Victories against IS leave Iraq's Sunni heartland shattered

AMIRIYAH AL-FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) — As Iraqi political and military attention shifts north in the fight against the Islamic State group, the military victories that have put Iraqi forces on Mosul's doorstep have left behind shattered cities, towns and communities in Iraq's Sunni heartland.

[...] rather than restore government order, services and security, liberation at the hands of Iraqi forces closely backed by the U.S.-led coalition has merely moved many Anbaris from one waiting room into another.

First the cost of medicine skyrocketed, then specialized medicine wasn't available in Fallujah at all.

"There's an assumption that after Daesh is defeated you can put the nation back together and in essence create a new nation, but that's not what we're seeing in Anbar," said a western diplomat based in Baghdad, referring to the Islamic State group by its Arabic acronym.

In that vacuum, tribal politics are becoming more powerful and families are adopting more conservative habits, said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authorization to release information to the media.

While Iraqi government security forces administer databases of information to identify possible IS fighters among civilians, much of the screening process is handed over to local Anbari officials and communities.

At one of the larger displacement camps in Amiriyah al-Fallujah, a crowd of women gathered around a humanitarian convoy calling for help, they all had sons who were detained while fleeing Fallujah.