Shiites

By Charles Recknagel, RFE/RL The United States is putting together the first international coalition to try to roll back the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria. But when the nearly 40-state-strong alliance starts operations, it will find that there is already another coalition on the ground whose presence could complicate the U.S.-led effort […]

Featured

Shiite Militias of Iraq Reject US Return, Threaten to Attack US Forces

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The pan-Arab, London-based daily, “Al-Sharq al-Awsat” (The Middle East) reports that the major Shiite militias of Iraq are denouncing Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi for welcoming US air support in the fight against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Prime Minister al-Abadi himself rejected conventional US ground troops for […]

Iraq

As Sunni MPs Plea for Precision US Strikes, Iraqi Gov’t Kills 31 in School Shelter

contributors

Human Rights Watch (Erbil) – The Iraqi government should promptly investigate an airstrike that hit a school housing displaced people near Tikrit on September 1, 2014. The attack killed at least 31 civilians, including 24 children, and wounded 41 others. According to three survivors, no fighters from the armed group Islamic State or other military […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Remember Pres. Obama Saying ISIL Campaign like Yemen? Here’s Yemen

contributors

Middle East Eye: “Houthis take to the streets to mourn the protesters killed during a sit-in at a government ministry last week, as their pro-government rivals call for more state control of weapons.” Middle East Eye: “Fears of a new civil war in Yemen as negotiations continue”

Democracy

New Iraqi Government: Less than Meets the Eye?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The Iraqi parliament finally voted in the government of new Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi on Monday, in what US Secretary of State John Kerry called a “turning point.” There are reasons, however, to be cautious about pinning too many hopes on the new government. Although al-Abadi is a more congenial and less […]

Featured

Iraq: Is the Battle of Amerli a Turning Point?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The Iraqi military is maintaining that it has successfully relieved the town of Amerli (pop. 15,000) in northern Iraq from a siege by ISIL (the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). If true, this is the first success of the Baghdad military against ISIL since Mosul fell in early June. […]

Iraq

Iraq Crisis: Will Sunni Tribes of Besieged Falluja Turn on IS There?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Fallujah | via Niqash.org Recently most of the attention has been on northern Iraq. But military action in western Iraq has been going on for months, after areas came under control of Sunni Muslim extremists and other anti-government groups. Some, like the city of Fallujah, have been under constant attack from […]

Iraq

As Int’l Powers focus on Kurds and Sunni Arabs, have Shiite Politicians lost Iraq Forever?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | via Niqash.org In Baghdad [last] week, Iraq’s most senior Shiite Muslim politicians are lamenting their increasing isolation from the international community. The EU and the US are bypassing Baghdad to support Iraq’s Kurdish forces militarily; they’re also holding meetings with Iraq’s Sunni Muslim leaders and have apparently promised to support […]

Featured

Iraq: Bombs & Bullets vs. Political Process

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole A series of bombings and shootings left some 35 dead in Iraq on Saturday, following on a massacre of 68 worshipers Friday at a Sunni Mosque in mixed Diyala Province. This violence was strategic, not random. One side effect was a severe setback in the attempt of Haydar al-Abadi, the prime minister […]