Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Some of the more extended comments on the Mosul campaign were those of Hillary Clinton. Here is Wallace’s question: WALLACE: . . . let’s move on to the subject of foreign hot spots. The Iraqi offensive to take back Mosul has begun. If they are successful […]

Featured

ISIL Boasts: America will go down to defeat in the Streets of Mosul

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – AFP is reporting that a news agency linked to Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), “A`maq,” is carrying a video of a Daesh fighter who swears that he and his colleagues will inflict a decisive defeat on the US in Iraq, as the guerrillas spread through the streets of […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli Jim Crow: US-led ‘Peace Process’ Completely Collapses

contributors

By Sandy Tolan | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Washington has finally thrown in the towel on its long, tortured efforts to establish peace between Israel and the Palestinians. You won’t find any acknowledgement of this in the official record. Formally, the U.S. still supports a two-state solution to the conflict. But the Obama administration’s recent […]

Iraq

Even if Mosul is liberated, it won’t be the end of Islamic State

contributors

Simon Mabon | (The Conversation) | – – After weeks of speculation about an attempt to retake the city of Mosul from the so-called Islamic State (IS), Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi proclaimed the start of the offensive. “God willing, the decisive battle will be soon,” he said at a press conference. This could well […]

Featured

7 Things to Know about Mosul

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Iraqi government has announced that the campaign to take the large northern city of Mosul back from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) has begun in earnest. The Iraqi Army, the Peshmerga (Kurdistan Regional Government national guard), Sunni Arab tribal levies, and Shiite militiamen from the south are […]

Israel/ Palestine

As Winter Comes: 75,000 Palestinians in Gaza still Homeless from Israeli Airstrikes

contributors

By Ma’an News Agency | – – GAZA (Ma’an) — The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov Thursday expressed concerns over the situation in Gaza, and urged Israel to understand that its policies on the besieged enclave only “escalates violence.” Mladenov stressed in the statement that Israeli authorities must come […]

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ISIL’s loss of Dabiq: It was never about Armageddon, but Weak States

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Albawaba has an interview with political scientist Khalid Rif`at of the Tayyiba Center for Political Studies, saying that the forced withdrawal of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) from the town of Dabiq in northern Syria on Sunday under heavy Turkish army bombardment and in the face of advancing […]

Houthi

US Should Stop Making Excuses for Saudi Violations in Yemen

contributors

By Priyanka Motaparthy | ( Human Rights Watch) | – – Despite rising outrage over the bloody civilian toll in Yemen’s war, the United States administration is showing no signs of breaking with – or attempting to check – the actions of its ally Saudi Arabia, the leader of the nine-nation coalition against the Houthi […]

Iraq

Sunni Clans in Iraq threaten Reprisals against ISIL Collaborators

contributors

Kamal al-Ayash | Anbar | (Niqash.org) | – – In Ramadi, tribes are marking houses belonging to suspected Islamic State [group] collaborators with special graffiti. Often the houses are demolished two or three days later. But the tribes can also get it wrong. Graffiti on walls in Ramadi calling for tribal justice. (photo: Kamal al-Ayash) […]