BAGHDAD — Al-Qaeda gunmen seeking to form a Islamic state out of the chaos of Syria‘s civil war are fighting hard to reconquer the province they once controlled in neighboring Iraq, stirring fears the conflict is exporting ever more instability.



Exploiting local grievances against Baghdad’s rule and buoyed by Al-Qaeda gains in Syria, the fighters have taken effective control of Anbar’s two main cities for the first time since US occupation troops defeated them in 2006-07.



Their advance is ringing alarm bells in Washington: The United States has pledged to help Baghdad quell the militant surge in Anbar — although not with troops — to stabilize a province that saw the heaviest fighting of the US occupation.



Washington announced it was speeding up deliveries of military equipment to help Baghdad fight the gunmen. This would include missiles, surveillance drones and helicopters.



Al-Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has a tough potential foe in Anbar’s well-armed tribes, fellow Sunnis ill-disposed to ceding power to Al-Qaeda even if they share ISIL’s hostility to the Shiite-led central government.



And the group’s goal of creating an Islamic state reaching into Syria is still seen by many as far-fetched.



But its high-profile push into Ramadi and Falluja illustrates the dangers of the conflict spreading from Syria’s three-year-old conflict, analysts say.



ISIL fighters operate in Syria as well, and recent setbacks for the group in the war there mean its Iraqi members may be all the more determined to secure gains in Anbar, analysts say.



“Both the Syrian and the Iraqi conflict are feeding upon one another,” said Fawaz Gerges, a Middle East expert at the London School of Economics.



The ISIL fighters are exploiting simmering Sunni anger against the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki in Baghdad, seen by many Sunnis as a high-handed autocrat beholden to Iran.



They are also making the most of rising sectarian sentiment around the region and a weakening of government control in those Arab countries most affected by the popular uprisings since 2011.



Gerges said a “governance vacuum” in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon has helped Al-Qaeda to gain strength in recent years, risking a spillover into other countries in the region.



“Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Syria and even in Lebanon basically appeals to a certain segment within Sunni public opinion that feels alienated, marginalized or persecuted,” he said.



Lebanon, Syria’s small neighbor, has suffered a wave of bombings since last summer with the latest suicide bombing that killed at least five people in the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Beirut last week claimed by ISIL.



Al-Qaeda alienated much of the Anbar population during its period of control: Its fighters set up courts, imposing harsh punishments, including public executions, on those failing to implement its severe interpretation of Islam.



But for years the militants have been regrouping and plotting underground and slowly increasing their presence in the vast desert of Anbar, the heart of Iraq’s Sunni insurgency after the US-led invasion.



In Fallujah, the masked men took control of large parts of the city. They waved Al-Qaeda flags, set up checkpoints and called on residents to support them through loudspeakers.



Iraqi troops trying to retake the cities battled Al-Qaeda fighters in Ramadi and shelled Fallujah.



ISIL’s Fahdawi was pictured in social media walking through a government office where his men had taken control, although there was no independent confirmation of the date of the photo.



The authorities’ counter-strike against Al-Qaeda’s advance in Anbar, as well as divisions among Sunni politicians, are likely to solidify Maliki’s national authority, Iraqi analyst Hashim Al-Habobi said.



“Many Sunnis see Maliki as a much better option when compared to Al-Qaeda,” he said. — Reuters