Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

By David Morrison | (OpenDemocracy) | – – Tony Blair was warned by his intelligence chiefs that invading Iraq would increase the terror threat facing Britain. If MPs had known this, would they have voted for war? Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller was the director general of MI5, the UK’s domestic intelligence agency, from October 2002 until […]

Featured

In Rare Victory, Syrian Army breaks ISIL siege of West Aleppo

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The extensive Russian bombing campaign in support of the Syrian Arab Army of the Bashar al-Assad regime has yielded fewer victories than Moscow had hoped, and some of them have been reversed by al-Qaeda, ISIL or other fighters. But on Wednesday it was reported that the […]

Egypt

Who are the ISIL Fighters in Egypt’s Sinai, claiming to down Plane?

contributors

By Joanna Paraszczuk | ( RFE/RL ) | – – A [so-called] Islamic State [group] (IS) affiliate in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has claimed that it downed a Russian charter plane that crashed in a mountainous area of the Sinai Peninsula on October 31. Russia’s transport minister has denied the claims. The Airbus A321 — carrying […]

Egypt

Why ISIL is a Vast Exaggeration: & No, it can’t Shoot down Planes

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in the Sinai Peninsula made a big deal of claiming they shot down a Russian airliner Saturday morning. They did not. The plane was at 30,000 feet when it got into trouble. Anti-aircraft weaponry like Manpads can’t reach those altitudes. This kind of […]

Featured

Syria: US Boots on Ground risks Conflict with Turkey, not Russia

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The White House’s announcement on Friday that the US will keep “less than 50” special ops troops at an HQ of the Kurdish YPG in northeast Syria for the purposes of training and strategic counseling raised concerns in some quarters that Russia might inadvertently bomb US […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Why Russia Fears ISIL: Panic over Domestic Terror Plots & Wave of Arrests

contributors

By Joanna Paraszczuk | ( RFE/ RL ) | – – Russia appears to be cracking down on Muslims and labor migrants in response to what it says are domestic terror threats from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group with reports of mass arrests of “IS-linked suspects” last week. The apparent crackdown comes amid heightened […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

More of Iraq’s Kurdish Women Training to Fight Extremists

contributors

Shalaw Mohammed | Erbil | ( Niqash.org ) | – – Increasing numbers of Iraqi Kurdish women are training to become soldiers; they want to join their men in the fight against the extremist Islamic State group. Silaf Muslih doesn’t believe there should be any difference between males and females on the battlefields of Iraq. […]

al-Qaeda

ISIL, al-Qaeda in Syria call for Holy War against Russia

contributors

By Joanna Paraszczuk | ( RFE/ RL Both the [so-called] Islamic State (IS) group and Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front, this week called for attacks against Russia, as Russian air strikes in Syria continue — though not against IS targets. IS broke two weeks of silence on the Russian air strikes in Syria on […]

Featured

Syria: Will US arming of Kurdish-led Northeast Rebels Provoke Turkey?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The intrepid Anne Barnard and Karim Shoumali at the NYT have a piece on how Saudi-supplied TOW anti-tank weapons to rebels in Hama and Idlib are creating a US-Russian proxy struggle in northwest Syria (the CIA is actually the source of the weapons, with Saudi intelligence […]