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Archives: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Who defeated ISIL? Obama’s Quiet Strategy, not Trump’s Bluster

Bryan G. Williams | (Informed Comment) | - - Book excerpt from the just-published Counter Jihad: America's Military Experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria [CLICK]: At the time of the writing of…

Losing Cities, can ISIL strike Iraq, West from Mountain Bases?

By Dashty Ali | Sulaymaniyah | (Niqash.org) | - - Having been driven out of Mosul, the extremist Islamic State group is doing what Al Qaeda did before them: setting up new…

Syria: The American War on Civilians

By Laura Gottesdiener | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - It was midday on Sunday, May 7th, when the U.S.-led coalition warplanes again began bombing the neighborhood of Wassim Abdo’s family. They…

After ISIL Defeat in Mosul, Camps or Rehabilitation for Families?

Nawzat Shamdeen | (Mosul) | (Niqash.org) | - - Locals in Mosul are divided on whether to rehabilitate, reconcile or punish the families of Islamic State members. Meanwhile rumour has it that…

Trump & Macron Consult on Syria Cease Fire in Shadow of Don Jr. Scandal

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - French President Emmanuel Macron and his American counterpart Donald J. Trump consulted on a number of bilateral issues on Wednesday, including cooperation in…

Rolex “Caliph” of ISIL Dead: Syrian Observatory

TeleSur | - - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death has been widely speculated for months. Reports from the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, SOHR, claim that ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi…

Iraq united to defeat ISIL, but can it avoid Break-up Afterwards?

By Dylan O’Driscoll | ( OpenDemocracy.net ) | - - Multiple segments of the population, including at elite level, have come together in the fight against IS and now the time has…

Freeing Fayza: A Journey to War-Torn Iraq to Rescue a Yazidi ISIL Slave Girl

By: Brian Glyn Williams and Christopher Natola | (Informed Comment) | - - It began with an electrifying text message from a Yazidi member of a network dedicated to freeing Yazidis (an…

Was ISIL’s destruction of Mosul’s Grand Mosque Grand Strategy?

Was ISIL’s destruction of Mosul’s Nuri Mosque Grand Strategy?

By Benjamin Isakhan and Jose Antonio Gonzalez Zarandona | (The Conversation) | - - On June 29 2014 – nearly three years ago to the day – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took the…

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…

Aerospace Campaign in Syria: Did Putin kill ISIL’s so-called ‘caliph’?

TeleSur | - - The statement came a day after Russia said it killed several senior leaders, 30 field commanders and up to 300 of their personal guards in an airstrike last…

Obama’s last Victory: Syrian Democratic Forces hold Parts of ISIL Capital

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with…

GOP Rep. urges US Terror alliance with ISIL against Iranian civilians

NIAC | (Video News Clip) | - - NIAC Action: "Shocking: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Suggests Tehran ISIS Attack Was "Positive"

Could ISIL attacks in Tehran plunge the Middle East into greater turmoil?

By Mohammadbagher Forough | (The Conversation) | - - Iran experienced its first major ISIL attack on June 7, as armed men and suicide bombers targeted two symbols of the Islamic Republic…

How Trump should have responded to London Attacks if he were Normal

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Donald J. Trump 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue/ Mar-a-Lago Florida (Golf Course) Dear Prime Minister May and Mayor Khan: I was devastated to learn that…

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…

Who are Egypt’s Coptic Christians, ISIL’s latest Victims?

By Paul Rowe | (The Conversation) | - - Coptic Christians in Egypt have been attacked while traveling on pilgrimages and bombed while praying on Palm Sunday, amid an accelerating series of…

Terror and Geopolitics: Manchester 2017 and 1996

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Manchester, UK, was hit with the deadliest bomb attack on Monday since a June Saturday morning in 1996, when a massive 3000 lb.…

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.…