Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Iraq Fail: Shiite Gov’t asks Sunni tribe to fight ISIL, but Sentences Politician from Tribe to Death

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) While members of the Sunni Muslim al-Bu Ulwan tribe were fighting extremists in the Anbar province, alongside the mostly Shiite Muslim military, judges in Baghdad sentenced a politician from the tribe to death. The tribe says it feels like Baghdad has stabbed it in the back. Other Anbar […]

Iraq

Threatened by ISIL/Daesh, Kurds Maneuver between Baghdad and Ankara

contributors

Iraqi Kurds Seek Greater Balance between Ankara and Baghdad By Mohammed A. Salih ERBIL, Dec 4 2014 (IPS) – After a period of frostiness, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Turkey seem intent on mending ties, as each of the parties show signs of needing the other. But the Kurds appear more cautious this time […]

Bashar al-Assad

Could Years more of Syrian Civil War be Avoided by Comprehensive Talks with Iran?

contributors

By James L. Gelvin, University of California, Los Angeles The most serious attempt to bring the Syrian regime and representatives of the opposition together around a negotiating table together took place at the 2014 Geneva II peace talks. The talks were based on the Geneva Communiqué which had been signed in 2012 at a meeting […]

Featured

Iran-Iraq War 2.0? Iran Flies bombing Raids on Extremists in Iraq

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — The US Pentagon is confirming that Iranian F-4 fighter jets have flown bombing missions against Daesh or the so-called ‘Islamic State Group’ in Iraq. They helped Iraqi Shiites take the town of Saadiya back from Daesh late last week. That town is in the ethnically and religiously mixed province of […]

Colonialism

ISIL, Coins, and the Caliphate: Banking on Idealism

contributors

By Tareq A. Ramadan It has been recently reported by Daesh (what most Arabs call the self-styled “Islamic State Group” or IS) that it will be producing and circulating its own coinage in an attempt to purportedly offset the popularity and usage of secular, Western currencies which they dub the “oppressor’s money” [1]. For Daesh, […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Is Turkey letting Daesh/ISIL Weapons & Fighters Cross Freely to Syria?

contributors

DeutscheWelle [DW] | — “Supplies of weapons and fighters bound for Islamic State militants are crossing over the border from Turkey into Syria, mostly unhindered.” DW: “Goods crossing Turkish border bound for IS | Journal”

Humor

The Rolex Caliph’s Camel Selfie: How Iraqi Youth are Ridiculing Daesh/ISIL Online

contributors

By Cathrin Schaer | Berlin | (Niqash.org) — The extremist Islamic State group has been very effective on social media, terrifying their enemies and boosting their own prestige. Now a new group of keyboard warriors are fighting back. They come via the Twitter website and they’re well armed with jokes about goats and donkeys and […]

Christianity

Christians of Syria’s Aleppo Hold out Despite Extremist Daesh/ISIL Threat

contributors

AFP | — “Tens of thousands of Christians have fled homes in Syria’s war-wracked second city of Aleppo but many others are determined to hold out despite their dread of Islamic State jihadists.” AFP: “Christians of Syria’s Aleppo hold out despite jihadist threat”

Featured

Iraq: Daesh/ISIL executes 26 Sunni Tribesmen in Campaign to Take Ramadi

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole: Daesh (the Arabic acronym for ISIS or ISIL) has mounted a major offensive in a bid to take Ramadi, the capital of al-Anbar Province in western Iraq. Ramadi is due west of Baghdad past Fallujah. Iraqi eyewitnesses told the al-Arabiya satellite news channel that Daesh had taken over some of the neighborhoods […]