Ill-equipped soldiers struggle with Anbar offensive as militants pour in across the border from Syria and join forces with local tribesmen Iraq’s acting defence minister looks beleaguered, his face drawn, with deep bags below his eyes from a lack of sleep. For four months, Sadoun Al Dulaimi has been operating from Anbar, the most dangerous province for US soldiers during the Iraq War and one again riven by conflict. The army has dispatched 42,000 troops here in a bid to quell Al Qaida-inspired jihadists and hostile tribesmen, whose resurgence is posing the biggest test for the Iraqi military and the country’s Shiite-led government since the withdrawal of US forces two and a half years ago. The battle is filled with potential pitfalls. A government failure to regain control in Sunni-dominated Anbar would jeopardise the country’s unity. But an escalated military offensive could deepen anger among the nation’s Sunni minority, […]