Iraq hostage to sectarian forces
Iraqi Sunni Muslims take part in an anti-government demonstration in Falluja, 50 km (31 miles) west of Baghdad, February 22, 2013. Thousands of Sunni Muslims protested after Friday prayers in huge rallies against Shi'ite Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, demanding that he step down. The Iraqi National Alliance is facing a series of crises. It se…
Read in full »
The new and scary face of Iraqi sectarianism
Wathiq Al-Battat, the leader of the “Mukhtar Army,” an armed Shiite militia belonging to Iraq’s Hezbollah, is “the new face on the Iraqi scene,” according to Dubai-based news channel Al-Arabiya. Battat on Saturday threatened to strike Saudi Arabia and to bomb the Mubarak seaport in Kuwait, which he accused of encroaching into Iraqi territory. I…
Read in full »
Thousands demand fall of Iraq government
THOUSANDS of people in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq called on Friday for the government's fall amid a spike in violence that has accompanied a political stalemate two months before provincial polls. The demonstrations, which have been ongoing for nearly two months, have steadfastly urged for the ouster of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki while decr…
Read in full »
Arab Spring-style protests take hold in Iraq
This restive Sunni town, the first to rebel against U.S. troops a decade ago, is rising up once again, this time against the government the Americans left behind. In an echo of the Arab Spring protests that have overturned regimes elsewhere in the region, angry residents have been staging weekly demonstrations against the Shiite-led government of Pr…
Read in full »
Suicide bomber kills own family
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged belt at a gathering of his own family in western Iraq, killing his pro-government cousin and six other relatives, officials said Saturday. The blast targeting a leader in the Sahwa militias in the city of Ramadi is a reminder of how extremism still divides Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, with some wo…
Read in full »
Suicide bomber kills in northern Iraq
At least three people were killed and 15 wounded on Thursday when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a barber's shop popular with police in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police and hospital sources said. The attack is the latest and a wave of bombings across the country in recent weeks which have raised fears that Iraq could slip back into secta…
Read in full »
Iraqis face future of fear
Whenever he leaves his home, Mohammed Jabar, a Sunni Muslim, carries his cellphone so his family can find out quickly whether he is safe if a deadly bomb attack hits. Shukria Mahmud, another Sunni, rarely ventures from her house because of the rash of violence that is gripping Iraq. Laith Hashim, a young Shiite Muslim, is considering moving away from…
Read in full »
Iraq violence surges
A half year after the U.S. military left Iraq, dire predictions seem to be coming true: The country is mired in violence and the government is on the verge of collapsing. With no relief in sight, there’s growing talk of Iraq as a failed state as al-Qaida’s local wing staged near daily attacks that killed at least 234 people in June. Iraq no longer s…
Read in full »
11 killed in 2 Iraq bombings
Two bomb blasts nearly 150 kilometers apart killed 11 people Monday night, officials said, as Iraq's death toll continued to climb in the second bloodiest month since U.S. troops withdrew late last year. Officials and experts fear the surge in violence may signal Iraq's potential descent into a failed state, despite its oil wealth, billions …
Read in full »
Montague and Capulet as Shiite and Sunni
It is not poison or a dagger that takes the lives of the young lovers, but a suicide bomb. The Montagues and Capulets are divided not just by family, but also by religious sect. And the dialogue in the Iraqi adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” is sprinkled with references to Blackwater, Iranians and the American reconstruction effort. After a recent per…
Read in full »
Iran's plans for Iraq
A PUBLIC relations stumble between Tehran and Baghdad has intensified speculation that one of Iran's most senior clerics is about to extend his power - and Iran's theocratic system - into Iraq.On his return from a visit to Tehran, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office released statements on his meetings with several senior Iranian off…
Read in full »
Syria: The Shiite Sunni Battleground
In a late 2011 article , I argued that Syria's upheaval thrusts Turkey and Iran into a collision course because they have opposing geostrategic interests in an outcome that neither party can afford to ignore. Four months later, it has become increasingly clear that the Syrian uprising transcends Iran's and Turkey's strategic interests, as it …
Read in full »
