Arab World

Human Rights Watch | – – Witnesses Describe Executions (Erbil) – A mass grave discovered near Mosul by Iraqi Security Forces on November 7, 2016, most likely contains the bodies of at least 300 former local police officers executed by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Witnesses said that they believe that at the […]

Iraq

After ISIL, is there any hope of Iraqi National Unity?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – The fight against the [so-called] Islamic State [group, or IS] has united Iraqis. Details of a new Shiite-sponsored plan that will try and make that unity last leaked in Baghdad last week. If the extremist group that caused Iraq’s current security crisis starting mid-2014, have done […]

Donald Trump

Syria’s al-Assad: Trump “a natural ally”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In an interview with Portugal television Wednesday, according to al-Hayat, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad said that Donald Trump will be “a natural ally” for Damascus if his administration fights “terrorism.” Asked if he was prepared to work with Trump, al-Assad said, “Naturally, I say that is […]

Displaced and Refugees

Dear Mayor Giuliani: We can’t turn our backs on Syrian Refugees

contributors

Akil Awan | (Informed Comment) | – – I recently visited Jordan as part of my work on political violence and youth radicalisation for the United Nations on Security Council Resolution 2250. Jordan borders Syria to its north, and although Jordanians display a remarkable sense of normalcy in their everyday lives, visitors cannot really escape […]

Arab World

Shadow Wars: The Secret Struggle for the Middle East

contributors

By Christopher M. Davidson | (Informed Comment) | – – Swept along on a tidal wave of euphoria, by spring 2011 many had cautiously begun to believe that the wave of Arab uprisings that had already managed to topple the regimes of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak would herald the dawn of […]

Iraq War

A Gwen Ifill Interview with Juan Cole on Iraq & US Withdrawal: In Memoriam

Juan Cole

Gwen Ifill/ Juan Cole | (PBS NewsHour) | – – Gwen Ifill, long-time co-anchor of the PBS Newshour, is dead at 61, after a battle with cancer. She was an expert interviewer, and she discussed Iraq with me many times on the NewsHour. I was so lucky to have been on with her. Ifill was […]

Featured

Putin targets East Aleppo rebels; Did Trump’s Election doom them?

Juan Cole

by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Some 2,000 rebel fighters, most of them Muslim fundamentalists, others remnants of the Free Syrian Army, are trying to break the Syrian regime’s blockade of East Aleppo. But they may soon face cruise missiles launched at them from Russian submarines in the Mediterranean, along with other […]

Iraq

Iraq’s Mosul Campaign: ISIL using civilians as Human Shields

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – All Forces Should Take Necessary Precautions to Protect Civilians (Erbil) – In areas around Mosul, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is forcibly evacuating civilians under their control with its fighters, apparently to use them as human shields. There are also grave concerns that ISIS is rounding up […]

Iraq

Mosul Is My Hometown, Here Is Why ISIL Was Able To Stay There

contributors

Special Correspondent | Baghdad | Niqash.org | – – NIQASH’s Mosul correspondent explains why people in the city did not resist the [so-called] Islamic State group at first, why his family and others decided to stay and how extremists kept control of a city of around 2 million. Mohammed* is NIQASH’s Mosul correspondent. He grew […]