Parts of 2 Key Iraqi Cities Fall to Qaeda Group Active in Syria

BAGHDAD — Radical Sunni militants
aligned with Al Qaeda threatened on
Thursday to seize control of Falluja
and Ramadi, two of the most
important cities in Iraq, setting fire to
police stations, freeing prisoners
from jail and occupying mosques, as
the government rushed troop
reinforcements to the areas.
Dressed in black and waving the flag
of Al Qaeda, the militants put out
calls over mosque loudspeakers for
men to join their struggle in both
cities in western Anbar Province,
which were important battlegrounds
during the American-led war in Iraq
and remain hotbeds of Sunni
extremism.
The violence in Ramadi and Falluja
had implications beyond Anbar’s
borders, as the Sunni militants fought
beneath the same banner as the most
hard-line jihadists in Syria — the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or
ISIS.
That fighting, and a deadly bombing
in Beirut on Thursday, provided the
latest evidence that the Syrian civil
war was breeding bloodshed and
sectarian violence around the region,
destabilizing Lebanon and Iraq while
fueling a resurgence of radical
Islamist fighters.
NYtime