The key word being lead
Iraq's government has asked Shia-led militias to prepare to deploy and fight in the Anbar province, after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group overran the provincial capital, Ramadi, Al Jazeera has learnt.
Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Baghdad, said on Monday that Shia-led militias have been asked by the government to lead a counter-offensive against ISIL in Ramadi.
"They operate under the government-sanctioned Popular Mobilisation Forces and were responsible for pushing ISIL from Diyala and Salahuddin," our correspondent said.
Iraqi special forces soldiers reportedly fled Ramadi on Sunday as ISIL fighters succeeded in breaching their last holdout.
No worries, right?
There are concerns, however, that involving Shia militias in the fight will alienate some Sunni tribes.
Following the recapture of Tikrit earlier this year, Shia militias were accused of a range of human rights abuses.
Tarik al-Abdullah, secretary-general of the al-Anbar council, a group of provincial tribal leaders, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the Shia militias are "not very welcome".
We want to be in the middle of this one, right?
Who was it again leading the Shia militias?
Our friends, right?
The United States downplayed the fall of the city on Monday, with US Secretary of State John Kerry saying he believed ISIL's offensive would be reversed.
"I am convinced that as the forces are redeployed and as the days flow in the weeks ahead that's going to change, as overall [they] have been driven back... I am absolutely confident in the days ahead that will be reversed," Kerry said during a visit to Seoul.
The record is more than scratched, it is well and truly broken, we will win dontcha know?
I know, let's bomb. Who? Well, we have to bomb someone!
My god, the neocons led us into a whole new era of being welcomed as liberators, drowned in flowers and winning hearts and minds.
Yep.
Brilliant, we replaced the cold war with an active sectarian conflict.