A special report in Reuters today (.pdf) documents the extensive ties three leading Iraqi Shiite militias—Asaib Ahl al-Haq, the Badr Brigades, and Kataib Hezbollah—have with Iran. Reuters describe the militias as being “instrumental” in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Aside from bordering Iraq, “Iran’s population is overwhelmingly...
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The Associated Press (AP) reported today that Shiite militias in Iraq are proving to be “just as brutal as that of their sworn sectarian enemies,” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In a grisly video recently posted online, a Shiite fighter shouts the name of a revered imam in victory...
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The Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday that photos appearing on Iraqi news sites showed that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani was involved in a recent battle to drive the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from the Iraqi city of Jurf al-Sakher. The AP also...
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Iran has decided to unite its Shiite militias operating in Syria into one organization that will be a “Parallel Army” to the Syrian army, the al-Hayat newspaper reported on Wednesday. Iran operates Iraqi and Afghan militias in Syria in an attempt to protect the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Siraj...
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In an analysis published yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Michael Singh, managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, writes that though the United States in recent years has become more accepting of Tehran’s positions, “the changes in U.S.-Iran relations have been decidedly one-sided.” Singh writes that while...
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After the recent capture of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, by Shiite rebels, an Iranian official has boasted that the Islamic Republic now controls four Arab capitals. The other three capitals are Damascus, Syria; Baghdad, Iraq; and Beirut, Lebanon. The boast, which was reported in an analysis published yesterday by Lt. Col. (ret.)...
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In ISIS: Can the West Win Without a Ground Game?, published in the October 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, Jonathan Spyer outlines the dilemmas facing policy makers who wish to, in the words of President Barack Obama, “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)....
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When the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) initally seized large parts of Iraq, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was replaced and Iran, with whom al-Maliki had close ties, seemingly suffered a reduced level control over Baghdad. Now Tehran is trying to increase both its overt and covert involvement...
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The Muslim Brotherhood organization is supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to various Egyptian sources. These accusations have gained weight in recent days, after senior officials in the organization condemned a new book called Islamic State…The Knife Slaughtering Islam, which is due to be published in...
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leaders are embroiled in a war of words over some of the key issues that put Tehran at the top of the West’s agenda. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is trying to bridge the divide between the parties. Iranian websites...
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