BAGHDAD, April 15 (UPI) -- Sunni rebel groups operating in Iraq may feel the pressure as Iraqi groups like Sons of Iraq stand up, but it may be a sign of a broader Sunni Arab conflict.
Leaders of several rebel groups in Iraq praise the decision by the Sons of Iraq to fight al-Qaida forces but now worry the group has moved too close to the Iraqi government and its U.S. overseers, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said.
The RFE/RL report cites an interview with Harith al-Dari, whose group the Muslim Scholars Association backs the 1920 Revolution Brigades that includes members of the disbanded Iraqi army.
Dari said resistance groups, such as 1920, needed to advocate national solidarity to "unite their arms and focus of attention" on the U.S. presence in Iraq, but added infighting and self-centered agendas prohibited consolidation.
To that effect, Dari called the Sunni tribal movement, the Awakening, a "setback" that allowed U.S. forces to coerce tribesman away from the "real resistance."
Similarly, an official with the Islamic Army in Iraq, a Baathist nationalist group, said the agenda of the Sunni resistance movement now had to shift focus to "purge" the community of the Sons of Iraq.
While the Shiite-led Iraqi government may look with anxious anticipation upon the Awakening as its leaders vie for political power in Iraq, the group may find itself in the middle of a broader Sunni Arab conflict.
