Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Leanne K Simpson | (The Conversation) | – – Violence against women, especially in war, is so pervasive around the world it’s often not considered news. But the barbaric treatment of women by the group known as Da’esh or Islamic State [group] (IS) has for once managed to attract some specific attention. When IS overran […]

Afghanistan

As ISIL goes Global, Will the ‘War on Terror’ extend for Decades?

contributors

By Paul Rogers | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The war against ISIL has seen 18 months of of airstrikes by United States-led coalition forces in both Iraq and Syria. An even more concentrated period is now under way, with signs of greater use of special forces by western militaries and pledges of ground troops […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Do Drug Profits actually drive Terrorism in the Muslim World?

contributors

Robert Rotberg | (The Conversation) | – – Terrorists are in it as much for the loot as for the ideology. . . . ISIS, could hardly exist, whatever its Islamist fervor, without hard cash from sales of pilfered petroleum, taxes on its subject population and kidnappings for ransom. Likewise ISIS- and al-Qaida-linked groups in […]

Iraq

Confirmed: ISIL used Mustard Gas Against Kurds in Iraq

contributors

TeleSur | – – A chemical weapons investigator confirmed earlier reports that the extremist group used the banned chemical weapon. [ISIL] used chemical weapons against Kurdish militants last year, Reuters reported Monday. The August 2015 attack occurred near Erbil, the capital of autonomous Kurdish Iraq. About 35 Kurdish troops were attacked with mustard gas, according […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Why is ISIL still trying to Slaughter and Enslave the ancient Yazidi Minority?

contributors

By Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – On February 3, the New York Times quoted the desperate plea of a Yazidi, a member of an ethnic-religious group facing communal extermination at the hands of ISIS jihadi terrorists. In simple, but moving terms he summed up the plight of his people, whose ancestral […]

Arab World

VICE Special Report: Fighting Isis (Ben Anderson Debrief)

Nicholas Kolenda

Ben Anderson of VICE gives a chilling report on Da’esh: the events that led to their rise and the situation as of today.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

The ISIL Challenge: Neither WW III nor a Minor Threat

contributors

By Julie Poucher Harbin, editor/ Alberto Fernandez | ISLAMiCommentary | – – Dozens of Middle East studies scholars, students and the general public packed a public talk — “Beyond Hysteria and Apologia: The ISIS Challenge in Perspective” — given by retired US diplomat Ambassador Alberto Fernandez. “ISIS is neither the coming of World War 3, […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Daesh/ ISIL making Play for Moderate Muslims, as GOP Candidates deny they Exist

Juan Cole

By John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – While ISIS makes war on the world’s vast majority of “moderate Muslims,” hardliners in the West pretend they don’t exist. In the 13th century, the Italian town of Lucera was a Muslim island in a sea of Christendom. Here Frederick II, the head […]