Iraq
Iraq: Sufis resist ISIS in Kirkuk
Fighting erupted between ISIS and militants of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order in Kirkuk governorate, as the Sunni rebel coalition that has seized a third of Iraq starts to fray.
Tag: Kurdistan
Iraq
Kurds take Kirkuk, ISIS press offensive
Iraq's contested northern city of Kirkuk was taken by Kurdish forces after being abandoned by the army—while the ISIS offensive is halted just 75 miles outside Baghdad.
Iraq
Iraq: half a million flee Mosul; ISIS advance south
An estimated half a million people have fled Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, since it was seized by ISIS forces—who have since taken Tikrit and are advancing on Baghdad.
Iran
Iran: May Day marchers defy authorities
Workers in several Iranian industrial centers marched on May Day in defiance of official attempts to shut them down, protesting labor repression and non-payment of wages.
Iraq
Iraq: oil output surges —with terror attacks
Iraq's oil production surged to its highest level in over 30 years last month—as insurgent and terrorist attacks claim more lives than at any time since 2007.
Greater Middle East
Syria: ISIS destroy Sufi shrine, impose jizya tax
Qaeda-aligned insurgent group ISIS destroyed a Sufi Muslim shrine in Syrian Kurdistan and announced a "jizya" tax on non-Muslims in their zones of control.
Iraq
Iraq: civil resistance leader assassinated
Azad Ahmed, a leading figure in Iraq’s civil resistance movement, was murdered by unknown assailants when his car was stopped between Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah.
Iran
Iran hangs 16 after Baluch border clash
Sixteen accused militants were hanged in Iran’s Baluchistan province—in apparent retaliation for the deaths of at least 14 border guards in an ambush just the night before.
Greater Middle East
Syria war portends Middle East ‘balkanization’?
Elements of Washington wonkdom are calling for the break-up of Syria into ethno-sectarian mini-states, and see the separatist contagion spreading to the rest of the Middle East.
Iraq
Iraq: chemical attack survivors sue corporations
Survivors of the 1988 gas attack on Iraq's Kurdish city of Halabja announced that they will bring suit against companies that supplied chemical agents to Saddam Hussein.
Greater Middle East
Syria: Nusra Front cleanses Kurds
Up to 20,000 refugees have crossed from Syria into Iraqi Kurdistan, fleeing fighting between Kurdish militias and Salafist factions led by the Nusra Front.
Iraq
Iraq: sectarian war escalating fast
Sectarian violence has killed at least 200 in Iraq since the start of Ramadan, and Hezbollah has launched an Iraqi wing to fight al-Qaeda’s networks in the country.