In the summer of 2006 increasing rifts began to open between local Sunni tribes and insurgent groups (including the Islamic Army), and al-Qaeda.

[5] Using the Al-Anbar Salvation Council as a model, CLCs[clarification needed] were armed and trained by the U.S. military to patrol their communities and act as neighborhood watch groups.

What began as the Al-Anbar Awakening [Salvation Council] later evolved into the formation of concerned local citizens' groups present in almost every major neighborhood in Baghdad and throughout the provinces.

[7] The 1920 Revolution Brigades announced on 27 March 2007 that its leader, Harith Dhahir Khamis al-Dari, had been killed in an ambush by al-Qaeda in Abu Ghraib.

The break was the result of differing viewpoints on working with the al-Anbar Salvation Council, negotiating with coalition forces and the relationship vis-à-vis Al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).

In the face of escalating conflict, the Islamic Army called on Osama bin Laden to personally intervene to reign in al-Qaeda in Iraq.