Terrorism

DeutscheWelle English | — “Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women from driving. Two women who did just that have been in custody for nearly a month – and they may now be charged with terrorism because they used social media.” DW: “Saudi women drivers fear terror charges | Journal”

Iraq

Senior Kurdish Politician: Kirkuk is ours; if Arabs & Turkmen want it, let them fight ISIL for it as we do

contributors

Shalaw Mohammed | Sulaymaniyah | (Niqash.org) Senior Iraqi Kurdish politician Mullah Bakhtiar discusses his party’s relationship with Iran and with Kurdish parties in Syria – and in particular, in Kobani and Rojava, as well as whether anyone should be concerned about the unofficial Shiite Muslim militias behaving badly in northern Iraq. The head of the […]

Nawaz Sharif

Pakistan: Judge orders arrest of cleric accused of refusing to condemn Taliban Massacre at School

contributors

Reuters | — “A judge orders the arrest of a senior Pakistan cleric accused of refusing to condemn the school massacre in Peshawar. Paul Chapman reports.” Reuters: “Arrest call for Pakistan cleric”

Bashar al-Assad

Baathist Riposte: How the Regime Came back in the Syrian Civil War in 2014

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — In the course of 2014, two major trends, long since visible in the Syrian civil war, were strengthened. First, the Baath regime of Bashar al-Assad continued to assert control over most urban areas along the trunk roads of the west of the country. Damascus, Homs, Hama, Latakia and […]

Apartheid

Israeli Occupation military demolishes dairy factory in Hebron, Palestinian West Bank

contributors

HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Thursday destroyed a dairy factory in the Hebron village of al-Burj, the owner told Ma’an. Yasser Muhammad Salim Masharqa said that Israeli forces and civil administration officers escorted two bulldozers to the village and demolised the steel structure, which measures 2000 square meters. Cements rooms measuring 400 square meters […]

Iraq

Iraq: Extremists of Daesh/ ISIL on the Move in Mosul in Response to Kurdish Advance

contributors

Khales Joumah | Mosul | (Niqash.org) Last week’s victory over the extremist Islamic State group in the Sinjar area has had a significant effect on the extremist-controlled city of Mosul. Foreign fighters have left, the city is flooded with refugees and supply routes are cut off. Locals are afraid of what comes next. Extremist fighters […]

Iraq

The Bureaucracy of Terror in Mosul: Todenhöfer’s Unprecedented Footage from Within

Juan Cole

BBC News | — “A German author given unprecedented access to territory controlled by the so-called Islamic State, has told the BBC that IS is stronger, more brutal and harder to confront than he’d expected. Jürgen Todenhöfer spent 10 days in Mosul and Raqqa. Caroline Hawley spoke to him about what he found.” BBC News: […]

Christianity

Threadbare Christmas for Iraqi Christian Refugees from Daesh/ISIL Mosul

contributors

Euronews | — “Internally displaced Iraqi Christians who fled violence in Mosul celebrated Christmas in Baghdad on Wednesday.” Euronews: “Some displaced Iraqi Christians are not in the Christmas spirit”

Featured

Have the Kurds cut the ISIL/Daesh State in Two, Blocking Supply Lines?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Al-Mada newspaper in Baghdad had an interesting article in the aftermath of the fall of Shinjar to the Iraqi Kurdistan Peshmerga. The piece argued that the Peshmerga (Kurdistan’s paramilitary, meaning ‘one who stands before death’) have now effectively cut of the supply lines between Raqqa in Syria and […]