionist stooges. “Some in Syria joke: “How can you say that al Qaeda doesn’t have an air force? They have the Israeli air force,” Mr. Assad said in a January interview with Foreign Affairs magazine. “They are supporting the rebels in Syria. It is very clear.” Israeli officials deny this, saying they don’t interfere in the Syrian conflict and have no contact with the rebels except to provide humanitarian assistance to wounded Syrians. But the officials also stress that Israel views with mounting alarm the push southward along the frontier by regime troops and Hezbollah forces. Frequent explosions and the thud of shelling could be heard this week from Mount Bental, just above the ruins of the Syrian city of Quneitra. A few miles to the north, an Israeli officer was wounded on Tuesday by what the Israeli military said was sniper fire from regime-held areas. Islamic State isn’t yet present in this part of Syria—its closest strongholds are dozens of miles away. Israel’s border with Syria was the country’s quietest for four decades, as Mr. Assad and his father, President Hafez al- Source: Empirical Studies of Conﬂict, Princeton University pointed to religion as the motivator of their fighters—an edict issued by Iraq’s top Shiite cleric last year calling men to arms in defense of the nation. “Now it is a matter of faith,” said Abu Noor Al Jaberi, a commander with Kattaeb Sayed Al Shuhada, a large militia involved in Tikrit’s liberation. “Do your job to the best of your ability and if you die you are a martyr. You go to paradise.” The retreat of Islamic State forces from the outskirts of Tikrit goes against the carefully cultivated image the group has projected of its foot soldiers— battle-hardened warriors willing to stand their ground and face certain death. But military analysts said the group may be pulling back forces Assad, scrupulously observed the 1974 disengagement. Instead, Damascus targeted Israel in Lebanon through Hezbollah, its junior ally. The Syrian civil war that began in 2011 and devastated the Syrian army reversed that, making Mr. Assad the dependent partner in his alliance with Hezbollah and Iran. Hezbollah, meanwhile, is reluctant to endanger its powerful position in Lebanon by striking Israel from Lebanon itself and provoking a devastating war—something that explains its interest in a foothold on the Golan Heights. Despite the momentary convergence of interests and the current quiet on the border, some Israeli officials and security analysts say they hold no illusions about Nusra and its ultimate goal of destroying Israel. “It is just a matter of time before some of these Syrian rebels start launching attacks against Israel,” cautioned Eyal Zisser, the dean of the faculty of humanities at Tel Aviv University. “Nusra is al Qaeda. Maybe a little bit more pragmatic, but still al Qaeda.” Heidi Levine for The Wall Street Journal Palestinian workers placed tiles on new homes in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel on Tuesday. and since he took office in 2009, the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank has increased to 385,000 people from about 290,000, according to the Yesha Council. Under his government, Uriel Ariel, the housing minister, has issued thousands of tenders for construction of Jewish housing units in the territory, frequently defying condemnation from the U.S. and other Western governments. Still, Mr. Netanyahu is on record as supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In an indication that his campaign believes it needs to bolster his support among settlers, it said on Sunday that any Palestinian state in the West Bank would be taken over by Islamist extremists, declaring: “There won’t be any withdrawals or concessions. The matter is simply irrelevant.” The prime minister’s office later issued a partial retraction suggesting he wasn’t doing an about-face on his support for a two-state solution, saying he meant only to highlight his concerns about extremists in a Palestinian state. But the statements reflected the pressure the prime minister is under from nationalist and religious parties. Naftali Bennett, the leader of Jewish Home, said he wants Mr. Netanyahu to remain Israel’s leader but also wants to put more pressure on him to sustain settlement building. Mr. Dayan said the Netanyahu campaign’s vow of no concessions on Palestinian statehood came too late. He said he doubts the prime minister would stick to his promises after the election. “There are mornings I wake up and I think he’s serious about two states and other days I think he is bluffing to the world.” P2JW072000-2-A00600-1--------XA Composite MA’ALE SHOMRON, West Bank—Some of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most ardent opponents in Tuesday’s election aren’t dovish champions of Palestinian statehood. They are Jewish settlers in the West Bank who want to expand Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory. Among these foes is Dani Dayan, who has been an avid supporter of Mr. Netanyahu. He even stepped down as head of the Yesha Council, a settler advocacy organization that bars candidate endorsements, so he could support the prime minister’s reelection last year. On Tuesday, however, Mr. Dayan isn’t voting for Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party, once considered a political home for Israelis who view Jewish settlement of the West Bank as a biblical mandate. As with many settlers, Mr. Dayan wants to make sure the three-term prime minister doesn’t cave in to international pressure and halt settlement expansion, despite his long commitment to building there. “I want to put boundaries on Netanyahu’s ability to make concessions,” said Mr. Dayan, who is running in Tuesday’s parliamentary elections as a representative of Jewish Home, a pro-settler religious party. The settlers’ misgivings about Mr. Netanyahu could siphon votes from Likud, and their growing clout makes it more uncertain he will get to try to form a government. Polls this week show Likud slipping behind Zionist Union, an alliance headed by the Labor party leader, Isaac Herzog, and Tzipi Livni, the former justice minister who served as Mr. Netanyahu’s negotiator with the Palestinians. Both advocate the creation of a Palestinian state through negotiations with Israel. The surveys show Zionist Union winning at least 24 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, to 21 seats for Likud. If Zionist Union comes out ahead in the seat count, Mr. Herzog would likely be given the mandate to try forming a governing coalition supported by a parliamentary majority. That would be a hard task for Mr. Herzog, because right-wing and religious parties that oppose him are likely to gain the biggest bloc of remaining seats, according to the polls. If Mr. Herzog were to fail, in the end Mr. Netanyahu would get his chance to form a government—with a larger pool of potential partners to draw upon, including Jewish Home, which polls show could win 12 seats. The prime minister has long championed an Israeli presence on West Bank land that Palestinians claim for their future state, KUWAIT 100 km Settlers Step Up Pressure on Netanyahu Before Election BY NICHOLAS CASEY Eup IRAQ Syria War Adds to Divide Between U.S., Israel MIDDLE EAST CROSSROADS YAROSLAV TROFIMOV Kirkuk gr SYRIA By Tamer El-Ghobashy in Baghdad and Maria Abi-Habib in Beirut to retake the city said the relative ease of the battle isn’t the result of better weapons, better strategy or even a weakened opponent. The inspiration, they said, is religious: They are engaged in a holy war against Sunni extremists, legitimized by a fatwa issued last year by Iraq’s highestranking Shiite cleric. The religious overtones of the battle for Tikrit have stirred concerns of fresh sectarian conflict, which has plagued Iraq since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Iraqi State television on Thursday broadcast a clip showing a Shiite militia commander purportedly speaking to an Islamic State militant over a twoway radio captured from a slain militant. “We are the soldiers of God,” says the militiaman, who identifies himself as Sayed Adeeb. “We are followers of God. We are his soldiers on the ground.” The purported Islamic State militant, who begins weeping, replies: “We won’t give you an inch of the land of Muslims. We will complete our martyrdom mission.” The offensive to recapture the Sunni city, best known as the late dictator’s birthplace, has relied heavily on an Iran-backed IRAN Mosul Ti With one large section of Tikrit remaining in the hands of Islamic State militants and Iraq’s government preparing to declare victory, Shiite fighters working TURKEY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. to swell their ranks in Mosul, in preparation for an assault by the Iraqi government, which U.S. and Iraqi officials said could begin as early as the spring. Pentagon officials on Thursday said they predicted that Islamic State fighters would eventually be pushed out of Tikrit. Although the U.S. has no role in the offensive, American officials see the operation as a litmus test for Iran to see what its intentions are. “We’re watching carefully and assessing what effects will be of the Shiite drive,” one U.S. military official said. “There will be implications for any future Mosul campaign.” —Dion Nissenbaum in Washington contributed to this article. Khamenei Criticizes U.S. Over Iran Letter BY ARESU EQBALI TEHRAN—Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said an open letter by 47 Republican senators to Iran’s leaders warning that any nuclear deal with the Obama administration could be reversed was a sign of “collapse in political ethics” in the U.S. International norms imply that governments couldn’t breach international agreements even when their leadership changes, Mr. Khamenei said in an address on Thursday to the country’s Assembly of Experts, according to his official website. The comments were the first from the supreme leader on the letter. “Some think that the United States does not need to act cunningly or do tricks because of its political, economic and military power,” Mr. Khamenei said. “But the Americans need to use tricks and deception a lot, and they are doing the same now, and this reality worries us.” The letter said any executive order signed by President Barack Obama to enforce a nuclear deal could be reversed by his successor “with the stroke of a pen.” The letter and Mr. Khamenei’s response come at a crucial point for the talks. The U.S. and other nations are trying to reach an outline deal with Iran by the end of this month. It would limit Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, in exchange for lifting some of the sanctions that have crippled the country’s economy. Without a framework deal in place, the talks are unlikely to be extended. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country is among those in talks with Iran, said Thursday that the letter complicated matters by allowing Tehran to claim the West wasn’t negotiating in good faith. “Iran can say to us, ‘Are you actually trustworthy in the proposals you make if 47 senators say that no matter what the government agrees to, we will subsequently take that off the table again?’ ” Mr. Steinmeier said at a think tank in Washington. On the Senate floor, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) defended the letter sent by the 47 senators. He also took aim at Mr. Steinmeier, saying he hadn’t followed through on threats against Russian President Vladimir Putin for Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine. —Anton Troianovski contributed to this article. MAGENTA BLACK CYAN YELLOW