Middle East

Via RFE/RL Iraqi Kurdish leader Masud Barzani has said that there is no going back on autonomous Kurdish rule in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other northern towns that Kurdish fighters are now defending against Sunni Islamist militants. Speaking at a press conference on June 27 with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in the […]

censorship

The Fate of Dissenters in Al-Sisi’s Egypt: The New “Disappeared”

contributors

By Jihad Abaza As Abdel Fattah el-Sissi assumes his new role as Egypt’s president, enforced disappearances are on the rise in the Middle East’s most populous country, according to a recent press release by Amnesty International. Dozens of civilians have been kidnapped by police in plainclothes and detained at military camps since the 2011 uprising, […]

Featured

Baghdad Strikes Back: Al-Maliki Launches Battle for Tikrit

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki is fighting for his political life as well as for the territorial integrity of Iraq. On Saturday he launched a large military operation in an attempt to take back control of Tikrit (the capital of Salahuddin Province) just to the north of the capital, Baghdad. Al-Maliki has lost […]

Iraq

Iraqi Mosul’s Child Soldiers: ISIS Trickily recruits 10-year-olds

contributors

niqash | Special Correspondent | Mosul | Much to the horror of the city’s adults, children and teens in masks, carrying guns, are becoming an increasingly common sight on Mosul’s streets. NIQASH meets ISIS’s youngest recruit – he’s ten years old – and asks the city’s youth why they think it’s so glamorous to fight […]

Hizbullah

Sunni Radicals of ISIS seek showdown with Lebanon’s Hizbullah

contributors

By Radwan Mortada The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has decided to instigate a full-scale conflagration in Lebanon. All indications show that the al-Qaeda offshoot is resolved to bring back suicide bombings en masse to the country of the cedars. After all, Lebanon is within the borders of ISIS’ coveted emirate, yet its […]

Barack Obama

Top 5 Reasons US Aid to “Moderate” Syrian Fighters is Quixotic

Juan Cole

The Obama administration’s fruitless search for effective Sunni “moderate” fighters in Syria continues, with the announcement of a $500 million grant to them for training and weaponry. This policy seems in part to be driven by Saudi Arabia from abroad and by liberal interventionists, including Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and UN Ambassador Susan […]

Dissent

Iraqi Idol: Tikrit Woman who Confronted ISIS Becomes Internet Sensation

contributors

By Osama Hassan | Tikrit Sad story: Tikrit woman Umiyia Jibara was killed by an ISIS sniper. In a country currently full of sad tales, the tragic death of a Tikrit women’s affairs adviser has drawn particular attention. The Sunni Muslim woman was supporting her family as they stood against Sunni Muslim extremists when she […]

Iraq

Dear Neocons: Why we’re not Sending Combat Troops to Iraq no matter how much you Pout

contributors

By Scott Corey There are only three things wrong with the idea of sending combat troops to Iraq at this time, as a range of hawks from Bill Kristol to Sen. John McCain has suggested. It is foolish obedience to bad allies. It abandons President Obama’s wise doctrine of self-limited commitment. And it prematurely commits […]

Arab Spring

July 1: Juan’s new Book, “The New Arabs” hits the Shelves

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole For those of you who like “long reads,” my new book will be out next Tuesday. For those of you intending to buy it, let me suggest that you all purchase it on its publication date, July 1. The way the publishing metrics work, if you can get the book to a […]