Kirkuk

September 5, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

U.S. Marines in Turkey Assaulted by Nationalist Youth Group

Two U.S. Marines in Turkey were assaulted on Monday by more than a dozen members of the Turkish Youth Union (TYU), a secular nationalist youth group opposed to U.S. and European Union influence in the...

December 18, 2023 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Iraq heads to provincial elections, first in ten years

Today Iraq is trying to put some of its past behind it.

January 17, 2020 | Jonathan Schanzer |

Ending Iran’s Fictions

When the United States killed Qassim Soleimani at the Baghdad airport in the early hours of January 3, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was not the only target. With Soleimani...

January 9, 2020 | Jacob Nagel, Jonathan Schanzer

Israel and US face Iran on parallel planes

Iran has crossed the threshold on low-enriched uranium, shortening significantly the time to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear device.

January 9, 2020 | Jonathan Schanzer, Behnam Ben Taleblu

Where the US-Iran shadow war goes from here

The man once celebrated in Tehran as “the living martyr,” Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, is now just a martyr in the traditional sense. Felled by a U.S. drone strike in Iraq, his life ended in the conflict...

January 8, 2020 | Clifford D. May |

Trump picks up Khamenei’s gauntlet

Iran’s ruler misjudges the president and loses his leading terrorist

January 2, 2020 | Bill Roggio, Caleb Weiss

U.S. kills Iran’s Qods Force commander and Iraq’s deputy PMF leader in strike in Baghdad

A U.S. drone strike near the Baghdad International Airport has reportedly killed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, the...

August 7, 2019 | Thomas Joscelyn |

Islamic State wages desert-based insurgency in Iraq and Syria

The Islamic State is far from dead in Iraq and Syria. Despite losing its physical caliphate, the group maintained enough manpower and resources to continue waging an insurgency in both countries. And America’s...

March 16, 2018 | Romany Shaker

Iraq’s 2018 Budget Deadlock Deepens Tensions Ahead of Elections

On March 3, the Iraqi Parliament adopted...

March 11, 2018 | Romany Shaker

The Islamic State is Far From Finished in Iraq

Deadly attacks by the Islamic State are calling into question Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s declaration...

November 8, 2017 | Behnam Ben Taleblu, Merve Tahiroglu

Kurd Your Enthusiasm

On October 16, the world woke to footage of the Iraqi army barreling toward Kirkuk, several hundred miles n...

October 25, 2017 | Clifford D. May |

The Kurdish test

In a just world, the Kurds would have a state of their own. Their culture is ancient. They speak a distinctive language. They have a homeland, Kurdistan, ruled for centuries by Arabs, Turks and P...

October 20, 2017 | |

State Department: ‘Not aware’ of Iranian coordination with Iraq

The State Department on Thursday cast doubt on reports that Iranian military forces have cooperated with Iraq in a brewing fight with a key U.S. partner in the country. "I'm not awa...

October 3, 2017 | John Hannah |

The United States Must Prevent Disaster in Kurdistan

You have to hand it to them. U.S. officials nailed it. Prior to the Sept. 25 independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan, they couldn’t have been clearer in setting out the parade of horribles that m...

September 21, 2017 | Aykan Erdemir, Merve Tahiroglu

Why is Turkey so disjointed over the Iraqi Kurds?

Iraq’s Kurds are preparing ...

December 16, 2016 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Iranian Kurds Join the Fight

Co-written by Jonathan Spyer The instability that has swept over the Middle East over the past half-decade has its winners and its losers. For the most part, the much-...

December 1, 2016 | Aykan Erdemir, Merve Tahiroglu

Ankara’s Turkmen House of Cards

The Mosul operation has made the predominantly Turkmen city of Tal Afar the latest focus of Turkey a...

November 10, 2016 | Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

How Will Jihadist Strategy Evolve as the Islamic State Declines?

Co-written by Colin Clarke Jihadist strategy has always been dynamic and opportunistic. Milita...

April 21, 2016 | Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Despite Coalition Military Gains, No End in Sight in Anti-IS Campaign

The Kurdish Peshmerga commander sat on a couch at his headquarters in Sulaymaniyah. On a nearby table there was a bowl of dried fruit and nuts. Two large sniper rifles lay on the floor by his des...

June 23, 2014 | Thomas Joscelyn The Long War Journal

Ansar al Islam Releases Propaganda Photos Showing Operations in Iraq

Ansar al Islam (AAI), a jihadist group founded in northern Iraq in September 2001, has released a set of photographs purportedly showing its ongoing operations. Since the latest rebel offensive a...