Washington: The use of Iran-backed militias to try to take back the Iraqi city of Ramadi from Daesh risks unleashing more sectarian bloodletting, current and former US officials said, but Washington and Baghdad appear to have few other options.

The prospect of Iranian-backed militias leading efforts to retake Ramadi underlines Washington’s dwindling options to defeat Daesh in Iraq, with Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi’s grip on power weak, a national army still in its infancy and Tehran increasingly assertive.

Daesh’s capture of Ramadi, despite months of US-led air strikes and military advice, marked a fresh low for the shattered Iraqi army, which beat a chaotic retreat from the city over the weekend.

Al Abadi immediately turned to the militia groups, backed by Iran, which together have become the most powerful military force in Iraq since the national army first collapsed last June in the face of sweeping Daesh gains.

A column of 3,000 fighters arrived on Monday at a military base near Ramadi, the capital of Al Anbar province that has long been a centre of opposition to Iraq’s government.

One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described Ramadi as “a powder keg” and said any use of militia has “got to be dealt with very, very delicately.” “There’s the potential it can go very, very badly,” the official said, without predicting such an outcome.

US officials said Washington was deeply divided about the involvement of militias with links to Iran, a US rival that has been expanding its influence throughout the Middle East. After spearheading the recapture of Tikrit, some fighters last month went on a spree of burning, looting, and violence in the city, according to local residents.

“There are people in our government who see any involvement of Iran as anathema. There are others who say the Shiite involvement will promote sectarian violence. There are others who say that’s not true,” a second US official said on condition of anonymity.

One US intelligence official said one concern was that Daesh could use the involvement of Shiite militias to itself stir up sectarian hatred.

But the reality, analysts said, is that Iraq’s government does not appear to have enough Sunni forces at its disposal to make an assault on Ramadi.

US President Barack Obama reluctantly started bombing Daesh targets last year after it seized swathes of Iraq but he has made clear his desire not to let US troops get sucked back into a conflict he vowed to end when he first ran for president.

The loss of Ramadi comes a month after Obama gave Al Abadi a warm welcome in Washington, backing the Shiite politician to bridge Iraq’s sectarian divide and forge a strong national army to take the fight to Daesh.

“We never tried to stop it,” the second official said of Al Abadi’s recourse to Shiite militias. “You got to fight with the army you got, and this is the army they got.” Another official said the United States could support “all elements” of forces aligned against Daesh, including the militias that are nominally under Baghdad government control.

“But, as we have said, there must be clear [Iraqi security force] command and control, sound planning, and coordination wherever possible with local leaders,” the official added.

To be sure, atrocities by the militias could force the United States to rethink its support.

‘Alienate’

Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, among the most outspoken critics of Obama’s foreign policy, called the fall of Ramadi “a sad reminder of this administration’s indecisive air campaign” and a broader lack of strategy.

They also expressed concern about Iranian-backed militias launching an offensive.

“Whatever operational success militias may have in Al Anbar would be far exceeded by the strategic damage caused by their violent sectarianism and the fear and suspicion it breeds among Iraqi Sunnis,” they said.

“With neither the United States nor Gulf Arab states willing to deploy their ground troops and the Iraqi armed forces in disarray, Iraq has little choice but to turn to the militias,” said Bruce Riedel, a former senior CIA expert on the region who is now at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“The flaw in the coalition strategy for the last year is weak ground forces. Given the constraints on the US and its Arab allies, the only viable ground force option is Iranian-led Shiite Iraqis,” he said.

“Of course this will alienate the Sunnis — both in Iraq and in Saudi Arabia — but Baghdad has no other serious option.”