article_snippet: Iraqi forces include Iraqi troops, members of the mainly Shia Hashd al-Shabi paramilitary force, members of the Sunni Sons of Salahuddin brigades, and other Sunni tribal fighters.
article_snippet: Iran provides military advice, support and weapons not just through the central government in Baghdad but also directly to a number of increasingly powerful Shia militia groups that now operate under the state-sponsored paramilitary committee, the Hashd Al-Shabi, known as the "Popular Mobilization Units.
article_snippet: The two key Iraqi leaders of this paramilitary command, Hadi al-Ameri and Abu Mehdi al-Mohandis, were also pictured together with General Fadhil Barwari, the commander of Iraq's elite Special Operation Forces.
article_snippet: However, it is encouraging that both Shia and Sunni fighters are supporting the army in the army effort to defeat ISIS.
article_snippet: The cooperation between Shia and Sunni fighters will be crucial not just in the ongoing offensive in Tikrit but will also set the stage for further cooperation in the strategic campaign to recapture Mosul.
article_snippet: Politically, The cooperation between Shia and Sunni fighters may not see eye-to-eye and of course there remain deep ethno-sectarian tensions in Iraq and beyond, but regardless of these differences they all view ISIS as a common threat and enemy that must be defeated.
article_snippet: To be sure, the Sunni tribesmen involved in the strategic campaign are more anti-ISIS than the Sunni tribesmen involved in this campaign pro-government, but that the Sunni tribesmen involved in this campaign can work with the pro-government Shia militias is both good news and good progress for a country believed to be ripping a country believed to be ripping itself apart along ethno-sectarian lines apart along ethno-sectarian lines.
highlights_snippet: Both Shia and Sunni groups view ISIS as a common threat and enemy that must be defeated, enemy adds .