Sunni Arab powers in the Middle East fear that Iran is establishing a “Shiite Crescent” in order to advance its regional ambitions, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. As the Islamic State continues losing territory to Iran-backed militias, Sunni countries are concerned that they may “face a potentially more dangerous challenge: a land corridor from Tehran to...

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Iran’s recent establishment of a United Shi’a Liberation Army is raising concerns that Tehran will further stoke sectarian violence across the Middle East in its pursuit of regional dominance, Radio Free Europe reported on Tuesday. Iran’s August 25 announcement of the formation of a new fighting force with a Shi’ite identifier in its name “will inflame sectarian tensions...

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Iran-backed Shi’ite militias “detained, tortured and abused far more Sunni civilians” during the Iraqi government’s effort to recapture of the city of Fallujah than American officials have previously been willing to acknowledge, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Based on interviews with a combination of twenty survivors, tribal leaders, Iraqi politicians, and Western diplomats, Reuters...

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Around 80,000 Iran-backed Shi’ite militia members are currently operating in Iraq, a U.S. military official told Fox News on Tuesday. Baghdad-based military spokesman Col. Chris Garver explained that there are approximately 100,000 Shi’ite militia members fighting ISIS in Iraq, with the number backed by Iran “usually identified at around 80,000.” “The effect of the...

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Iraq’s prime minister officially incorporated the Iran-backed, terrorist-led Popular Mobilization Front (PMF) into his nation’s armed forces, cementing Tehran’s influence in the country, the Long War Journal reported on Thursday. Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi decided to incorporate the PMF as an “independent military formation” within the Iraqi army in February, according...

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein announced Tuesday that there was strong evidence that Iran-backed Shia militias had committed atrocities in the recent battle to reclaim the Iraqi city of Fallujah from ISIS. More than 900 men and boys from heavily Sunni Fallujah remain missing, and may have been...

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Iranian actions fighting ISIS in Iraq have been “helpful,” Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, the latest indication that the Obama administration’s ISIS strategy involves allowing Iran’s efforts to spread its influence across the Middle East. Asked by panel moderator Walter Isaacson about Iranian cooperation in the fight against ISIS...

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In June 2014, the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, the foremost Shia leader of Iraq, issued a fatwa encouraging Iraqi Shias to take up arms against ISIS. In the short term, this has had a resounding impact on the battle against the jihadist organization-turned-state. However, in the long term, it may invite...

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Footage has emerged on Twitter of an Iranian soldier from the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) embedded among Iraqi troops, the latest indication of direct Iranian involvement in its neighboring country’s internal affairs. “In the name of God, the compassionate the merciful. Friday afternoon, the operation to liberate Fallujah....

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JNS.org – Every Iraqi Jew has a tale to tell about the Farhud, the two-day pogrom that befell the Jews of Baghdad 75 years ago in June 1941. In the case of my own family, it was a matter of heeding the advice of a Muslim business colleague of my...

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