Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

By David Patrikarakos | ( RFE/RL ) | – – The town of Dabiq, in northern Syria, around 25 miles from Aleppo, with its population of just under 3,500, is an unimpressive site for a battle that is supposed to herald the Apocalypse. Yet, according to the Hadith (a collection of reports about the sayings […]

Iraq

The Graveyard of ISIL

contributors

By Mustafa Sadoun | Fallujah | ( Niqash.org) | – – NIQASH visits an ISIL cemetery in Fallujah and finds the hastily built, last resting places of several of the group’s leaders, as well as unusual ideas for what to do with the place in the long run. A still from the Iraqi military’s video […]

Iraq

As Battle w/ ISIL for Mosul nears, Iraq should exclude Abusive Militias

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – Role of Abusive Armed Forces, Treatment, and Screening of Detainees (Beirut) – The Iraqi government should make a commitment to prevent any armed forces implicated in laws of war violations from participating in planned operations against the extremist armed group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) in Mosul, Human […]

Iraq

In Mosul, ISIL Extremists Wall in Residents, prepare for Armageddon

contributors

Special Correspondent | Mosul | (Niqash.org) | – – In Mosul, the Islamic State is preparing for a siege, building walls, tunnels and trenches and boasting that, like the Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century, they will be able to withstand any attacks. Locals doubt it. In Mosul, members of the extremist group that control […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Trump’s Pro-ISIS Foreign Policy

contributors

By Fawaz A. Gerges | ( Project Syndicate ) | – – LONDON – Donald Trump’s recent claim that his opponent in the US presidential race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Barack Obama founded the Islamic State is vicious nonsense. But it is also an ironic charge for Trump to make: if […]

Featured

Obama: End terrorism like that in New York by Destroying ISIL in Mosul, Iraq

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama met yesterday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi and discussed the coming campaign to take the northern Iraqi city of Mosul away from Daesh, entirely destroying the terrorist organization’s territorial power in Iraq. Obama expects the campaign to be launched before the end of […]

Iraq

End of the ‘Caliphate’ in Iraq? After Qayyarah, Mosul hangs in the Balance

contributors

Special Correspondent | (Niqash.org) | – – The liberation of the northern Iraqi town of Qayyarah from the [so-called] Islamic State group [IS] is a strategic victory in defeating the extremists, in addition to being a major financial blow to their efforts. Since it was liberated by Iraqi forces last month, Qayyarah has come to […]

Iraq

Can ISIL survive scenes of Sunni Muslims celebrating their Liberation from it?

contributors

By James Miller | ( RFE/RL) What a difference a month makes. At the start of August, the extremist group that calls itself Islamic State (IS) [group]controlled a large part of the border between Syria and Turkey, while the U.S.-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), a multiethnic group made up primarily of Kurdish YPG fighters, raced […]

Featured

With Defeat Looming, ISIL haunts Syria with 6 Bombings, Killing 53

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) is still acting like a military organization, but it has always mixed military with terrorist tactics. On Monday it slid toward the terrorist side of the spectrum, setting off 6 coordinated bombings that left over four dozen people dead. It mainly targeted, however, […]