Sunnis

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – Refugees from Ramadi trying to escape the city and extremists. Last week’s small extremist victories in Ramadi were fuelled by the work of sleeper cells, who spread rumours and panic that saw security forces abandoning the city and locals fleeing for Baghdad. But those worst fears were never […]

Colonialism

Palestinian-Israelis: Hundreds pray outside closed mosque in Beersheba

contributors

BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) — Some 250 Palestinians performed Friday prayers outside a mosque in Beersheba in southern Israel that Israeli authorities have kept closed since 1948. The prayers came amid heavy Israeli police presence, with police sealing the roads leading toward the mosque. The initiative was called for by Sheikh Hassan Abu Ubeid from al-Ramla along […]

Iraq

“We had to destroy Tikrit to save it from ISIL”: Recovered Iraqi City a Ghost Town

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Tikrit | (Niqash.org) – It’s been almost a month since the Islamic State group was expelled from Tikrit. NIQASH went there and found a graffiti-covered ghost town ruled by opposing groups of gunmen, none of whom trust one another. In Basha Street in the centre of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, […]

Iraq

Iraq’s Future in the Balance: Will Sunni Arab Tribes join or fight ISIL?

contributors

By Khales Joumah | Mosul | (Niqash.org) | – The key to long lasting victory in northern Iraq is the loyalty of it’s Sunni Muslim tribes. Both the Iraqi Kurdish and the extremists are starting new flirtations with the tribal leaders of Ninawa. But how genuine are these suitors? At a recent meeting in Ninawa, […]

Iraq

Iraq: Shiite Gov’t faces Mammoth Task in taking Sunni al-Anbar from ISIL

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – Only a few hours after the start of the next big military campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq, things [went] wrong. Anbar will not be like Salahaddin – there are social, political, military and geographical obstacles to overcome first. Last week the Iraqi government, buoyed […]

Dissent

Iraq: Why it doesn’t Matter if Ezzat al-Douri was Killed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The currently partly unemployed Iraqi governor of Salahuddin Province, displaced from much of his territory by Daesh (ISIS or ISIL), maintains that former Baath vice president of Iraq under Saddan Hussain, Ezzat al-Douri, has been killed by Shiite militias in a firefight north of Tikrit in the Hamrin […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Juan Cole: Syria, Yemen Conflicts only seem to be about Sunni-Shiite from 30,000 Feet

Juan Cole

David Speedie | (Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs) | – David Speedie of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs interviewed me in New York on Monday. Below is an excerpt of the transcript, but the whole thing is at their web site. Also below is the video of the interview. DAVID […]

Iraq

Iraq: ISIL was Chased from Tikrit, other Towns: But Gov’t still AWOL

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – A wave of victories against extremists should have seen civilian life slowly return to Iraq’s liberated cities. Instead there’s chaos and nobody knows who’s in charge. What kind of forward planning does the government have in mind? The cities from which Iraq’s pro-government forces have expelled the […]

Houthi

Yemeni Refugees flee to Saudi Arabia as Aden is invaded & Sanaa bombarded

contributors

Reuters | – “Houthi forces fought battles street by street with local militia in Aden as aid workers say the city faces a humanitarian catastrophe. Mana Rabiee reports.” Reuters: “Yemen’s Houthis battle over central Aden, first medical aid arrives”