Iraq

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the problems Iraq and Syria will face as Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) is gradually rolled back from its territorial acquisitions is that it will demobilize its conventional forces and return to being a terrorist organization. It may be in some ways more dangerous under the […]

Iraq

In Iraq, some Sunni refugees’ bulwark against ISIL is . . . the Gated Community

contributors

Kamal al-Ayash | Fallujah | (Niqash.org) | – – Families who fled the [so-called] Islamic State [group] have found new homes in a residential complex south of Fallujah. But even with several families sharing one home, rents are rising as other Iraqis profit from their misery. The district of Amiriyah is about 30 kilometres south […]

Featured

Iraqi Shiites up in Arms, claim Saudi “Spying on behalf of ISIL/Daesh”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Arabia’s execution on Saturday of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr has so far not created a crisis between Riyadh and the Shiite-dominated Baghdad government. But Saudi Arabia’s name with the rank and file Shiites and parliamentary backbenchers is mud. On Tuesday, thousands (or perhaps […]

Iraq

In the past 12 months, Iraqis finally lost all Hope

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – In 2015, every Iraqi – almost without exception – paid a price for events in their country. Some Iraqis lost their jobs, others lost loved ones. But the biggest loss of all in 2015 cannot be measured. In Iraq, 2015 was a taxing year. Almost […]

Iraq

What It Takes To Defeat ISIL’s Ideology

contributors

By Charles Recknagel | RFE/RL Daniel Koehler is among a handful of people in the West who work with Islamist militants returning from Syria in an effort to reintegrate them into normal life. A native of Germany, he works with such former fighters and their families in countries across Europe and in North America and […]

Iraq

Will Mosul rise against Daesh/ ISIL? If not, who can liberate it?

Juan Cole

By Nawzat Shamdeen | (Niqash.org) | – – “Everyone says zero hour is coming closer. Some of the politicians – including the Prime Minister – have said that operations to liberate Mosul have already started,” a Mosul man, who still lives in the extremist-occupied city, wrote in a message sent to NIQASH on social media. […]

Featured

Eyes on Mosul next, as Iraqi Army advances in Ramadi in face of Stiff ISIL/ Daesh Resistance

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi prime minister Haydar al-Abadi announced Friday that after the city of Ramadi was recovered from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), the Iraqi army would go on to liberate Mosul (a city of some 2 million before Daesh took it), 420 km. north of Ramadi. On Friday, the […]

Archaeology

In Iraq’s Ur, Archeologists Explore History’s Potential to Unite A Divided Land

Juan Cole

By Ahmad Thamer Jihad | (Niqash.org) | – – The best way to combat the damage done to Iraq’s antiquities during the current security crisis is to put more effort into exploring and maintaining the ancient sites that extremists cannot reach, says Abdulamir al-Hamdani , an Iraqi archeologist who was studying at Stony Brook University […]

Iraq

If Iraq can take Ramadi from ISIL/ Daesh, it will Need to reach out to Sunnis

contributors

By Balsam Mustafa and Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | – – After days of mounting expectation, the Iraqi government finally announced a serious offensive to retake the city of Ramadi, the capital of western Iraq’s Anbar Province, from [the so-called] Islamic State [group] (IS). This is far from the first announcement of the imminent […]