Iraq

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) — Kidnappers in Baghdad are disgusing themselves in Iraqi army uniforms. There’s been a rise in crime and kidnapping in Baghdad and it seems that perpetrators are often in military uniform, driving official cars. This has led locals to suspect members of Shiite Muslim militias recently formed to […]

Displaced and Refugees

West Only has Money for Bombs? 60,000 Child Laborers in Jordan as Syrian Refugees struggle to Survive

contributors

AMMAN | (IRIN) | – Jordan is straining under the weight of its over 600,000 Syrian refugees, with government officials and aid agencies warning of dwindling resources and capacity to respond to the ever-growing needs. Yet Syrians fleeing the current conflict only make up one small portion of the country’s refugee population. For decades, the tiny […]

Bashar al-Assad

Iran eager to take leading role against extremism (Iraq, Syria FMs in Tehran)

contributors

By Maysam Bizar | (Your Middle East) — As the US-led campaign against the extremist ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria goes on, Iran, which has not taken part in the coalition, is gearing up for the Rouhani-proposed international conference ‘World Against Violence and Extremism’ (WAVE) on December 9-10 in Tehran. Maysam Bizar reports. Referring […]

Internet

Silent Mosul: Surprising Reasons Daesh/ ISIL cut Cellphone Services

contributors

By Nawzat Shamdeen | Mosul | (Niqash.org) Mobile phones are no use in Mosul any more. The extremist group controlling Mosul in northern Iraq has decided to shut down most mobile telecommunications inside the city. Rumours are flying as to why. Have they done it because they can no longer profit from the phone companies […]

Featured

Over 100 ISIL/Daesh Fighters Killed in US Airstrikes in Iraq; Attack on Syria Base Repelled

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — The US war on Daesh (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria takes up less and less space in the MSM. The group and its issues haven’t gone away, however. A source in Iraqi security told AFP Arabic that US and allied air strikes had killed about 100 fighters near Mosul on […]

Iraq

Iraq Fail: Shiite Gov’t asks Sunni tribe to fight ISIL, but Sentences Politician from Tribe to Death

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) While members of the Sunni Muslim al-Bu Ulwan tribe were fighting extremists in the Anbar province, alongside the mostly Shiite Muslim military, judges in Baghdad sentenced a politician from the tribe to death. The tribe says it feels like Baghdad has stabbed it in the back. Other Anbar […]

Iraq

Threatened by ISIL/Daesh, Kurds Maneuver between Baghdad and Ankara

contributors

Iraqi Kurds Seek Greater Balance between Ankara and Baghdad By Mohammed A. Salih ERBIL, Dec 4 2014 (IPS) – After a period of frostiness, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Turkey seem intent on mending ties, as each of the parties show signs of needing the other. But the Kurds appear more cautious this time […]

Featured

Iran-Iraq War 2.0? Iran Flies bombing Raids on Extremists in Iraq

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — The US Pentagon is confirming that Iranian F-4 fighter jets have flown bombing missions against Daesh or the so-called ‘Islamic State Group’ in Iraq. They helped Iraqi Shiites take the town of Saadiya back from Daesh late last week. That town is in the ethnically and religiously mixed province of […]

Colonialism

ISIL, Coins, and the Caliphate: Banking on Idealism

contributors

By Tareq A. Ramadan It has been recently reported by Daesh (what most Arabs call the self-styled “Islamic State Group” or IS) that it will be producing and circulating its own coinage in an attempt to purportedly offset the popularity and usage of secular, Western currencies which they dub the “oppressor’s money” [1]. For Daesh, […]