Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

TeleSur | – – Corbyn also said he would have to consider whether he would authorize a drone strike against the leader of Islamic State group to limit civilian deaths. The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday he could suspend British involvement in airstrikes against Syria if he was […]

Featured

ISIL Terror-Trolls French Election, Supporting far Right; Will French Fall for It?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Thursday’s shooting at the Champs Elysee, left one policeman dead, another gravely injured, a third lightly wounded along with a German tourist shot in the heel. It was carried out by Karim Cheurfi, a French national aged 39, born at Livry-Gargan in Seine-Saint-Denis. He had opened […]

Donald Trump

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

contributors

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 to Iran. What does the defeat of ISIL in Mosul mean for Iraq? NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved. A general view shows […]

Bashar al-Assad

Russia’s not Leaving: Syria is about old-Fashioned Sphere of Influence, not Oil

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia is not going to yield its sphere of influence in Syria to Donald Trump or anyone else. Russia has all but won the Syrian War as we speak. There is no longer any feasible pathway for the rebels to take the capital of Damascus. The […]

Copts

Sharpening Contradictions: ISIL Strikes Egyptian Christians on Palm Sunday

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) claimed responsibility Sunday for two suicide bombings at Christian churches in Lower Egypt on Palm Sunday, which left over 40 dead and over 100 wounded. The death toll would have been higher except that an Egyptian policeman stopped the suicide bomber in Alexandria […]

Iraq

Even once ISIL is defeated, the problem of Manhunts and Reprisals

contributors

Mustafa Habib | (Baghdad) | Niqash.org | – – While Iraqi forces battle the Islamic State in west Mosul, intelligence services work in the east, to hunt down former members of the group. But those detained say the arrests are random and unjust. A few hours after the Iraqi army announced that the eastern side […]

Donald Trump

Kushner of Arabia: Can Trump’s Son-in-Law Figure out Iraq?

contributors

By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | – – Days before President Donald J. Trump ordered cruise missile strikes on Syria, his son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq to learn first-hand how the Iraqi government assesses the security situation, more than a decade after the United States delivered regime change to that country. The issues facing […]

Donald Trump

ISIL: Imbecilic Buffoon Trump leading America to Extinction

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Disturbing signs emerged Tuesday that Donald J. Trump’s odd self-presentation and erratic pronouncements could be a serious security threat to . . . all Americans. That is, if the US appears to be led by an incompetent it will encourage attacks. Al-Hayat reports that a spokesman […]

Iran

ISIL Threatens To Conquer Iran, issuing Rare Video In Persian

contributors

Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL) | – – The militant group Islamic State (IS) has vowed in a rare video message in Persian that includes the apparent beheading of four captured soldiers that it will conquer Iran. In an appeal to sectarian divides, the group also calls on Iran’s Sunni minority to rise up against […]