Iraq

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Saturday issued a broadside demanding that Russia and the United States withdraw from Syria and that strongman Bashar al-Assad resign as president. Al-Sadr’s stand against al-Assad is unusual among Shiite movements. The Lebanese Shiite militia, Hizbullah, has entered Syria to […]

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 […]

Iraq

Mosul: ISIL Deploys Ideological Booby Trap As It Retreats

contributors

David Patrikarakos | ( RFE/RL ) | – – The coalition battling to take the Iraqi city of Mosul from the extremist [so-called] “Islamic State” group (IS) is closing in. Earlier this year, coalition forces captured eastern Mosul (the city is bisected by the Euphrates River) and are now squeezing the city’s western half. According […]

Iraq

Iraqis Weigh in on Airstrike That Killed Hundreds In Mosul

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – There is plenty of speculation about how hundreds of non-combatants were killed in Mosul, all apparently by accident. US and Iraqi forces have admitted partial culpability. But there are other causative factors at work. The dramatic and tragic events in Mosul on March 22, that saw […]

Featured

Mosul: “Some” US Responsibility for Civilian deaths; but Iraqi PM lashes out at Critics

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As US commanders begin confessing that it is likely that the US military bears responsibility for last Thursday’s errant airstrike that killed as many as 200-300 innocent civilians, America’s Iraqi partner Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi disagreed, lashing out at critics. Al-Abadi, from the fundamentalist Shiite Da’wa […]

Iraq

Mosul: ISIL Scorched Earth Tactics put Civilians in Crossfire

contributors

Special Correspondent* | Niqash.org | Baghdad | – – Mosul Locals Explain Extremists’ Desperate Tactics Mosul locals, some of whom have escaped the extremists and some who are still under their control, describe the Islamic State group’s desperate tactics. They will fight to the death, trapped locals warn. A month has passed since Iraqi pro-government […]

Displaced and Refugees

After Trump Massacres in Mosul, Campaign against ISIL Halted

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Candidate Donald Trump called last year for carpet-bombing of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in Iraq and Syria. It is possible that Trump has loosened the rules of engagement for the US Air Force, which is providing air support to the Iraqi Army. Looser rules could well be […]

Iraq

Did Trump loosen Rules? Charges that US Airstrikes Kill 230 Iraqi Civilians in Mosul

contributors

TeleSur | – – “Finding survivors is very difficult because the area is completely destroyed,” an authority told reporters. “It’s a very big disaster, indeed we can describe it as a disaster.” Dozens of residents were buried in collapsed buildings in the Iraqi city of Mosul after a U.S. airstrike Wednesday as rescuers tried to […]