In a statement on Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed assurance saying the government of Iraq and tribes would be successful in their fight against al-Qaeda, adding Washington was not considering to send troops back to Iraq.
Religious and ethnic tensions have risen in Iraq since the US withdrawal in December 2011, inflamed by the conflict in neighbouring Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Shi'ite Iran.
The Iraqi army has joined forces with local tribesmen to battle al-Qaeda, which has teamed up with groups of Syrian rebels to try to create across the Iraqi-Syrian border a state based on strict medieval Sunni Islamic practice, reports Reuters.
During a visit to Israel Kerry told reporters this is a fight that belongs to the Iraqis ... We are not contemplating returning. "We will help them in their fight, but this fight, in the end, they will have to win and I am confident they can,” he said.
The Iraqi military's cooperation with the tribesmen against al-Qaeda echoed a decision by local tribes in 2006 to join forces with US troops and rise up against al-Qaeda forces who seized control of most of Iraq's Sunni areas after the 2003 US invasion.
US troops and local tribes finally beat back al-Qaeda in heavy fighting after a "surge" of US forces in 2006-2007.
