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'A threat from within': Iraq and the rise of its militias
Shaped by the fight against Isis and a fateful US drone strike, the factions now pose a danger to Baghdad’s weak governmentThe dust had barely settled on the fall of Iraq’s second city when the call came. It was June 2014 and Islamic State had just captured Mosul, the prize in a fight for control of a country already scarred by more than a decade of war.Just four days after the city’s capture, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shia cleric in Iraq, issued a fatwa urging Iraqis to volunteer in the fight against the militants. Tens of thousands of mostly young men from the poor Shia south and Baghdad suburbs flocked to recruiting centres, military camps and militia headquarters. Continue reading...
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'I just wanted to die': the torture of an Iraqi protester
How a campaign of kidnapping, intimidation and killings is being used to try to quell uprisingAs...
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The U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian general also eliminated another key player
Abu Mahdi Muhandis, a onetime political dissident, lawmaker and militia leader, was one of Iraq's most...
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U.S.-Led Coalition Halts ISIS Fight as It Steels for Iranian Attacks
American forces in Iraq and Syria will now focus on protecting themselves.
