Iraq‘s prime minister has ordered his army to pull back counter-insurgency measures in cities and towns because of collateral damage to innocent victims.
Haider al-Abadi said Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants were intentionally seeking populated areas for that very reason — an apparently successful strategy.
“We will continue to chase them [Islamic State fighters] and we know that they are hiding behind the civilians,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
It exposes the choices that will be faced by other countries such as France, which has said it will undertake airstrikes there.
The Iraqi army’s “heavy-handed” approach has led to backlash by angering civilians who become more likely to identify with the insurgents, part of the group known as Islamic State.
The U.S. also announced Saturday it had conduced two airstrikes near the Mosul dam on Friday.
