Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

By Natasha Lindstaedt | – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State (IS), is dead. After US special forces raided his safe house in Idlib province in north-west Syria, Baghdadi reportedly fled and detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and three of his children. Over the past several years, there have been constant reports […]

al-Qaeda

Death of al-Baghdadi: ISIS Grew Out of U.S. Invasion of Iraq: Cole @ Democracy Now!

Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! | Video Interview and Transcript | – Amy Goodman kindly had me on Democracy Now! Monday to discuss the US raid that killed ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and its broader context in Middle Eastern and US politics. Transcript below the video. Democracy Now! “Death of al-Baghdadi: ISIS Grew Out of U.S. Invasion […]

al-Qaeda

US Militarism, having Provoked ISIL into Being, Kills Cult Leader Baghdadi

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” the nom de guerre of the notorious Iraqi terrorist Ibrahim al-Samarrai, is dead, killed in a US special forces raid on his compound in Syria’s northwest Idlib province. Declared a “caliph” in 2014, this minor cultist helped turn the Fertile Crescent into a charnel house. From a […]

Buddhism

Sri Lanka’s Mainstream Muslims Caught in Nexis of Extreme Nationalisms and Fringe Radicalism

The Conversation

By Andreas Johansson | – More than 300 people have now been confirmed killed in the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka. Several sources had suggested a domestic Muslim Islamist group may have been linked to the atrocity – but Islamic State (IS) has now also claimed responsibility. Sri Lanka’s Muslim community is spread across the […]

Featured

No, Trump did not Defeat ISIL: He Executed Obama’s Plan

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazlum Koubani, announced Saturday the end of the phony “caliphate” of the so-called Islamic State group, as the terrorist organization’s last sliver of territory in the Baghouz district east of Deir al-Zor, fell. I have all along objected to calling the defunct organization […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Even after Trump’s Announced Withdrawal, US & Kurdish Allies Still Assaulting last ISIL Redoubt in Syria

Rouba El Husseini

co-author: Tony Gamal-Gabriel Syria (AFP) – US-backed forces said Sunday time was up for Islamic State group jihadists hunkering down in their eastern Syrian holdout and resumed their assault on the pocket. The extremists once ruled over millions in a swathe of Syria and Iraq, but they have since lost all that land except for […]

Europe

Europe Rejects Trump’s demand they Take Back Captured ISIL Extremists

AFP

by Francis Curta with Dmitry Zaks in London | – Paris (AFP) – European officials on Monday gave a cold shoulder to a call by US President Donald Trump to take back citizens captured in the fight against Islamic State jihadists in Syria for prosecution back home. Concerns rose about the fate of European nationals […]

Iraq

Iraq bombs meeting of Daesh leaders in Syria; kills high-value targets

Middle East Monitor

Iraq has launched an air attack on a gathering of Daesh leaders inside neighbouring Syria, killing 45 members of the hardline militant group, its military said on Saturday. F-16 fighter jets destroyed three houses on Friday which were connected by a trench in the town of Hajin, where the leaders were meeting. Those killed included […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Church Shooting ‘Nothing To Do With Islam,’ Say Russian Muslim Leaders

contributors

RFE/RL | – – The mainstream Muslim leadership in Russia’s Daghestan region has condemned an attack that killed five people outside a Russian Orthodox church, saying that the suspect had “nothing to do with the true Islam.” In a February 19 statement, the office of the region’s chief mufti also extended condolences to the relatives […]