By Mozhgan Savabieasfahani | (Informed Comment) The Iraqi people, once the envy of the Arab world for their outstanding educational and health-care systems, have been reduced to a nation of refugees, flung across the Middle East. U.S.-created thugs are axing Iraq’s historical heritage into pieces. The Iraqi health system continues to disintegrate as doctors flee […]
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Iraq
Could Sunni-Shiite Rift make Tikrit a Pyrrhic Victory? Al-Azhar & Shiite Militias
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) The foremost Sunni Muslim seat of learning, al-Azhar University in Cairo, has stirred controversy by issuing a considered legal opinion (fatwa) condemning the Shiite militias or “Popular Mobilization Forces” that are now fighting alongside the Iraq army to take Tikrit back from Daesh (ISIL or ISIS). To be fair, […]
As Islamic State retreats, aid workers uncover human toll
By Louise Redvers | (IRIN) – BAGHDAD/LONDON, (IRIN) – A week after launching a major offensive to recapture the city of Tikrit, pro-government forces in Iraq claim they are close to reclaiming large parts of territory held by militants from the group calling itself Islamic State (IS). But for aid agencies the work in Tikrit […]
Ghosts of Saladin, Saddam & Khomeini: Tikrit Campaign’s Historical Meaning
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The Iraqi forces (one-third army, two-thirds Shiite militias) that are surrounding Tikrit 80 miles north of Baghdad are not just Iraqi forces. They are mostly Shiite, though some Sunni irregulars have joined them. More important, the Tikrit campaign is being directed as to its strategy by Qasim Sulaimani, […]
From Iraq’s Next big Front: Kurdish Fighters Closing in on Mosul
VICE News | – “With the timeline unclear for a forthcoming US-led coalition assault on the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Mosul, Kurdish peshmerga fighters continue to man the trenches at the strategic junction of Keske, just outside the northern Iraqi city. VICE News traveled to Keske to meet with peshmerga fighters and to learn […]
Bombing Iran: What would Happen if the Hawks got their Way?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Some of those who believe that Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program is inevitably dual use (that it can be used to produce a nuclear weapon) are alarmed at the prospect of a diplomatic deal between Washington and Tehran that will allow Iran to continue enriching under inspections. After […]
Iraq: What is the meaning of the Assyrian capital ISIL just demolished?
Channel 4 News | – “[So-called] Islamic State [group] militants looted and bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, government officials say.” Channel 4 News: “ISIS militants demolish ancient Iraqi city of Nimrud” For more on the Assyrian palace of Nimrud see Klaudia Englud at the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative Nimrud, Northwest […]
ISIL vs the Graven Idols of History
By Elliott Colla | (Baghdad Central) – ISIS’s destruction of antiquities at the Mosul Museum and the ancient city of Nimrud has generated a lot of discussion and disgust, all of it well deserved. But much of what has been said fails to adequately contextualize these attacks in two ways. First, in the history of […]
Iraq: 30,000 Sunnis flee as Shiite Militias, Army, approach Tikrit
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) The Iraqi military and allied Shiite militias are mounting a campaign to take the largely Sunni town of Tikrit (original pop. 300,000), which is alleged to have been planned and is being directed by the Jerusalem (Quds) Brigade, the foreign special ops arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps […]