Terrorism

By Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | – – Months after Russia spectacularly entered the Syrian conflict, [the so-called] Islamic State (IS) is still thumbing its nose at both Moscow and the Assad regime in murderous fashion. On May 23, the group detonated between seven and nine car and suicide bombs in the coastal cities […]

Alawites

ISIL hits Syrian Regime in Shiite northwest, killing 150

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The leftist Beirut daily al-Safir reports that security in Syria broke down dramatically on Monday, as seven bombs timed to go off simultaneously hit soft targets in the Syrian Mediterranean cities of Jebleh and Tartus, killing some 150 persons and wounding 225 , the vast majority […]

al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda’s Al-Zawahiri, 9/11 Mastermind, Plays Syrian Politics

contributors

By Sam Heller | ( RFE/RL ) | – – When the self-proclaimed Islamic State declared the establishment of a global Muslim “caliphate” in 2014, the move accelerated a race for legitimacy within the international jihadist movement. IS’s rival Al-Qaeda — which had long held out a righteous Islamic state as a far-off ideal, not […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Marketing & Terrorism: Is ISIL’s vaunted ‘brand’ actually weak and vulnerable?

contributors

By Brendan Canavan | (The Conversation) | – – [The so-called] Islamic State (IS) is the most notorious terror group in the world. Its name and values are known and feared globally, and it provokes, inspires and incenses to an extent most terrorist groups can only dream about. It owes a lot of that power […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Americans may see ISIL as No. 1 Threat, but Turkey & the Kurds have other Priorities

contributors

By Abbas Djavadi | ( RFE/RL | – – For a long time the Turkish government was accused of assisting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) group. These accusations were heard especially since the battle Syrian Kurds fought with ISIS over the town of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border almost a year ago. […]

Featured

Top Hizbullah Commander in Syria killed in Explosion; Radical Salafis blamed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Mustafa Badreddine, the Hizbullah commander responsible for Syria, was killed Friday in an explosion near Damascus. It wasn’t clear whether he was hit by artillery fire or what. The US now has a tacit alliance of convenience with Lebanon’s Hizbullah against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), but continues […]

Featured

Baghdad gov’t paralysis made capital vulnerable to massive ISIL bombings

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) launched a series of suicide car and truck bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing nearly 100 and wounding nearly 200 persons. Baghdad security had improved over the past couple of years, but the Coalition United for Reform blamed political wrangling on sectarian and […]

Counter-Terrorism

Chomsky – How the Elites’ ‘War on Terror’ Multiplies Terror

contributors

By Noam Chomsky | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – [This piece, the second of two parts, is excerpted from Noam Chomsky’s new book, Who Rules the World? (Metropolitan Books). Part 1 can be found by clicking here.] In brief, the Global War on Terror sledgehammer strategy has spread jihadi terror from a tiny corner […]

al-Qaeda

Al-Zawahiri Supports Syrian al-Qaeda, calls for more global Volunteers

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Al-Qaeda central leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, DC, has issued a new audio tape. In it, he said that the only successful revolution launched in 2011 in the Arab world was the Syrian, because it followed the […]