Terrorism

By Juan Cole Kurdish forces at Kobane (Ayn al-Arab) on Saturday fought off an assault by ISIL that sought to cut the city off from Turkey and completely surround it, according to an Aljazeera reporter on the scene (At the moment, there is a corridor between Kobane and the Turkish border). ISIL also subjected Kobane […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Daily Struggle of 100,000 Kurdish Refugees from Kobane in Turkey

contributors

Vice News “When Islamic State jihadists launched a major offensive on the majority Kurdish town of Kobane in September, more than 180,000 people fled across the border into Turkey. Local authorities struggled to cope with the influx at first, and thousands of refugees were forced to sleep on the streets of the Turkish border town […]

Iraq

Top 7 Ways US Intervention in Iraq/Syria could turn Catastrophic

contributors

By Peter Van Buren via Tomdispatch.com What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Seven Worst-Case Scenarios in the Battle with the Islamic State By Peter Van Buren You know the joke? You describe something obviously heading for disaster — a friend crossing Death Valley with next to no gas in his car — and then add, “What […]

Displaced and Refugees

Real Estate Agents to the Terrorists: ISIL Steals Mosul Refugee Property to Raise Money

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By Nawzat Shamdeen via Niqash.org The Sunni Muslim extremist group that has taken over the northern city of Mosul has a new source of income: real estate. The Islamic State group has confiscated the properties of all those who fled or taken them off those they consider enemies. Locals say the plan is to auction […]

Featured

Is Baghdad next? ISIL takes Hit Base in Iraq, loots it for Weapons

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole According to Aljazeera sources, ISIL has completed the taking of Hit district in the al-Anbar Province of Iraq. At a time when, supposedly, a range of coalition partners is taking on ISIL and attempting to push it back from the territory it has taken in Syria and Iraq, in fact the organization […]

Human Rights

Iraqi Kurds to Turkey: Let Volunteers Through To Defend Failing Kobani

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By Charles Recknagel via RFE/RL A top official of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region is calling on Turkey to let volunteer fighters through to the besieged Syrian city of Kobani, where Syrian Kurds are waging a desperate battle against Islamic State (IS) militants. Speaking on a visit to RFE/RL in Prague on October 13, Falah Mustafa, […]

Apartheid

Israeli Squatters beat up woman picking olives in Palestinian West Bank (400 Attacks a Year)

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SALFIT (Ma’an) — A large group of Israeli settlers on Saturday morning violently beat a young Palestinian woman while she was picking olives from trees in an orchard in the village of Yasuf in the Salfit district in the central West Bank, a Palestinian official said. The assault is the third such attack on Palestinian […]

Iraq

Iraq’s Sole Yazidi Lawmaker Says 25,000 Girls Abducted By ISIL To Be Raped, Sold

contributors

By Freshta Jalalzai and Luke Johnson via RFE/RL Iraq's only ethnic Yazidi member of parliament says that the human rights situation in her country is "deteriorating," with Islamic State (IS) militants kidnapping, raping, and selling Yazidi women. "They are still without any shelter. They are sleeping on the streets. The situation is not good and the […]

Arab Spring

Will Egypt Intervene in Libya as part of Generals’ War on Political Islam?

contributors

CCTV Africa: “Pressure is growing on Egypt’s government to intervene in Libya. That’s after the emergence this week of an Islamic State-style caliphate – close to the Egyptian border. Many in Cairo say, the government needs to deploy military force in Libya, to crush the threat.” CCTV Africa: “Pressure mounting on Egyptian government to intervene […]