Arab World

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (a super-province of Iraq) said Thursday that the KRG paramilitary, the Peshmerga, will not enter Mosul. He also remarked that last week’s Daesh attack on Kirkuk was an attempt to divert attention from the terrorist organization’s failures […]

Iraq

Int’l Conflict over Aleppo & Mosul is Making local Civil Wars Worse

contributors

By Christopher Hill | (Project Syndicate) | – – DENVER – The Middle East’s tragic tale of two cities – Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq – speaks to a fundamental lack of consensus in the region and within the broader international community. The lack of order in the international order is greatly complicating […]

Saudi Arabia

Why is the US helping Saudi Arabia target Yemen’s future?

Neil Thompson

London (Informed Comment) – Saudi Arabia has long been accused of needlessly hitting civilian targets during its air campaign in neighbouring Yemen. Most commentators have put this down to a mixture of indifference and military incompetence on the part of the Saudi armed forces. Their capabilities against hardened fighters like the rebel Houthis were long […]

Featured

Trump says Clinton will Start WW III with Russia, but Moscow Disagrees

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Donald Trump alleged on Tuesday that if elected, Hillary Clinton would start World War III with Russia over Syria. He wondered how Clinton would be able to negotiate with Putin, whom she has demonized, and said that her plan for a no-fly zone over Syria would […]

Featured

Why Trump is (really) wrong to bet against US Military-backed Mosul Campaign

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As Josh Rogin pointed out, Donald Trump’s pronouncement that the Mosul campaign is bound to fail is an affront to the Iraqi and US troops risking their lives against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). It is also just plain wrong, and the terms of his pronouncement show once […]

Featured

Iraqi Kurdistan forces take Bashiqa on road to Mosul

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Sunday, AFP reports in Arabic, Iraqi forces continued their advance on Mosul despite the car bombs and sniping tactics of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). They moreover were able to expel a whole group of Daesh fighters. Sunday morning, the Peshmerga, the paramilitary of the Kurdistan Regional […]

Iraq

Will Kurdish Soldiers Withdraw From Parts Of Mosul Their Leaders Covet?

contributors

By Histyar Qader | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | – – Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan have agreed where Kurdish military should fight. But, as commanders worry, there’s been no agreement as to how long Kurdish soldiers will stay after the Islamic State leave. According to a statement from the Iraqi Kurdish government, around 35,000 of their […]

Featured

ISIL feint toward Kirkuk defeated, but Kills hundreds in Mosul

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Aside from the slow, steady advances being made by the Iraqi army and its allies against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in Mosul, the two big stories on Friday and Saturday morning were a diversionary attack on Kirkuk by the fundamentalist organization, and CNN’s discovery that Daesh killed […]

Libya

Failing Libya

contributors

By Alison Pargeter | ( OpenDemocracy) | – – If peace and national unity in Libya seem remote five years after the fall of the Qadhafi regime, western powers and the international community bear much of the responsibility. On 20 October 2011, former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi was dragged out of his sewage-pipe hideout […]