Iraq

By Juan Cole The Iraqi military is maintaining that it has successfully relieved the town of Amerli (pop. 15,000) in northern Iraq from a siege by ISIL (the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). If true, this is the first success of the Baghdad military against ISIL since Mosul fell in early June. […]

Iraq

Iraq Crisis: Will Sunni Tribes of Besieged Falluja Turn on IS There?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Fallujah | via Niqash.org Recently most of the attention has been on northern Iraq. But military action in western Iraq has been going on for months, after areas came under control of Sunni Muslim extremists and other anti-government groups. Some, like the city of Fallujah, have been under constant attack from […]

Bashar al-Assad

Obama, al-Assad and ISIL update FB Status: It’s Complicated

contributors

AJ+ AJ+ Will The US Bomb IS Group (AKA ISIS) In Syria?

Counter-Terrorism

ISIS: How to Defeat a Phony “Caliphate”

contributors

By John Esposito via Huffington Post Containing and ultimately defeating ISIS will require both short and long-term response. ISIS expansion has been made possible by political conditions in Syria and Iraq, ethnic-religious/sectarian divisions and violence and terror in the region, and the failures of the US and international community. Bashar al-Assad’s unprincipled and disproportionate military […]

Climate Change

US Public Worried about ISIL, Putin– But Climate Change is Real Challenge

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole In a new Pew/ USA Today poll, the American public shows itself alarmed by the rise of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in northern Iraq and Syria as a threat to US security, finding it more threatening even than Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who has risen on the villain […]

Iraq

As Int’l Powers focus on Kurds and Sunni Arabs, have Shiite Politicians lost Iraq Forever?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | via Niqash.org In Baghdad [last] week, Iraq’s most senior Shiite Muslim politicians are lamenting their increasing isolation from the international community. The EU and the US are bypassing Baghdad to support Iraq’s Kurdish forces militarily; they’re also holding meetings with Iraq’s Sunni Muslim leaders and have apparently promised to support […]

Iraq

Why Would They Stay? Making Sense of ISIS and Iraqi Sunnis

contributors

By Nathan Spannaus ISIS’s meteoric rise to prominence has brought renewed attention on Iraq’s Sunni population and their relationship with radical forms of extremism. Outside of Iraq, the condemnations of ISIS have been frequent. In light of its recent media notoriety, dozens of governments and institutions within the Islamic world have spoken out against the […]

Iraq

Veils, Gloves and Violence: New Extremist Rules See Women Disappear From Mosul’s Streets

contributors

By Nawzat Shamdeen | Mosul | via Niqash.org Extremists are forcing Mosul’s women to wear full facial veils. Mosul was always a conservative city when it came to women’s rights. However the Sunni Muslim extremists who took control of the town have made it even more difficult for females. Women must now wear facial veils […]

Iraq

Iraq: Another Town besieged by IS: Is Amerli the next Sinjar?

contributors

By Ahmad Mohammed | Kirkuk | Niqash.org Demonstrators call on the government to help the besieged town of Amerli. In Salahaddin, a drama of historic proportions is playing out in the town of Amerli. Surrounded by extremist territory, around 400 townspeople have been defending themselves for over 70 days now. The town, which is sheltering […]