Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Human Rights Watch | – – All Forces Should Take Necessary Precautions to Protect Civilians (Erbil) – In areas around Mosul, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is forcibly evacuating civilians under their control with its fighters, apparently to use them as human shields. There are also grave concerns that ISIS is rounding up […]

Iraq

Mosul Is My Hometown, Here Is Why ISIL Was Able To Stay There

contributors

Special Correspondent | Baghdad | Niqash.org | – – NIQASH’s Mosul correspondent explains why people in the city did not resist the [so-called] Islamic State group at first, why his family and others decided to stay and how extremists kept control of a city of around 2 million. Mohammed* is NIQASH’s Mosul correspondent. He grew […]

Iraq

Payback Time: Mosul Militias Backstabbed By ISIL Plot Revenge

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – It’s not only the Iraqi army gunning for the Islamic State in Mosul. The extremists’ former allies, who helped them control the city, have also declared a desire for revenge, two years after they were betrayed. On October 17, just before dawn in Iraq, the […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Is the Islamic State finished? Five possible scenarios

contributors

By James L. Gelvin | (The Conversation) | – – Most military analysts believe it’s only a matter of time before Mosul falls. Mosul is Iraq’s third largest city. The Islamic State captured it in June 2014 during a campaign that left it in control of territory the size of the United Kingdom. But on […]

Iraq

Will Turkey, Iran & Iraq make the Mosul Campaign a Land Grab?

contributors

By James Miller | ( RFE/RL ) | – – We may be witnessing the end of the extremist group, the [so-called] Islamic State [group] (IS), as we know it. Over the weekend, the coalition of Turkish military soldiers and Syrian rebel groups, backed by a small number of U.S. Special Operations Forces and air […]

Arab World

The Mosul Campaign and the 3rd Presidential Debate

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Some of the more extended comments on the Mosul campaign were those of Hillary Clinton. Here is Wallace’s question: WALLACE: . . . let’s move on to the subject of foreign hot spots. The Iraqi offensive to take back Mosul has begun. If they are successful […]

Featured

7 Things to Know about Mosul

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Iraqi government has announced that the campaign to take the large northern city of Mosul back from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) has begun in earnest. The Iraqi Army, the Peshmerga (Kurdistan Regional Government national guard), Sunni Arab tribal levies, and Shiite militiamen from the south are […]

Featured

ISIL’s loss of Dabiq: It was never about Armageddon, but Weak States

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Albawaba has an interview with political scientist Khalid Rif`at of the Tayyiba Center for Political Studies, saying that the forced withdrawal of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) from the town of Dabiq in northern Syria on Sunday under heavy Turkish army bombardment and in the face of advancing […]

Iraq

Sunni Clans in Iraq threaten Reprisals against ISIL Collaborators

contributors

Kamal al-Ayash | Anbar | (Niqash.org) | – – In Ramadi, tribes are marking houses belonging to suspected Islamic State [group] collaborators with special graffiti. Often the houses are demolished two or three days later. But the tribes can also get it wrong. Graffiti on walls in Ramadi calling for tribal justice. (photo: Kamal al-Ayash) […]