[Published here on November 9, 2016]
Iraqi Kurdish forces came under heavy fire from a salmon-coloured house on the edge of the Islamic State group-held town of Bashiqa, but when they stormed it, it was empty.
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Iraq
Iraqi Kurds seize IS-held town near Mosul | AFP
[Published here on November 9, 2016]
Bashiqa (Iraq) (AFP) – Iraqi Kurdish forces have seized the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from the Islamic State group, an official said Tuesday, as US-backed militia forces advanced on the jihadists’ Syrian stronghold Raqa.
Inconsistencies in leaked IS files sound ‘alarm bells’: analysts | AFP
[Published here on March 10, 2016]
Beirut (AFP) – Analysts on Thursday cast doubt on the authenticity of thousands of documents reportedly leaked from the Islamic State jihadist group, pointing out mistakes and uncharacteristic language.
US-led strikes in Syria, Iraq hit IS ‘middle-management’ | AFP
[Published here December 30, 2015]
Beirut (AFP) – US-led strikes against Islamic State group officials in Iraq and Syria are robbing the jihadists of one of their most valuable resources: experienced mid-level commanders.
Ten of the group’s higher-ups, including one with “direct” ties to the alleged mastermind of the Paris attacks, were killed in air strikes in December alone, the US military said.
Limelight-hungry IS ups the ante with violence | AFP
[Published here December 11, 2015]
Beirut (AFP) – As the Islamic State jihadist group comes under growing military pressure, its prodigious propaganda output has slowed somewhat but turned increasingly gruesome in a bid to keep in the headlines.
Since it announced a self-styled caliphate across Iraq and Syria last year, IS has become notorious for broadcasting its macabre tactics.
The Struggle of Female-Led Syrian Refugee Households | VICE
From left to right: Jilan, 16, and Iman, 17, who live in the Domiz refugee camp. Image by James Haines-Young
[Published here August 4, 2014]
Since the beginning of the conflict more than three years ago, Syria’s death toll sits horrifyingly somewhere over 120,000. But the real number of destroyed lives is much higher: Three million refugees, scattered throughout the region, escaped the war alive. Though they survived, their homes have been demolished, their memories faded, and their dreams rendered impossible. Painstakingly, some women who turned into widows or single parents have tried to reassemble their lives, readjusting hopes and goals to fit a harsh new reality. Here is one story of a women-led household—a rare occurrence in the Middle East—inside the Domiz refugee camp in Iraq.
Suicide in Kurdistan | The Economist
[Published here March 18, 2014]
ON MARCH 8th, while the world celebrated International Women’s Day to recognise progress in women’s rights, two women in Iraqi Kurdistan set themselves on fire. Self-immolation as a dramatic and deadly form of protest by women is known across the Middle East, from Egypt to Pakistan. But it has become alarmingly common in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. By some estimates self-burning has claimed the lives of as many as 10,000 women, including girls as young as 13, since the region gained autonomy in 1991.
MAYA GEBEILY 