Since December 2017, evidence has emerged of a new faction of insurgents operating in northern Iraq. Dubbed the White Flags or White Banners for their symbol – a white banner decorated with the image of a lion head – the group has focused its activities in the region between Baghdad and Kirkuk and in particular around the town of Tuz Khurmatu, which is part of the planned oil-transit route from Iraq to Iran’s Kermanshah refinery.
Sparse information available
Despite having undertaken multiple attacks, relatively little is known for certain about the group. It is believed to be of a mostly Kurdish composition, but beyond that both Iraqi and KRG officials appear to know little or be willing to comment on the group’s origins or leadership.
According to Ali Ghazi Swaish al-Obeidi, the PMF commander at the Jambur oil facility, the group is made up of former ISIS elements who are cooperating with Kurdish mafia elements previously located in Tuz Khurmatu. Major-General Thamer al-Husseini, the head of Iraq’s Emergency Response Division, has concurred with this assessment, stating that the group “are members of IS and independent local Kurdish militias.”
By contrast, Kurdish residents in Tuz Khurmatu and have reported that the group is led by Assi Al-Qawali, a former Peshmerga volunteer, and Major Islam Chali of the Peshmerga has also said that that Al-Qawali is “leading an armed group…as part of the Kurdish popular resistance against Shiite terrorist militias.”
Hisham al-Hashimi, a researcher at the Al-Nahrain Centre for Strategic Studies, has contested the links to ISIS, as well as the theories that the White Flags might be sponsored by the KRG, stating that “The White Banners have no connection to Daesh nor to the Kurdistan Regional Government.” His explanation of the origins of the White Flags concurs with that of the Kurdish residents of Tuz Khurmatu, that the group was formed by Kurds displaced by the PMFs when they took over the area in October 2017.
The return of Ansar al-Islam?
Some Iraqi intelligence officials have suggested that the White Flags are not in fact a new group, but instead are Ansar al-Islam, operating under a new name.
Ansar al-Islam is an Al-Qaeda affiliate that formed in September 2001 from a coalition of Kurdish-based Islamic extremist groups and bolstered by a foreign fighter presence. The group was further strengthened by jihadists fleeing Afghanistan in the wake of the US invasion, including most notably Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and controversially was the foundation of the US argument that Saddam Hussein’s regime was supporting Al-Qaeda.
In the aftermath of the US invasion, Ansar al-Islam initially fled over the border into Iran, before returning to Iraq to fight the central government and US forces under the name of Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna, and took part in the Syrian Civil War, initially under the name of Ansar al-Sham. In 2015 the group cooperated with ISIS in the capture of Mosul, after which the majority of the group pledged allegiance, leaving only a small splinter faction remaining.
According to this theory, Al-Qawali is a front being used by Ansar al-Islam to re-establish themselves in central Iraq.
Iraqi military clears territory east of Tuz Khurmatu
The Iraqi security services have undertaken operations last month to clear the area around the proposed oil transit route of both ISIS and White Flag elements. However, the Hamrin mountains area continues to an area where Iraqi security is relatively weak, and it is likely that the insurgents are regrouping in the area, and will continue to present a threat to oil facilities and transports in the region.
Marc Simms is an occasional blogger for Proelium Law LLP. Marc holds a MLitt in Terrorism Studies and a Masters in International Relations, both from St Andrews. His particular interests are in emerging international security issues, unconventional warfare and terrorism.
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