SUNNI MOSQUES CLOSE IN BASRAH AGAIN AS VIOLENCE SURGES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BASRAH 000089

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/30/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM SOCI SMIG KISL IZ
SUBJECT: SUNNI MOSQUES CLOSE IN BASRAH AGAIN AS VIOLENCE SURGES

REF: A) BASRAH 46, B) BASRAH 78, C) BASRAH 35, D) BASRAH 54

BASRAH 00000089 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Mark Marrano, DEPUTY REGIONAL COORDINATOR, REO
BASRAH, DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: Since the end of March, violence targeting the
Sunni minority in Basrah has produced sensational headlines in
the local news and a growing stack of bodies in local morgues.
With a new rash of high-profile killings since May 10, the Sunni
Endowment closed its mosques in Basrah from May 26 to 28. One
of the most moderate Sunni imams in Basrah and an outspoken
advocate for tolerance and nonviolence, Sheikh Khalid al Mullah,
has fled the city temporarily out of concern for his safety.
The number of displaced Sunni from Basrah continues to grow.
End Summary.

Sunni Mosques Close Again in Basrah
-------------- --------------


2. (C) On May 26, the REO received media reports that the
Basrah Sunni Endowment had closed all Sunni mosques in Basrah.
Nathim Hammad, the head of the Sunni Endowment security
committee, confirmed this information to the REO by telephone on
May 29. Nathim said that the Sunni mosques were closed in
response to the assassination of Sheikh Wafiek Al Hamdani, an
elderly imam at one of the better-known Sunni mosques in Basrah,
an hour before Friday prayers on May 26. Sunni mosques reopened
on Monday, May 29. Nathim said that the Sunni Endowment had
closed the mosques out of concern for the safety of its imams
and congregations. This is the second closure of Sunni mosques
in the past two months. The Basrah Sunni Endowment closed
mosques in Basrah for two days, on April 5 and 6 (see reftel A)
as a form of non-violent protest against sectarian violence.
The mosques reopened on Friday, April 7.


3. (C) On May 25, eleven murders were reported to the Basrah
Police Joint Operations Center (PJOC); eight of the eleven were
confirmed to be Sunnis. These murders follow closely the
high-profile killings of Sunni Sheik Khalil Jaber Abdul Ali and
his eleven-year-old son on May 12 in Basrah and the
assassinations of Sunni leaders, Sheik Khalid Abdullah Jarad
al-Saadon and Tarik Ali Sultan on May 10 in Al Zubair (see
reftel B).


4. (C) Sheikh Khalid al-Mulla, Sunni imam of the Al Abayachi
mosque and one of the most moderate Sunni leaders in Basrah,
informed the REO by telephone on May 27 that he will soon depart
Basrah for Jordan. He said he expected to be gone for about two
weeks, until the security situation improved. Sheikh Khalid has
spoken out against terrorism and violence frequently in the past
(see reftel C).

Sunni Displacement from Basrah Continues
-------------- --------------


5. (C) According to International Organization for Migration
(IOM) data from May 10, the numbers of Sunnis displaced from
Basrah has increased to 749 families (279 to Salah Al Din and
470 to Anbar) from 624 families reported on April 2 (see reftel
D). This represents a 20 percent increase in Sunni displacement
from Basrah over the most recent five-week reporting period.

BPC Theory on Why Sunni Mosques Were Targeted in Basrah
-------------- --------------
--------------


6. (C) In a May 27 meeting, Basrah Provincial Council member
Dr. Wathib Al Amood told Poloff that outside influence from
Iraq's neighbors was behind most of the violence targeting
Sunnis in Basrah in order to prompt sectarian warfare and keep
Iraq divided and unstable. Although he did not explicitly say
it, Dr. Wathib alluded to Iran being the primary outside
influence on rising sectarian violence in Basrah.


7. (C) Dr. Wathib opined that he believed Sunni mosques in
Basrah were specifically targeted for violence because there are
a disproportionate number of them. During Saddam's era,
construction licenses were issued only for building Sunni
mosques. Dr. Wathib estimated that 90 percent of the mosques in
Basrah were Sunni, while only 10 percent were Shia, even though
Basrah had far more Shia than Sunnis. There were Sunni mosques
in neighborhoods that were nearly 100 percent Shia, Dr. Wathib
said, and the only people who prayed in these mosques were the
Sunni imam and his staff. All of these factors contributed to
feelings of resentment toward Sunnis. Because the construction
of mosques with government money was so sensitive, Dr. Wathib
said that no new mosques had been built in Basrah, either Sunni
or Shia, since 2003.


BASRAH 00000089 002.2 OF 002



8. (C) Comment: Sectarian violence against Sunnis in Basrah
remains a significant concern as Sunnis continue to fall victim
to assassination campaigns and leave the city en masse. We
faced considerable difficulty in verifying information about
Sunni mosque closure because many of our Sunni contacts had fled
the city out of concern for personal safety. Although it could
be true that sectarian violence in Basrah was originally
triggered by outside influence, the degree and persistence of
violence against Sunnis in Basrah that we have seen for the past
two months point to significant domestic resentment and
hostility against Sunnis in Basrah. End Comment.
MARRANO