Effort to arm Sunni tribes in Iraq against ISIS faces hurdles

In a flurry of meetings in recent weeks, tribal leaders have demanded Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi address problems of missing weapons and lack of support as they hold out against extremist militants in the face of mass detentions and executions. Hundreds of tribesmen have been summarily executed in the western province of Anbar over the past month, with hundreds more rounded up north of Baghdad.

The slayings have underscored the predicament of Sunni tribes that have resisted Islamic State extremists, often with little assistance from the central government. They threaten to undermine the government strategy of mobilizing the Sunni tribes against the Islamic State in their areas — a key pillar of efforts to crush the militants.

“We demand that the government does something,” said Sheikh Naim al-Gaoud, a tribal leader with the Albu Nimr. “We feel that we have been abandoned and neglected.”