Executive Summary The recent advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and collapse of a quarter the Iraqi Army has created both opportunities and threats for the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). With Baghdad occupied by the crisis, the KRG has been able... MORE

A suicide bombing struck an election rally in Baghdad that was being held by the Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi’a militia group and political party Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH - League of the Righteous) on April 26, killing 37 people (al-Jazeera, April 25; for AAH, see Terrorism... MORE

Today, Russia is being associated almost exclusively with the crisis it has generated in Ukraine. But that is a myopic and excessively complacent view. Indeed, Russia is carrying on a global foreign policy directed at exploiting the United States’ retreats, mistakes or vacuums created by... MORE

Omar al-Shishani, the commander of Jaish al-Muhajireen wa’l-Ansar, is regarded as the best known rebel leader in the country. Omar (a.k.a. Tarkhan Batirashvili) was born in 1986 to a Christian and a Muslim mother. He hails from Birkiani, a poor village located in the Pankisi... MORE

An anonymous user posted a short biography of Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) Amir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on the jihadi forum Ansar al-Mujahideen on July 21, 2013. [1] An extended version of the biography appeared on another jihadi website one month later, this... MORE

March 19 marked the ten-year anniversary of the United States invasion of Iraq that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. Although the international community continues to focus on the violence plaguing post-war Iraq and the country’s oil production capacity, changes in Iraqi foreign policy in... MORE

Jalal Talabani, president of Iraq and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK—Yeketî Nistîmanî Kurdistan), was admitted to a hospital in Baghdad on December 17, 2012 after he reportedly suffered a stroke. The PUK is one of the ruling parties of the autonomous Kurdistan region... MORE

Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez, three female members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Parti Karkerani Kurdistan – PKK) were murdered in Paris on the night of January 9 (The Kurdistan Tribune, January 10). The three victims held varying levels of seniority. Sakine Cansiz... MORE

A month ago, during a state visit to Moscow by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Russian government officially announced that an “arms trade package” worth $4.2 billion was agreed. The “package deal” reportedly included the purchase of 30 Mi-28N attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1... MORE

Introduction  After the Anglo-American invasion that toppled the regime of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party, thousands of junior and senior members of the party fled the country. From their exile in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere, some... MORE