An Iran-backed militia leader whom the United States considers to be a terrorist has grown increasingly important to Iraq’s security apparatus, reflecting Iran’s rising influence in the affairs of its western neighbor, The Wall Street Journal reported (Google link) on Thursday. Jamal Jaafar Ibrahimi, popularly known by the nom de guerre of Abu...

• Kindle

Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have claimed that they will lead the Iraqi campaign to free the recently captured Sunni-majority city of Ramadi from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Reuters reported today. The announcement raised fears that such a move will exacerbate sectarian strife even further. Iraq’s Shi’ite militia announced on Tuesday...

• Kindle

A map of the current position of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as well as Iranian anti-ISIS forces, shows that while Iran will continue fighting ISIS, it has no interest in defeating the terror organization. The map was created by security researcher Michael Pregent, who was interviewed yesterday by...

• Kindle

Two recent reports in major publications have documented the growing discontent within the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that is beginning to threaten the group’s cohesion, even as it seeks to expand upon the territory it controls. The Washington Post reported on Sunday: Reports of rising tensions between foreign...

• Kindle

In I Saw the U.S. Hand Iraq Over to the Iranians. Is the Whole Region Next?, which was published in the February 2015 issue of The Tower Magazine, Michael Pregent observes that not only has the United States seemingly given in to Iranian demands in nuclear negotiations, but “it is doing the...

• Kindle

Iran is making the American fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) even harder, according to an analysis published today by Michael Weiss and Michael Pregent for The Daily Beast. The analysis notes that Pregent, when he recently briefed American military advisors who were heading to Iraq,...

• Kindle

Analysts and journalists seeking to explain the lightning advance of fighters loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – the Al Qaeda offshoot that has been steadily consolidating territory across northern Iraq, despite being outnumbered roughly 30 to 1 by the country’s forces – have begun to specifically focus on...

• Kindle