By Hakim Khatib | ( Your Middle East ) – – War in Syria The Syrian upheaval has, increasingly, been fixed in a religious framework – Sunnis against the rest, writes Hakim Khatib. “Non-religious books were substituted by religious or religiously coloured ones” When the crowds of the Iranian revolution initially rose up against Muhammad […]
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Salafis
Why Partitioning Iraq is a Terrible Idea
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – I think the remarks of outgoing US Army chief Gen. Ray Odierno on the possible partition of Iraq have been reported in a sensationalist way. He just said that Sunni-Shiite relations in Iraq are at a nadir and that the country could look different in the […]
Daesh/ ISIL takes 250 Captive, including 60 Christians in Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In more bad news for the Baath regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) fighters have taken the town of Al Qariyatain southeast of Homs and are advancing west on the nearby towns of Mheen and Sadad. These central small towns are Sunni-majority, but […]
As the Iraqi Army takes on ISIL in al-Anbar: How did we get here?
Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – Last week the Iraqi government announced that it would be commencing operations to retake Ramadi, the capital of the vast western province of Anbar from ISIL (also called ISIS and Daesh). This represents the Shiite-dominated government’s first attempt to roll back the hybrid terrorist-army in Iraq’s […]
Iraqi Government halts al-Anbar Campaign over Sectarian Fears, US Pressure
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Kuwaiti press (al-Siyasah) is alleging that the Iraqi government, under American pressure, has hit the pause button on its campaign to take al-Anbar Province back from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). The report was also carried by 24.ae in the United Arab Emirates. A source in the […]
Yemen: As Aden Falls to pro-Saudi forces, Focus now on Taiz
Natasha Ghoneim | (Aljazeera English Video report) “Houthi fighters in Yemen have fired artillery shells into the port city of Aden.The latest casualty count in the shelling is more than 40 dead and over 100 injured. The attacks come just two days after Yemen’s government-in-exile declared that Aden had been recaptured from Houthi forces.Much of […]
Did rise of Daesh/ ISIL ensure Iran Nuclear Deal?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In Iraq on Tuesday, Iraq militias and the Iraqi military launched a counter-attack on Falluja with the ultimate aim of driving Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) out of al-Anbar Province. The operation follows the successful liberation of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, from Daesh by these same forces. In […]
Pushtun Female Commandos Ready to Take on the Taliban
By Ashfaq Yusufzai | (Inter Press Service) | – – PESHAWAR, Pakistan (IPS) – For years, Robina Shah has dreamed of joining the police force. Ever since her father, a police constable, was killed in a 2013 Taliban suicide attack in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, she has longed to carry on […]
How the Washington Post got Taken in by Syria’s Taliban
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Making alliances of convenience is a perennial temptation in Washington, where policy-makers often have more ambition than ethics or common sense. Thus, the Washington Post just published a slick op-ed by a representative of the Islamic Movement of Syrian Free Men (Ahrar al-Sham) claiming that the group is “moderate” […]