Kurdish forces made further gains against ISIS at Kobani in the final days of 2014, while the Peshmerga are preparing an offensive to drive the jihadis from Kurdish lands in Iraq.
Backed by US air-strikes, Peshmerga forces liberated the last remaninig Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar. But the Yazidis' home town of Sinjar remains occupied by ISIS.
US ground troops fought their first direct battle against ISIS as the jihadists launched an attack on a base in Anbar that housed mixed US, Iraqi and tribal forces.
Despite—or perhaps partly because of—threats and deadly attacks from ISIS militants, a record 15.5 million Shi'ite pilgrims have converged on Karbala for Arbaeen.
Iran launched air-strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq, the Pentagon admitted. Meanwhile, it appears that NATO ally Turkey opened its territory to ISIS forces attacking Kobani.
With ISIS controlling vast swaths of territory, uncollected harvests and the lack of winter planting could have a grave impact on Iraq's food security over the next year.
Pari Ibrahim of the Free Yezidi Foundation spoke at New York's Institute for the Study of Human Rights on the ongoing genocide and sexual slavery of her people at the hands of ISIS.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that US-led airstrikes in Syria have killed over 900—including 785 ISIS fighters, 72 Nusra Front militants and 52 civilians.
A study by UK-based Institute for Economics and Peace finds there were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, 44% more than the year before.
A forum at New York's City College featured a Skype link to Saleh Muslim, political leader of the Kurdish resistance at Kobani, and vividly described life in the besieged autonomous zone.
Martin Dempsey, head of the US joint chiefs of staff, arrived in Baghdad, where he admitted that "we're certainly considering" sending US ground troops to assist in re-taking Mosul.
Will the anarchist-oriented Rojava Kurds ultimately be crushed in deference to Washington's NATO ally Turkey—or coopted into imperial clients? Is a third revolutionary option possible?
