Terrorism

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian ran his vehicle into a group of Israeli officers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Friday, Israeli sources said. The driver was Muhammad Mahmoud Abd al-Razeq al-Salaymeh, 22, from the Ras al-Amud neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma’an the man was driving […]

History

Iraq: What is the meaning of the Assyrian capital ISIL just demolished?

contributors

Channel 4 News | – “[So-called] Islamic State [group] militants looted and bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, government officials say.” Channel 4 News: “ISIS militants demolish ancient Iraqi city of Nimrud” For more on the Assyrian palace of Nimrud see Klaudia Englud at the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative Nimrud, Northwest […]

Featured

Iraq: 30,000 Sunnis flee as Shiite Militias, Army, approach Tikrit

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) The Iraqi military and allied Shiite militias are mounting a campaign to take the largely Sunni town of Tikrit (original pop. 300,000), which is alleged to have been planned and is being directed by the Jerusalem (Quds) Brigade, the foreign special ops arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps […]

Featured

Syria: As al-Qaeda defeats ‘moderate’ US allies, will US ally with al-Qaeda?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – President Obama’s impossibly complicated plan for dealing with ISIL involves a de facto alliance with Iran in Iraq, and training up a ‘third force,’ essentially creating a new, ‘moderate’ Free Syrian Army to attack al-Qaeda and ISIL. Training an effective new fighting force will likely take 15 years, […]

Iraq

IRAQ – Child soldiers forced into combat alongside ISIL Fighters

contributors

France24 | – “[So-called] ISLAMIC STATE – In Iraq, little boys are sent to the frontlines. Seen by the Islamic State group as devil worshipers, and not even fit to convert to Islam, the Yezidi community has been the target of Jihadis for many months: hundreds of them have kidnapped, tortured and killed, and young […]

Iran

US Gen.: Iran’s Role In Iraq’s Fight Against Islamic State Might be Positive

contributors

By Frud Bezhan | (RFE/RL) The Iraqi government has launched an offensive against Islamic State militants (IS) in the northern city of Tikrit, but Iran appears to be leading the charge. The Islamic republic has officially downplayed its role in the fight against IS in Iraq, saying its involvement was limited to training Iraqi Shi'ite […]

Bashar al-Assad

Climate Change helped Provoke Syrian Conflict & it won’t be the Last

contributors

By Thalif Deen | – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Was the four-year-old military conflict in Syria, which has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, mostly civilians, triggered at least in part by climate change? A new study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory says “a record drought that ravaged Syria in 2006-2010 was likely […]

Iraq

The problem with Iraq’s offensive against the Islamic State

contributors

BAGHDAD (IRIN) – As the Iraqi army and affiliated militias sweep into northern Iraq to try to re-take the city of Tikrit from so-called Islamic State (IS), the local civilians are fearful they may be punished for the crimes of the Islamist militants. A force of around 30,000 made up of army soldiers and government-backed Shia […]

Christianity

ISIL/ Daesh wiping out Iraq’s Religious Minorities

contributors

By RFE/RL | – Human Rights organizations warn that the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has targeted minority communities in Iraq in a “systematic strategy to remove them permanently” from large parts of the country. In a report launched on February 27, four nongovernmental organizations detailed summary executions, forced conversions, rape, and other abuses suffered […]