Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

By: Ramzy Baroud – (Ma’an News Agency) – – As much of the Middle East sinks deeper into division between competing political camps, the so-called ‘Islamic State’ (‘IS’) continues its unhindered march towards a twisted version of a Muslim caliphate. Many thousands have lost their lives, some in the most torturous ways, so that ‘IS’ […]

Iraq

After ISIL? Shiite Militias begin Entering Iraqi Politics

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Once they were focused on fighting extremists. Now Iraq’s controversial volunteer Shiite militias seem to be preparing the ground for their political debut. It’s been extremely hot in Iraq over the past few weeks – summer temperatures have gone as high as 51 degrees Celsius […]

Featured

Turkish Tanks Shell Syrian Kurds who expelled ISIL from Zur Maghar

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Syrian Kurds and the British based Syrian Observatory said Monday that Turkish tanks had shelled the village of Zur Maghar near Kobani on the Syrian side of the border held by the YPG [People’s Protection Unit] leftist Kurdish militia. Four of its fighters were wounded. The […]

Featured

Top Six Signs ISIL/ Daesh is Doomed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – It has been over a year since Mosul fell to Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). In some ways the organization has continued to make advances since then, taking Ramadi and Palmyra in the past few months. It isn’t as important as FBI director James Comey says it is, […]

fiction

One Ring to Bind them: Reading the Lord of the Rings to defeat ISIL

contributors

By Akil N Awan | (The Conversation) | – – The wave of recent attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and Turkey, all apparently linked to Islamic State in some way, have reinforced the spectre of the unstoppable “Daesh death cult” whose tentacles of terror can reach deep into every corner of the globe The omnipresence of […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Turkish Gov’t Worries about Kurdish, Leftist Mobilization after Bombing, briefly bans Twitter

contributors

BBC | (Video News Report) | – – “In Turkey authorities have blocked access to Twitter in a bid to prevent the broadcast of images of the suicide bomb attack in the border town of Suruc. A state run news agency also said the ban on social media was put in place to stop anti […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

On Edge over Syria, Kurdish issues, Turkey tense after horrific Bombing

contributors

By Cengiz Gunes | (The Conversation) | – – Islamic State appears to have stepped up its war with the Kurds by bombing a meeting of socialist activists as they gathered in the town of Suruç. The incident is not only a terrible blow to the Kurds, but threatens further unrest in Turkey, where a […]

Iraq

Is the ISIS War About Oil After All?

contributors

By Jack Werner | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – The unfolding intervention against the Islamic State shows that oil doesn't just guide U.S. foreign policy. It constrains our ways of thinking about it. Foreign intervention is 100 times more likely if oil reserves are present in a country experiencing civil war. That’s the […]

Iraq

As the Iraqi Army takes on ISIL in al-Anbar: How did we get here?

contributors

Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – Last week the Iraqi government announced that it would be commencing operations to retake Ramadi, the capital of the vast western province of Anbar from ISIL (also called ISIS and Daesh). This represents the Shiite-dominated government’s first attempt to roll back the hybrid terrorist-army in Iraq’s […]