In Iraq Crisis, a Tangle of Alliances and Enmities

The major players in the Iraq and Syria crisis are often both allies and antagonists, working together on one front on one day and at cross-purposes the next

Iran and the United States

• Have been enemies since 1979 and remain highly antagonistic on most issues
• Back opposite sides in the Syrian conflict

... but ...

• Have a major common interest in the survival of the Maliki government in Iraq and the defeat of the Sunni extremist militias

United States and the Gulf Monarchies, including Saudi Arabia

• Are longstanding allies, sharing an interest in containing Iran
• Back the opposition to the Assad government in Syria

... but ...

• The monarchies are hostile to the American-backed, Shiite-dominated Maliki government in Iraq
• Gulf money has financed jihadist fighters in Syria and Iraq that the United States wants no part of

Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds

• Have developed extensive commercial relations
• Have agreed to cooperate in Syria

... but ...

• The Turks are wary of Kurdish gains in Iraq, for fear that it will prompt a flare-up of Kurdish separatism in Turkey
• The Kurds are deeply suspicious of Turkish intervention in Iraq

The Kurds and the Maliki Government

• Are at odds over boundaries, oil revenue and the Kurds’ goal of independence
• Have sectarian differences (most Kurds are Sunnis)

… but …

• Share an interest in preventing a Sunni militant takeover of either Iraq or Syria
• Have cooperated tactically against Sunni militant fighters

The Gulf Monarchies and the Sunni Insurgents

• Have a common enemy in the Assad government in Syria
• Share antipathy for Shiite rule and Iranian influence in Iraq and the region

... but ...

• The monarchies consider ISIS and its goal of a hard-line caliphate too extreme and a threat
• The insurgents consider the monarchies corrupt and irreligious