Terrorism

Special Correspondent | Mosul | (Niqash.org) | – – In Mosul, the Islamic State is preparing for a siege, building walls, tunnels and trenches and boasting that, like the Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century, they will be able to withstand any attacks. Locals doubt it. In Mosul, members of the extremist group that control […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Trump’s Pro-ISIS Foreign Policy

contributors

By Fawaz A. Gerges | ( Project Syndicate ) | – – LONDON – Donald Trump’s recent claim that his opponent in the US presidential race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Barack Obama founded the Islamic State is vicious nonsense. But it is also an ironic charge for Trump to make: if […]

Featured

Obama: End terrorism like that in New York by Destroying ISIL in Mosul, Iraq

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama met yesterday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi and discussed the coming campaign to take the northern Iraqi city of Mosul away from Daesh, entirely destroying the terrorist organization’s territorial power in Iraq. Obama expects the campaign to be launched before the end of […]

Iraq

End of the ‘Caliphate’ in Iraq? After Qayyarah, Mosul hangs in the Balance

contributors

Special Correspondent | (Niqash.org) | – – The liberation of the northern Iraqi town of Qayyarah from the [so-called] Islamic State group [IS] is a strategic victory in defeating the extremists, in addition to being a major financial blow to their efforts. Since it was liberated by Iraqi forces last month, Qayyarah has come to […]

Iraq

Can ISIL survive scenes of Sunni Muslims celebrating their Liberation from it?

contributors

By James Miller | ( RFE/RL) What a difference a month makes. At the start of August, the extremist group that calls itself Islamic State (IS) [group]controlled a large part of the border between Syria and Turkey, while the U.S.-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), a multiethnic group made up primarily of Kurdish YPG fighters, raced […]

al-Qaeda

9/11 after 15 years: We’re Still in the Middle of a guerrilla Air War

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – On the morning of September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda launched its four-plane air force against the United States. On board were its precision weapons: 19 suicidal hijackers. One of those planes, thanks to the resistance of its passengers, crashed in a Pennsylvania field. The other three hit their […]

Featured

With Defeat Looming, ISIL haunts Syria with 6 Bombings, Killing 53

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) is still acting like a military organization, but it has always mixed military with terrorist tactics. On Monday it slid toward the terrorist side of the spectrum, setting off 6 coordinated bombings that left over four dozen people dead. It mainly targeted, however, […]

Europe

ISIL’s European Strategy

contributors

By Omar Ashour | ( Project Syndicate) | – – LONDON – Terrorist attacks by Islamic State (ISIS) affiliates and sympathizers over the past year have raised alarms in Europe, but they have not yet reached the frequency Europe experienced in the 1970s, according to the Global Terrorism Database. However, whereas previous waves of terrorism […]

Bashar al-Assad

Is Turkey’s incursion into Syria about Daesh, or about the Kurds?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkish military sources told the Anadol news agency that Wednesday’s military attack on the Syrian border town of Jarabulus, held for years by Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), involved hitting 82 targets. The objective, Ankara said, was to secure the Turkish border and to support the US-led Coalition […]