Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The terrorist organization known as Daesh in the Middle East and Europe but as ISIS or ISIL in the US is in a death spiral. Daesh hit its peak of territory in 2015 on taking Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s al-Anbar province. Since then, it has […]

Human Rights Watch

Iraq: ISIS Dumped Hundreds in Mass Grave

contributors

Via Human Rights Watch | – – Security Forces, Prisoners, Women, Among Those Executed (Erbil) – The Islamic State (also known as ISIS) executed and dumped the bodies of possibly hundreds of detainees at a site near Mosul, Human Rights Watch said today. Multiple witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the bodies of those killed, […]

Iraq

Ghosts Of ISIL: While All Eyes are On Mosul, Extremists Return To Other Iraqi Provinces

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – – While Iraq’s pro-government forces battle on in Mosul, extremists are heading back to other provinces. Locals say the number of attacks keep rising – and that something needs to be done before it is too late. In the town of Baiji in central-northern Iraq, a senior police […]

Archaeology

Syrian Musicians Celebrate Palmyra’s Liberation

contributors

TeleSur | – – The city and its ruins, designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1980, have traded hands several times during Syria’s six-year civil war. The 15-year-old’s voice floated over the ancient Roman theater, heavily damaged then abandoned by Islamic State group members Thursday as Syrian army forces drew near, eventually liberating the […]

Copts

Sectarian Tensions Flare in Egypt as Christians flee ISIL in Sinai

contributors

By Brian Whitaker | (Al-Bab.com) | – – Several hundred Egyptian Christians have fled their homes in North Sinai over the last few days following a series of murders attributed to supporters of the so-called Islamic State. Since the end of January at least seven people have been attacked and killed in the provincial capital, […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Palmyra: Trump about to find out that Hizbullah best anti-ISIL Fighters

contributors

TeleSur | – – The so-called Islamic State group [ISIL] has razed ancient monuments during both of its spells in control of Palmyra, a destruction the United Nations has condemned as a war crime. Syrian government forces and their allies fought their way into Palmyra Wednesday, driving back ISIL who have held the historic city […]

Iraq

ISIL: In Iraq’s desert, mass grave horror beneath the dirt

contributors

AFP | (Video News Report) | – – “The sinkhole that could be the largest mass grave in Iraq’s latest conflict is barely visible from the road, nothing more than a small depression behind a desert ridge near Mosul. The Islamic State group transformed the Khasfah into a “place of death”, using it as an […]

Authoritarianism

Will Trump use the Next ISIL attack to sweep away our Liberties?

contributors

By Allison Beth Hodgkins | (Informed Comment) | – – You have to hand to the civil society groups pushing back on the Trump administration’s recent executive orders banning the entry of Syrian refugees and all other types of visa holders from Syria, Iran and five other majority Muslim countries in the Middle East and […]

Iraq

Militia Feuding, Insecurity in East Mosul hold up Advance on ISIL

contributors

Mustafa Habib | ( Niqash.org ) | – – The biggest problem in eastern Mosul, post-extremists, is security. The Iraqi army needs to move on, to fight in western Mosul, but they cannot leave the eastern city to a variety of militias, fighting among themselves. The praise for the hard fighting that Iraq’s pro-government forces […]