Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – So I am going to tell you a story about Turkey, Syria and the United States. It may or may not be true. Its details may or may not have happened, though there is reason to think they did. It is a story. The point is […]

Featured

Lone Wolves and Soft Targets: Or how our Press, Politicians are being Played by ISIL

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – I saw a lot of headlines on Friday trying to link violent attacks by radical Muslims in France, Tunisia and Kuwait, but I just don’t think there is a connection. Even the concerted attempt to find a pattern here is probably misguided. Worse, it plays into […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

As Kobane comes under ISIL attack, Kurds Encircle, cut off “caliphate”

contributors

By Amy Austin Holmes | (Informed Comment) | – – (Kobane, Syria) The liberation of Kobane in late January led to jubilant celebrations almost everywhere. It was both a turning point in the war against Islamic State militants and the beginning of an emancipatory grassroots democratic experiment known as the Rojava Revolution. Now, IS militants […]

Iraq

Will Iraq Be Libya? Can the Shiite Militiamen Avoid Turning on Each Other?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – – Iraq’s Shiite militias have been celebrated and criticised. Now, as differences in everything from weapons to leadership to loyalties become evident, tensions between the militias are rising. Last Saturday was the anniversary of senior Iraqi spiritual leader, Ali al-Sistani’s call to arms. The cleric, who is seen […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Her War: Kurdish Women Commandos take on ISIL/ Daesh in Syria

contributors

RT | (Video Report) | – – “In the face of the deadly threat posed by the so-called Islamic State, many Kurdish women decide not to leave their survival to fate. Instead, they fight for their lives and their future. Taking up arms, they join the YPG – Kurdish People’s Protection Units that defend their […]

Iraq

Next year in Mosul: Iraqi Kurds cut off ISIL/ Daesh Supply Lines

contributors

VICE News | (Video report) | – “A year after the Islamic State’s lightning conquest of Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul, the poorly-trained and equipped Kurdish peshmerga forces are the international coalition’s only reliable boots on the ground in northern Iraq. The Pentagon’s hopes of recapturing the city by spring 2015 have been dashed by […]

Iraq

Has US started Arming Iraq’s Shiite Militias against ISIL/ Daesh?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) The hostility between the US and Iraq’s Shiite militias seems to have slowed. One leading militia member even went to the US. Is this the beginning of a new, happier relationship and closer battle field cooperation? Last week Captain Amir al-Saadi, whose unit is based in the Habbaniyah camp […]

Human Rights

A Year after the Fall of Mosul, Yazidi Kurdish Survivors of ISIL Massacres Struggle On

contributors

VICE News | (Video Report) | – – “A year after the Islamic State’s lightning conquest of Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul, the poorly-trained and equipped Kurdish peshmerga forces are the international coalition’s only reliable boots on the ground in northern Iraq. The Pentagon’s hopes of recapturing the city by spring 2015 have been dashed […]

Iran

Saudi Arabia Fixated on Iran When Sunni Extremists Are Real Threat

contributors

By Russ Wellen | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – “Saudi Arabia’s perceived need to keep Iran at bay is distracting it from the danger that the Islamic State poses to its regime. Walking with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who is intent on […]