By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) As Mariam Karouny reports for Reuters, the US air strike on Friday that inadvertently hit a village of non-combatants, killing members of six families, raises new questions about the Obama administration’s approach to fighting Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) in Syria. Despite months of bombing raids, Daesh has lost no […]
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Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
“We had to destroy Tikrit to save it from ISIL”: Recovered Iraqi City a Ghost Town
By Mustafa Habib | Tikrit | (Niqash.org) – It’s been almost a month since the Islamic State group was expelled from Tikrit. NIQASH went there and found a graffiti-covered ghost town ruled by opposing groups of gunmen, none of whom trust one another. In Basha Street in the centre of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, […]
The Battle Plans of ISIL: Can they Succeed in Mideast Conquest?
By Richard Rousseau | (The Conversation) What is Islamic State’s political program? What is its ideology? Who are its theoreticians? The answers to these questions can be found in its propaganda. Islamic State has transformed from an ultra-minority party into one of the major political actors in the Middle East within a few months. It […]
Mobilizing For Mosul, Iraq: Scholars Work To Save Town’s Heritage from ISIL
By Coilin O’Connor | (RFE/RL) – While much of the world stands by as the militant Islamic State group takes a sledgehammer to the Middle East’s cultural legacy, a team of Czech scholars is working feverishly to try and save one Iraqi town’s architectural heritage. All across the large swaths of Syria and Iraq that […]
Iraq’s Future in the Balance: Will Sunni Arab Tribes join or fight ISIL?
By Khales Joumah | Mosul | (Niqash.org) | – The key to long lasting victory in northern Iraq is the loyalty of it’s Sunni Muslim tribes. Both the Iraqi Kurdish and the extremists are starting new flirtations with the tribal leaders of Ninawa. But how genuine are these suitors? At a recent meeting in Ninawa, […]
ISIL’s Libya Affiliate Murders 30 Ethiopian Christians
By EurActiv | – A video purportedly made by Islamic State and posted on social media sites on Sunday (19 April) appeared to show militants shooting and beheading about 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya. Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the video, but the killings resemble past violence carried out by Islamic State, […]
Iraq: Why it doesn’t Matter if Ezzat al-Douri was Killed
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The currently partly unemployed Iraqi governor of Salahuddin Province, displaced from much of his territory by Daesh (ISIS or ISIL), maintains that former Baath vice president of Iraq under Saddan Hussain, Ezzat al-Douri, has been killed by Shiite militias in a firefight north of Tikrit in the Hamrin […]
Iraqis on Social Media Fight Extremists Online
By Ahmad Mohammed | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – The extremist Islamic State group has worked the Internet to it’s advantage from the very start of its campaign in Iraq. Locals have lagged behind. But now, some say, they are coming together online to fight back. Shortly after the extremist group known as the Islamic […]
Juan Cole: Syria, Yemen Conflicts only seem to be about Sunni-Shiite from 30,000 Feet
David Speedie | (Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs) | – David Speedie of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs interviewed me in New York on Monday. Below is an excerpt of the transcript, but the whole thing is at their web site. Also below is the video of the interview. DAVID […]
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