Syria

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Update: Daesh (IS, ISIS, ISIL) has said they were behind the attack. Paris was hit by at least two well-trained and -equipped terrorist cells in a coordinated attack on 6 or 7 soft targets on Friday night. The attack that took the most lives, over 120 […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

The life of ‘Jihadi John’: how one man became the symbol of ISIL

contributors

By Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | – – Dubbed “Jihadi John” by the British media after video footage of his murderous exploits was seen around the world, Mohammed Emwazi became a symbol of a complex conflict – a shorthand for the evil threatening the West as well as those in Syria and Iraq. On […]

Featured

Kurdish Fighters cut Road between ISIL centers of Raqqa and Mosul

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Al-Arabiya reports that the Security Council in Iraqi Kurdistan has announced that their paramilitary, the Peshmerga have taken 150 square kilometers of the city of Sinjar from Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) and has the entire city surrounded. Some sources say that 70% of the city has fallen […]

Featured

Are 2,000 Gulf fighters in Syria a terrorist threat to . . . the Gulf?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A Saudi preacher has given a press briefing on young men from the Gulf fighting against the al-Assad regime. Although the Hizbullah fighters from Lebanon are often mentioned in the US press as an example of foreign interference, there is little mention of this Gulf contingent. […]

Jabhat al-Nusra

Syria: The Other Front, not ISIL or Assad: al-Qaeda al-Nusra

contributors

Medyan Dairieh | VICE News | (Video Report) – – “VICE News filmmaker Medyan Dairieh gains exclusive access to the Syrian branch of al Qaeda, al Nusra, a jihadist group fighting against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the Islamic State (IS). Spending more than a month with al Nusra and exploring their expanding territory, Dairieh […]

Christianity

Syria: Christian Militia to the Rescue as 1000s of Christians flee ISIL approach

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Despite Russian airstrikes, Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) has made some advances in November. One place it has had some success is Homs province, which is vulnerable because Daesh has a position in Palmyra. At the beginning of November, Daesh took Maheen and advanced toward the major Christian […]

Children

400,000 Syrian Refugee Children Can’t Go To School In Turkey

contributors

AJ+ | (Video Report) | – – “Even though Syrian refugee children can legally go to school in Turkey, language barriers and economic struggles make it hard for them to actually attend.” AJ+: “400,000 Syrian Refugee Children Can’t Go To School In Turkey”

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Russian Branch of Syria’s al-Qaeda appeals for Funding from Russian Muslims

contributors

By Joanna Paraszczuk | ( RFE/RL “Do you think you’re safe from the fires of hell? Give yourself a chance — help mujahedin on the path of God!” Thus reads a new fund-raising advertisement published on the VKontakte social network this week by the Russian-speaking battalion of Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front. “Do you […]

Featured

In Rare Victory, Syrian Army breaks ISIL siege of West Aleppo

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The extensive Russian bombing campaign in support of the Syrian Arab Army of the Bashar al-Assad regime has yielded fewer victories than Moscow had hoped, and some of them have been reversed by al-Qaeda, ISIL or other fighters. But on Wednesday it was reported that the […]