继ISIS的黑旗之后，伊拉克现在面临着新崛起的“白旗军”的威胁 [美国媒体]

The black flag of ISIS may no longer be flying in cities across Iraq, but militant groups are rebuilding and present a very real threat to the country’s stability. One such group — known as the White Flags — has built itself a mountain stronghold from which to launch its attacks.

伊斯兰国的黑旗可能不再在伊拉克各城市上空飘扬，但激进武装组织正在重建，并对该国的稳定构成了真正的威胁。其中一个名为“白旗军”(White Flags)的组织，已经在群山中建立起一座大本营，并以此为基地来发动袭击。

HAMREEN MOUNTAINS, Iraq — Way up in the mountain range that cuts through this volatile region of northern Iraq, a group of ISIS veterans is readying itself to terrorize the country once more. Led by Hiwa Chor, a one-eyed militant in his early forties, they are known as the White Flags.

哈姆雷恩山脉，伊拉克。——在穿越伊拉克北部动荡地区的山脉中，一群ISIS的老兵正准备再次恐吓这个国家。在一个四十出头的独眼武士：希瓦·查尔(Hiwa Chor)的带领下，他们被称为“白旗军”(White Flags)。

Arriving around mid-November, Chor and his men — said to number anywhere between 500 and 1,100 — are digging into the Hamreen mountains and launching attacks on local security forces. “After ISIS was finished in the area, they began to gather in the mountains,” Maj. Gen. Rasul Omar Latif, commander of the Iraqi Kurdish forces in Sulaymaniyah province, told BuzzFeed News. Latif shared for the first time with a Western journalist intelligence about the group gathered by Kurdish fighters, spies, and their network of informants. “They are ISIS, but they gave themselves a new name.”

大约在11月中旬，查尔和他的手下战士——据说人数在500到1100人之间——正在挖掘哈姆雷恩山脉，并对当地安全部队发动袭击。“ISIS的统治在该地区完蛋后，他们开始聚集在山区，”苏莱曼尼亚省伊拉克库尔德武装指挥官拉苏尔·奥马尔·拉提夫少将告诉BuzzFeed News记者。拉提夫第一次与西方记者分享了有关库尔德战士、间谍和他们的线人网络的情报。“他们就是ISIS，但现在他们给自己取了一个新名字。”

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared ISIS defeated last December, a call likely timed to give his coalition’s reelection prospects a boost ahead of the vote on May 12. US President Donald Trump claimed credit for devising a military strategy that forced ISIS into “giving up” in Mosul. On Thursday he claimed the US was “knocking the hell out of ISIS.” But ISIS persists as an insurgent group in both Iraq and Syria, and some of its remnants, including the White Flags, already appear to be building new militant factions.

伊拉克总理阿巴迪(Haider al-Abadi)曾宣布，ISIS已在去年12月被击败，这一声明可能可以在5月12日投票之前，给他的执政联盟重新选举的前景打了一针兴奋剂。美国总统唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)则声称，是他策划了一项军事战略，以迫使ISIS“放弃”摩苏尔。周四，他声称美国正在“摧毁ISIS”。但ISIS仍是伊拉克和叙利亚的一个反叛组织，包括”白旗军“在内的一些残余势力似乎已经在建立新的武装派别。

“They are ISIS, but they gave themselves a new name.”

“他们就是ISIS，但他们已经给自己取了一个新名字。”

Chor and his fighters named themselves the White Flags, perhaps to contrast themselves with the black flag that symbolizes ISIS. Armed with weapons accumulated over the years fighting alongside ISIS, the White Flags ride in four-wheel-drive pickup trucks through the folds of the mountains, finding shelter from patrols, mortars, and airstrikes launched by Iraqi forces. They dig tunnels to scuttle back and forth between nearby Kurdish and Arab areas, firing mortars at Shia militias arrayed along the mountain range. Equipped with night-vision goggles, they operate deep within the mountains, 7 miles from the outskirts of the city of Tuz Khurmatu, along the highway between Baghdad and the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

查尔和他的战士们将自己的组织命名为白旗军，也许是为了与象征ISIS的黑旗形成对比。在与ISIS并肩作战的几年里，这些白旗军装备了多年来积累的与伊斯兰国并肩作战拥有的武器，开着四轮驱动的皮卡车中穿行于群山之中，找到了躲避巡逻队、迫击炮和空袭的庇护所。他们在附近的库尔德地区和阿拉伯地区之间挖掘隧道，向附近的什叶派民兵组织发射迫击炮。他们配备了夜视镜，他们从距巴格达和富油城市基尔库克之间的公路上，到图兹-库尔玛图市郊7英里处的山脉深处。

Last week, fighters still loyal to ISIS claimed to have captured and executed eight members of the Iraqi federal police and a pro-government Shia militia, the so-called Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), along the Baghdad–Kirkuk road, the site of another recent ambush.

上周，忠于ISIS的武装分子声称已经抓获并处决了伊拉克联邦警察的8名成员和一个亲政府的什叶派民兵组织，即所谓的人民动员部队（PMU），另一次最近的伏击则在巴格达 - 基尔库克公路沿线附近。

Though ISIS and its successors no longer control any of Iraq’s cities, they continue to wreak havoc, with a detectable increase in both attacks and propaganda. Suicide bomb attacks attributed to ISIS have struck Baghdad and Kirkuk. In mid-March, militants reportedly killed seven Iraqi soldiers in the country’s far west.

尽管ISIS及其继任者不再控制伊拉克的任何城市，但他们仍然继续肆虐，在袭击和宣传上都有明显的增加。ISIS的自杀式炸弹袭击袭击了巴格达和基尔库克。3月中旬，据报道，武装分子在该国西部地区打死7名伊拉克士兵。

“They move from place to place in the Hamreen mountains,” said Ahmad Sharifi, a former Iraqi intelligence officer who now serves as security adviser to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest-ranking Shia cleric in Iraq. “No one from our units can recognize the paths they take, because they know the geography. They know the caves.”

”他们从另一个地方搬到哈姆雷恩山区，”艾哈迈德·谢里菲说，他是前伊拉克情报官员，现在是伊拉克最高级别什叶派的神职人员——大阿亚图拉·阿里·西斯塔尼的安全顾问。“我们的军队里没有人能认出他们走的路，因为他们知道地理。”他们知道这些洞穴。”

In one of their most brazen and complex recent attacks, in February ISIS militants lured members of the PMU to a village just outside Hawija in northern Iraq. The ISIS fighters wore military uniforms and pretended to be members of the Iraqi federal police, manning a checkpoint. The subsequent firefight — partially documented in an ISIS video — lasted two hours, leaving 27 Shia militiamen dead. A week later, charred bone fragments and bits of uniforms remained lodged in the soil.

今年2月，ISIS武装分子在他们最凶悍最复杂的一次袭击中，ISIS武装分子身穿军服，伪装成在一个检查站工作的伊拉克联邦警察的成员，把PMU的成员引诱到伊拉克北部城市Hawija城外的一个村庄里（关门打狗？）。随后发生的交火——部分记录在ISIS的视频中——持续了两个小时，导致27名什叶派民兵死亡。一周后，烧焦的骨头和一些制服碎片留在了土壤里。

“It was an ambush,” said Ali Hamdani, a Shia militia leader, as he surveyed the deserted and burned-out village. “They have a wide experience and a new level of training.”

“这是一次伏击，”什叶派民兵领袖阿里·哈姆达尼(Ali Hamdani)在视察被遗弃和烧毁的村庄时表示。“他们有丰富的作战经验和优秀的训练水平。”

War planners in Washington — after a nearly four-year offensive against ISIS in Iraq and Syria — are closely watching for a potential ISIS resurgence. US-led coalition forces launched an airstrike against a reported ISIS position near the Hamreen mountains on Feb. 21, and claimed to have destroyed ISIS infrastructure in another attack.

在对伊拉克和叙利亚的ISIS进行了近四年的进攻后，华盛顿的战争策划者正密切关注着ISIS的复兴。2月21日，以美国为首的联军发动空袭，对靠近哈姆雷恩山脉的ISIS据点发动空袭，并声称在另一次袭击中摧毁了ISIS的基础设施。

“Although ISIS no longer controls any of the population centers in Iraq, there are small ISIS elements still seeking sanctuary in some of the more remote areas in the deserts and in the mountains,” Col. Seth W.B. Folsom, commander of US forces in western Iraq, told reporters on March 20.

“尽管ISIS已不再控制伊拉克境内的任何人口中心，但仍有小规模的ISIS分子在沙漠和山区的一些偏远地区寻求庇护，”美国驻伊拉克部队指挥官塞思·w·b·福尔索姆上校(Seth w.b Folsom) 3月20日对记者表示。

“No one from our units can recognize the paths they take, because they know the geography. They know the caves.”

“我们军队里没有人能认出他们走的路，因为他们知道地理。”他们知道这些洞穴。”

The Hamreen mountains are “a very good area for the insurgents to rebuild,” said Hamdani, who is based in Tuz Khurmatu, a disputed city of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens, Shia and Sunni, on the western edge of the mountains. “No one controls the area. They operate like thieves. They block roads. They attack far-off villages. A car passes by, they attack it.”

哈姆达尼说，哈姆林山是“叛乱分子重建势力的一个非常好的地区”，他们的基地位于有争议的库尔德人、阿拉伯人、土库曼人、什叶派和逊尼派城市之间，位于山区的西部边缘。（三不管地带，联想到苏区也是位于各省交界处，靠着军阀之间的矛盾才能壮大）没有人控制这个区域。他们象山贼一样封锁了道路。他们攻击偏远的村庄。每当有一辆车经过，他们就攻击它。

Though they have to yet to engage in suicide bombings or the multipronged attacks that distinguish militant groups throughout the world, the White Flags have menaced Shia militiamen to the southwest of the Hamreen mountains with mortar fire, clashed with Kurdish peshmerga to the northeast, and launched a rocket against a coalition aircraft, according to Latif. They have also begun to spread out toward Hawija, a former ISIS holdout in the south of Kirkuk, and in the direction of Baghdad.

虽然他们还没有进行自杀性爆炸或像世界各地其他武装组织一样进行多次恐怖袭击，但白旗军已经用迫击炮将什叶派民兵赶到哈姆雷恩山脉的西南部，在东北部与库尔德人发生冲突，据拉提夫称，还向联军飞机发射一枚火箭。他们也开始向基尔库克南部的ISIS据点和巴格达方向扩散。

Security officials, analysts, and locals say the group is collecting recruits, stockpiling weapons, and seeking to build goodwill among the farmers and shepherds who eke out lives in the sparsely populated terrain. “They tell them, ‘We are here to protect you. We are here to liberate you,’” Jamal Warani, a Kurdish peshmerga commander, told BuzzFeed News during a visit to the front line.

安全官员、分析人士和当地人表示，该组织正在招募新兵、囤积武器，并寻求在农民和牧羊人之间建立友好关系，他们在人烟稀少的地区生活。“他们告诉他们，‘我们是来保护你们的。“我们是来解放你的，”库尔德“自由斗士”指挥官贾马尔•瓦尼在访问前线时告诉BuzzFeed News。

“There is something going on,” said Hassan Ali Achoub, a 52-year-old farmer living in the foothills of the Hamreen mountains. Going from farm to farm among several properties he oversees, he has spotted suspicious vehicles and sensed a nervousness among security officials who have begun to designate certain towns and wooded stretches as no-go areas. “People are talking about clashes, in the woods at the edge of the mountains. They are not that big of numbers, but I’m afraid for my children.”

“有一些事情正在发生，”住在哈姆雷恩山脉山麓的52岁农民Hassan Ali Achoub说。从一个农场到另一个农场，在他监管的几处房产中，他都发现了可疑的车辆，并感觉到安全官员的紧张情绪，这些官员已经开始将某些城镇和树木覆盖的地区列为禁区。“人们在谈论冲突，在山崖边的树林里。他们并不是有那么多人，但我害怕我的孩子的安全。“

----------

Iraq vows to eliminate White Flags group very soon

伊拉克誓言尽快消灭白旗军

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi troops will crush the recently-emerged White Flags group very soon, a military spokesman said on Monday.

巴格达(伊拉克)——一名军方发言人周一表示，伊拉克军队很快将粉碎最近出现的白旗军。

“The terrorist White Flags group does not pose a major threat to the security situation in Iraq since its members are estimated at dozens,” Spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said in a statement, quoted by Alghad Press.

“恐怖主义白旗军不会对伊拉克的安全局势构成重大威胁，因为它的成员估计仅有几十人，”联合作战指挥部发言人叶海亚拉索尔准将在一份声明中说。（欺上瞒下，骗鬼呢？国军第二 ）

“Members of the Whit Flags group cannot carry out brutal attacks in Iraq given that they do not have any capabilities to do so,” Rasool stressed, adding that the Iraqi Armed Forces, which defeated the more dangerous Islamic State group, is capable of crushing this small group easily.

“白旗军的成员无力在伊拉克进行野蛮袭击，因为他们没有任何能力这样做，”拉索尔强调，并补充说，击败更危险的伊斯兰国集团的伊拉克武装部队很容易就能够粉碎这个小组织。

“The Joint Operations Command has a complete database about the White Flags group and will launch an attack on it at the right time,” he noted.

“联合作战司令部有一个关于白旗军的完整数据库，并将在正确的时间对其发起攻击，”他指出。

Speaking about the White Flags’ main goal, Rasool said, “This unlawful group aims at fomenting sedition in Iraq through targeting innocent people in areas like Tuz Khurmatu to prove that terrorism still exists and was not defeated.”

在谈到白旗军的主要目标时，拉索尔说，“这个非法组织的目标是通过图兹胡尔马图地区的无辜人民在伊拉克煽动叛乱，以证明恐怖主义依然存在并且没有被击败。”

Rasool reiterated that the Joint Operations Command is determined to stand up to any attempt aimed at destabilizing Iraq or endangering the life of its people. “We will not allow terrorism to emerge again in Iraq under any circumstances,” Rasool stressed.

拉索尔重申，联合作战司令部决心对抗任何旨在破坏伊拉克稳定或危及其人民生命的企图。“在任何情况下，我们都不会允许恐怖主义再次出现在伊拉克，”拉索尔强调。