Month

Archives: Iraq

In Apocalyptic Vandalism, ISIL blows up 800-year-old Nuri Mosque in Mosul

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - al-Hayat (Life) reports that on Wednesday evening around 9:30 pm local time, Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) blew up the Nuri Mosque in Mosul. The…

1/2 of World’s Civilian War Deaths were in Syria, Iraq & Yemen during past Half-Decade

By IPS World Desk | (Inter Press Service) | - - ROME/GENEVA (IPS) - Between 2010 and 2015, nearly half of all civilian war deaths worldwide occurred in Syria, Iraq and Yemen,…

Iraq Deployed Shiite Volunteers to defeat ISIL, but now has a Militia Problem

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) |. - The Iraqi government’s next big problem is coming into view: The group of powerful Shiite Muslim militias loyal to Iran seem to want to…

Civilian Casualties Mount in Battle to Re-take Mosul

By Mark Lattimer | (Inter Press Service} | - - LONDON (IPS) - East of Mosul, many of the lands liberated from ISIS stand empty. Driving through the Nineveh plains, traditional homelands…

Trump’s Ally: Saudi Arabia’s drive for Aristocratic Hegemony in the Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Saudi Arabia is making a drive to become a regional hegemon. It has long used its oil wealth to achieve a great deal…

Baghdad and Manchester: Let’s Commemorate ISIL Victims in Both

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - ISIL (ISIS, Daesh) lashed out at the civilian population in Iraq on Tuesday with three bombings and over 60 casualties. With its signature…

Mosul curses ISIL corpses: “Beguiled by promises of Virgins, you’re Garbage now”

Special Correspondent | (Mosul) | (Niqash.org) | - - NIQASH’s Mosul correspondent left the city shortly after the extremist Islamic State group took over. But most of his family remained. After 34…

Iraq Parliament Mulls ending Freedom of Assembly

By Afef Abrougui | ( Globalvoices.org) | - - When armed men in civilian clothes kidnapped journalist Afrah Shawqi from her home on 26 December 2016, journalists and activists quickly took to…

Revival of Iraqi Communism among Youth alarms Shiite Militias

Mustafa Habib | (Niqash.org) | - - Last week’s kidnapping of seven activists in Baghdad could be another sign of increasing tensions between secular parties in Iraq and the country’s ruling religious…

Mosul on My Mind: What It Really Means to Be on a Flattening Planet

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - The closest I ever got to Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, was 1,720.7 miles away -- or so the Internet assures me. Although…

After Mosul: The Coming ISIL Apocalypse in al-Anbar Desert

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - While fighting against the Islamic State group drags on in Mosul, tribal and military forces in Anbar are preparing for what will…

What will new French President Macron do about Syria & ISIL?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Now that Emmanuel Macron is president of France, it is worthwhile asking what sort of foreign policy he would be likely to pursue.…

It was ISIL, not Hackers, who Hijacked French Election

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - That hackers, most likely Russia-linked, were trying to throw the French election to Marine Le Pen this weekend by releasing thousands of emails…

Can Iraq’s Sunni Politicians agree on post-ISIL Future?

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - "Iraq’s Sunni Muslims desperately need their politicians to present a united front and act in their interests. But the politicians cannot agree on…

Power, Water, Music: Mosul comes back to Life

Special Correspondent | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - Locals in the parts of Mosul, from which extremists have been pushed out, are celebrating small signs of returning life: For one thing,…

In 3 months, Trump has Charged into 4 Mideast Wars, to no Avail

Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - In his less than three months in office, Donald Trump has escalated four wars, and all of his escalations have been failures. To be…

‘Sicide belts Everywhere’: As Iraqi Forces Close in, ISIL prepares to Drink the Coolaid

‘Suicide belts Everywhere’: As Iraqi Forces Close in, ISIL prepares to Drink the Coolaid

Special Correspondent | (Baghdad) | (Niqash.org) | - - As pro-Iraq forces close in on the Islamic State fighters in Mosul, civilians trapped in the city with them, say the extremists roam…

ISIL Now Controls only 7% of Iraq: What will its Defeat Mean for the Country?

Peter Bartu | (OpenDemocracy.net) | - - The west has treated ISIL as enemy number one while local actors see it as a sideshow in a political arena stretching from the Mediterranean…

Al-Sadr: Russia, America and al-Assad should all get out of Syria!

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Saturday issued a broadside demanding that Russia and the United States withdraw from Syria and that strongman…