U.S. forces hand over Diala’s Sahwa to Iraqi authorities

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: U.S. forces on Sunday handed over the file of Diala’s Sahwa councils to Iraqi forces based in downtown Baaquba’s Saad Camp, according to an army source. “The U.S. commander of the central area; Diala’s operations commander, Staff Lt. Gen. Abdelkareem al-Rubaie; the commander of the fifth division in the Iraqi army, Staff. Maj.Gen. Khaled Jawad Kadhem; and Diala’s Governor Raad Rasheed al-Mulla Jawad attended the handover ceremony,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. The Sahwa (Awakening) councils were set up in a number of Iraqi provinces such as Anbar, Diala, Ninewa, and Salah al-Din with the aim of bolstering political and local tribal powers to fight armed groups, particularly al-Qaeda network, in those areas. These councils are usually led by tribal chiefs or notables in the provinces. The Sahwa fighters managed to flush out armed groups from a number of areas once considered strongholds of gunmen for years. Diala province, a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baaquba, 57 km northeast of Baghdad. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometers (6,828 sq mi). SS (S)/SR 1