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The Future of ISIS and the Sectarian Response: ISIS has Picked a Fight it...
The Future of ISIS in Iraq and the Sectarian Response – by Joshua Landis ISIS purportedly conducting a mass execution of captured Shiite Iraqi army soldiers A Washington policy analyst asked me what...
View ArticleThe Six Words You Need to Know to Be a Successful Jihadi and Establish Your...
by Mohammad D for Syria Comment Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the newly minted caliph of the “Islamic State,” chose the first Friday of Ramadan to make his first public appearance—ever. Until now he has...
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“Can the Islamic State Survive? What Can the US Do?” by Matthias Baun...
“Can the Islamic State Survive? What Can the US Do?” by Matthias Baun Brubaker Christensen – @matthias1981 July 22, 2014 Islamic state: a lion and a fox? The Islamic State (formerly known as the...
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The Expulsion of Mosul’s Christians, part 1: The Account of the Kidnapped Nuns
The Expulsion of Mosul’s Christians, part 1: The Account of the Kidnapped Nuns Parts 2 & 3 Forthcoming by Matthew Barber The release of two nuns and three orphans who were kidnapped and held...
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Sinjar Was Only the Beginning—by Matthew Barber
Sinjar Was Only the Beginning by Matthew Barber The calm is slowly unraveling in Kurdistan, and a growing, pervasive anxiety is beginning to afflict us all. We know that the fighting between the...
View Article“ISIS Is Weaker Than It Looks,” By Balint Szlanko
ISIS Is Weaker Than It Looks By Balint Szlanko – @balintszlanko For Syria Comment, Sept 13, 2014 ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan—The extremist group known variously as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or...
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If the U.S. Wanted To, It Could Help Free Thousands of Enslaved Yazidi Women...
by Matthew Barber The plight of thousands of Yazidi women, kidnapped by the Islamic State (IS) during its August 3 attack on Iraq’s Sinjar mountains and in the following weeks, has received some...
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Islamic State Officially Admits to Enslaving Yazidi Women
by Matthew Barber I first began tweeting about the Islamic State’s campaign to kidnap and enslave Yazidi women when I was in Iraq this past August. Though analysts were skeptical and online jihadists...
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Nusra’s Offensive in Idlib & its Attempt to Destroy Washington’s Allies....
Jabhat al-Nusra’s Offensive in Idlib province and its Attempt to Destroy Washington’s Allies. (November 2014) Posted by Joshua Landis The following information about Jabhat al-Nusra’s offensive against...
View ArticleThe Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra: A Looming Grand Jihadi Alliance?
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi The international coalition- led by the U.S.- against the Islamic State [IS], with additional American airstrikes targeting the ‘Khorasan’ al-Qa’ida group in Syria (in reality...
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“What Motivates European Youth to Join ISIS?” by Loretta Bass
What Motivates European Youth to Join ISIS? By Loretta E. Bass, University of Oklahoma “Push” Factors Helping ISIS Recruitment Western governments are concerned about stemming the wave of foreign...
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The Factions of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab)
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi Media attention has somewhat focused away from the city of Kobani as the intense wave of coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) first helped to slow down the...
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The Islamic State (IS) and Pledges of Allegiance: The Case of Jamaat Ansar...
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi With the rise of IS, it is of interest to examine how IS has secured pledges of allegiance (bay’ah) from other groups both on the domestic front (i.e. within Iraq and Syria)...
View ArticleVideo: ISIS, Yazidis, and the Enslavement of Thousands of Women
Joshua Landis and Matthew Barber discuss the devastating IS campaign to plunder Mosul’s Christians and enslave thousands of Yazidi women: (Watch on YouTube) The post Video: ISIS, Yazidis, and the...
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Will the Revolutionary Command Council be Syria’s New Rebel Government?
By Maxwell Martin, a researcher at ARK, a stabilization consultancy based in Istanbul. He has previously written for Foreign Policy and Syria Comment. Follow him on Twitter @WilayatNowhere RCC members...
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“The Legal Foundations of the Islamic State,” By Mara Revkin
The Legal Foundations of the Islamic State By Mara Revkin – @MaraRevkin December 17, 2014 for Syria Comment Notoriously violent groups such as al-Qaeda, the Islamic State (IS), and the Taliban are...
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2014 Roundup and 2015 Predictions by Aron Lund
2014 Roundup and 2015 Predictions By Aron Lund December 25, 2014 for Syria Comment Lots of things happened in 2014, but the single most important development was the rise of the Islamic State as an...
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Syria Year-End Predictions and Analysis – by Joshua Landis (28 December 2014)
Year-end Predictions and Analysis by Joshua Landis Syria Comment 28 December 2014 Syria will become increasingly fragmented in 2015. The Somalia-ization of the country is inevitable so long as the...
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After Burning of Muaz al-Kasasbeh, Jordan & al-Azhar’s Gestures of Vengeance...
by Matthew Barber The following is not research or analysis, but a few reflections on the film released by IS in which Jordanian pilot Muaz al-Kasasbeh was burned alive inside a metal cage. I won’t...
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Meet the Badris
By A.N. Sheikh Abd al-Aziz al-Badri Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the self-declared Islamic State, was not produced in a vacuum. In fact, he comes from a tribe with a long history of support for...
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