Terrorism

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Friday, the Syrian Arab Army and its Hizbullah and Iranian/ Afghan allies made further progress in taking the area just north of Aleppo. They were apparently mainly fighting al-Qaeda, which had a stronghold in the city of Ratyan. The Russians subjected it to intensive bombing […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria: The Mother of all Battles for Aleppo is Joined

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Aided by a massive Russian bombing campaign and Hizbullah and Iranian (or likely actually Afghan) reinforcements, the Syrian Arab Army has broken out of the siege imposed on West Aleppo by rebel forces toward the north, and now seems positioned to besiege East Aleppo, which is […]

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, […]

Featured

Turkish-Russian Airspace Conflict as Ankara-backed Turkmen flee Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia rejected as “propaganda” on Saturday renewed Turkish charges that its fighter jets had crossed Turkish territory. NATO asked Moscow to respect its joint airspace. A promontory of Turkish territory sticks down into northern Latakia, and it would be very difficult to conduct the sort of […]

Counter-Terrorism

8 Ways Nonviolence can Combat Terrorism

contributors

By George Lakey | ( Waging Non-Violence) | – – One of my most popular courses at Swarthmore College focused on the challenge of how to defend against terrorism, nonviolently. Events now unfolding in France make our course more relevant than ever. (The syllabus was published in “Peace, Justice, and Security Studies: A Curriculum Guide” […]

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 […]

Iraq

The Kurdish Women fighters taking on Daesh/ ISIL: An Eyewitness Account

contributors

By Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – It was the sort of invitation that causes both excitement and trepidation, an invite to visit the autonomous mountain enclave in northern Iraq known as Kurdistan to carry out field research. It was exciting because we were being given an “inside track” to a moderate […]

Counter-Terrorism

The Surprising Reason we Keep Falling for ISIL/ Daesh Propaganda

contributors

Haroro J. Ingram | (The Conversation) | – – The rise of [the so-called] Islamic State [group] (IS) has reaffirmed what al-Qaeda and the Taliban proved last decade: strategic communications, particularly counter-propaganda efforts, remains one of the key weaknesses of Western counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency strategy. In November 2007, the then-US defence secretary, Robert Gates, said: […]