Shafaq News / Tribal conflicts in southern Iraq have become a "critical" complex for the Iraqi government and its security forces in terms of imposing authority over these bloody conflicts and confiscating tribal-owned weapons, some of which have been associated with the possession and use of Katyusha rockets in conflicts.

More than ten people have been killed and dozens injured in Basra, Dhi Qar, and Maysan in the past few days due to tribal conflicts.

"The intervention of the security forces in resolving tribal conflicts has not been at the level we were expecting, as they always arrive late, almost after the massacre ends", residents angry at the frequency of tribal conflicts told Shafaq News agency.

"The security forces have to intervene as soon as the first bullet is fired. This is mostly due to members of the security forces who are from areas close to the conflict and are often acquaintances of the conflicting people", they added.

Conflict half a century ago

According to Major General Akram Saddam Madnaf, commander of Basra operations, says "Tribal conflicts can not be controlled overnight", pointing out that, "there is a tribal conflict that has been going on since 1958, and another since 1997. The remaining clan conflicts are mostly due to problems that occurred at the turn of the current century". 

"During the past period, the security forces have resolved 82 tribal conflicts in Basra. In every tribal conflict, there is interference by the security forces in which control is imposed and the outlaws are arrested. The custom in the southern provinces is to not complain to courts if there is a conflict, except in rare cases", Madnaf said to Shafaq News agency.

Basra operations commander denied information that some tribesmen have not been arrested because of their tribal status within their tribes, "The law applies to everyone and no one is off-limits".

"The security operations in Basra were able to reduce tribal conflicts by 85%. Those conflicts were cutting the main roads for 1-3 days, but now the cutting does not exceed 1-2 hours. Tribal conflicts used to result in killing a person or more, and the response to that was to kill one or two people from the other side, and this has not happened in a long time", he continued.

Madnaf also added, "As for the remaining 15%, the security forces will seek to achieve them in the next phase. Statements about the possession of heavy weapons such as drones and military tanks are not true, as the strongest tribal weapons found by the security forces are bombers or BK machine guns".

Tribes with heavy weapons

A security source in Dhi Qar governorate reported a serious phenomenon in the tribal community there, represented by the widespread possession of heavy weapons, "There have been major campaigns carried out by the security forces, resulted in confiscating a large number of weapons from tribes, and bringing the violators to justice to meet their just punishment".

"The directives included organizing awareness campaigns for the Tribes of Dhi Qar aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of owning unlicensed weapons and the consequences of doing so. Many tribal leaders responded to this campaign, but some refused to hand over the weapons or even hid it in places far from the security forces' eyes", the source clarified.

Weakness of security leaders

The former head of Al-Kahlaa' district's local council in Maysan, Maytham Al-Ghannam, has a key point in the performance of the security forces that have enabled tribal conflicts in one area at the expense of another, "There is a disparity in security measures between one area and another in Maysan. This is due to some of the security leaders' weakness, and the distinction of some of them reflects negatively on the security reality in most areas of the city. For example, there was an officer who was attacked daily because of his performance to reduce tribal conflicts, but his boss was not at the required level, which eventually led to this officer entering the prison and then leaving it later due to his clash with members of gangs and clans".

"On the other hand, there are competent officers whose areas are stable due to their control and the imposition of their prestige on the areas they run", he added.

"But overall there is no control over the tribes in Maysan, there are clans that attack police stations from time to time, and there are those who break into these centers to release some detainees. Just like what happened in the past days, a detainee was released after being arrested for murdering Wissam Al-Alyawi during the last demonstrations. A security force consisting of four vehicles came and took him by force in front of the provincial police command, after beating the latter's members and engaging in a clash with the members of the security command towers when they tried to stop them", Al-Ghannam.