Was Baathist, Izzat al-Douri, behind the events in Mosul?

 It's surmised by many that what happened in Mosul was a "coup"  led by  Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri;  with other groups led by former Baath  officers, Al-Douri has been playing an active role in various Sunni  majority areas of Iraq .... that he was one of the senior commanders at  the helm for the successful take over of  Mosul via the rebel groups. 

If you aren't sure who Al-Douri is .. during Saddam Hussein's era he used to be  one of Saddam's most trusted military commanders.  He was one of the  very few Baathists who evaded capture.  Al-Douri was made the new leader of the banned Baath Party soon after Saddam's execution in  2006.

According to a story that began in 2003, Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri who is  now aged 70 has been suffering from leukemia since 1999 or earlier and requires to  undergo blood transfusion every six months.  If this was true, Al-Douri  should have been dead long ago.  There is no way he could have survived  with such a serious health issue nor received regular blood  transfusions soon after Iraq fell in 2003 when he was a wanted man and  in hiding.  Also, a 70-year-old  suffering from leukemia for more  than 16 years would be in no condition to actively participate in a coup  as reported on Al-Douri.  

Al-Akhbar suggests Izzat Al-Douri has been silently working on a coup since long.   Over time he was able to establish a network of former Baath officers  who were kicked out of the military by Iraq's Shiia government.   Al-Douri used  ISIS as a facade to frighten and terrorize his  opponents.   But in reality it was probably the other way round.  Knowing  Al-Dour's longstanding popularity in Sunni circles, it might be ISIS that's using his name to  cajole the residents of Mosul.  This is one possibility.  The other one  is that the Naqshbandi militias are using Al-Douri's image to acquire  support of the people of Mosul.  Naqshbandi group is a Sufi resistance  movement and Izzat al-Douri is supposed to be one of it's many senior  associates.

However, a former member of the Baath Party residing in Mosul confirmed to Niqash media outlet that  Al-Douri has not been living nor seen in Mosul for years.  That tallies with some other contents of the story via Niqash on June 13.  It reported that a day  after the fall of Mosul, gunmen with automatic weapons went around  telling the people of the city to gather at "central square" where  Al-Douri would be giving a speech to celebrate the event.  Hundreds of  excited residents went to central square with their cameras and  mobile phones.  But the person who emerged to give the speech was not  Al-Douri.  He was some other old and bearded man, never seen nor heard  of before.  He never even mentioned the name of Al-Douri.  The crowd was very disappointed.  Later it was again  announced on Facebook and Twitter that Al-Douri would be giving a  televised speech.  That turned out to be an old speech which Al-Douri  had given on Al-Arabiya more than a year ago.  The tricks are obvious.   Either the Naqshbandis or ISIS (most likely the Naqshbandis) are using  Al-Douri to keep the residents of Mosul calm and happy in their day dreams.

By the way, ISIS and the Naqshbandi army are not on the best of terms.  The former has  often furiously objected to the posters of Saddam Hussein put up by the latter.

ISIS is likely using the Naqshbandi Army and their links to the Baath  party for its own benefit.  But while the Naqshbandi movement can  cooperate with the Baathists, neither of the two would be able to manage an alliance with ISIS which is too demanding, selfish and  unprincipled to respect a partnership or a coalition for longer than a  few weeks. 

Smaller groups like Ansar al-Sunna and Mujahideen Army are  also purportedly appearing in Mosul.  Niqash writes that the people of  Nineveh province have been seen welcoming the different factions of militants.  Undoubtedly, there is a huge sectarian element in this entire scenario.  Nouri  al-Malki's fiercely sectarian policies, blatant discrimination against  Iraqi Sunnis along with his government's daily injustices and mind  boggling corruption pushed the Sunni population of Nineveh province over the edge and consequently they chose the Sunni militants over Al-Malki as the better of the two  evils.