Topic: Nouri al-Maliki

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Children gather outside tents at al-Hol camp, Hasakeh province, Syria, 1 May 2021 (photo: Baderkhan Ahmad/AP/picture alliance)

Al-Hol camp in Syria

Bring extremists' children out — but leave mothers?

As Syrian camps housing families of Islamic State fighters get more dangerous, there are calls to bring children out, even if the mothers don't want to go. The idea of separating families is a controversial one. By Cathrin SchaerMore

Middle East: In Iraq, sectarian prejudice goes beyond the graveJoey Lawrenceʹs "We came from fire": A tribute to the KurdsTurkey isolated amid international pressure: Erdogan's captive audience Qantara dossier: Kurdish-Turkish Conflict Kurdistan's decline: Iraq's beacon shines no more
First session after the election: meeting of the Iraqi parliament, January 2022. (photo: Iraqi Parliament Press Office/Handout/AA/picture alliance)

Iraq bans contact with Israel

Anti-Semitism as state doctrine?

A law has been passed by the Iraqi parliament that criminalises any contact with Israel. In the midst of heated debates on the subject, one crucial aspect has been forgotten: the restitution of Jewish property. Birgit Svensson reports from BaghdadMore

Iraqi Jews: Iraqi Judaism lives on in literary form"Baghdad, yesterday - The making of an Arab Jew"Iraq post-Islamic State: The surprising survival of Mosulʹs Jewish quarterJewish Diplomatic Corps visits UAE: "Our preconceptions are at odds with reality"
The new Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, addresses the Iraqi Parliament in Baghdad on 6 May 2020 (photo: picture-alliance/AA/Iraqi Parliament)

Iraq's new government

Mr Kadhimi begins a clean-up operation

The new Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, has great plans. As he moves to realise those plans, he's fighting on many fronts. As the Americans pull out of Iraq, militias supported by Iran are violently consolidating their position. Birgit Svensson reports from BaghdadMore

Iraq's revolutionary women: The female paramedics of Tahrir SquareThe icon of Tahrir Square in Baghdad and Cairo: Arab Spring and October RevolutionThe cultural scene in Iraq: Returning to something like normality
Street hawkers selling Kurdistan flags in northern Iraq prior to the referendum in August 2014 (photo: dpa/picture-alliance)

The uncertain future of Kurdish autonomy

What next for Iraqʹs Kurds?

A sense of resignation and pessimism is spreading through the Kurdistan region of Iraq, especially among the younger generation. The economic standstill, rampant youth unemployment and the omnipotence of the clans are driving people to despair. Dara Alani reports from SulaymaniyahMore

Iraqʹs wrangle over natural resources: The battle for Kurdish oilCampaigning begins for Iraqi Kurdish parliamentary vote Iraq: Kurdish referendum for political relevance: Papering over the cracks
Voting in Iraq – voters at a Baghdad polling station (photo: ABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Parliamentary elections in Iraq

Shifting towards Iran?

At the forthcoming parliamentary poll in Iraq, the question is who will gain the upper hand – pro-Iranian Shias or pro-western forces? A pre-election analysis by Arnold HottingerMore

The Iraq War fifteen years on: "America destroyed my country"Murder and kidnapping in Iraq: An inexorable tideFighting over Kurdish independence: A political fiasco
Smoke and fire in front of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad (photo: AFP)

Murder and kidnapping in Iraq

An inexorable tide

In today's Iraq, there is no force more powerful than the militias and no voice louder than those who seek to drive a wedge between the religious denominations, says Iraqi writer Safaa KhalafMore

Interview with Iraqi political scientist Ghassan Al-Attiyah: A nation torn apartViolence in the Arab world: Born of a barbaric stateProtesting corruption and mismanagement in Iraq: Caught in the spotlightBreaking the Middle East′s cycle of terror: The two-pronged strategy
The Iraqi army enters Fallujah (photo: Reuters/A. Al-Marjani)

The reconquest of Fallujah

The serpent′s head

Last week Iraq′s prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, announced victory over the "Islamic State" terror militia in Fallujah and the liberation of the city. But following the advance of government forces into the centre of the western Iraqi IS stronghold, the refugee crisis in the region is worsening. The mass exodus from Fallujah continues, with people still leaving in their thousands. By Birgit SvenssonMore

Battle for the IS stronghold of Fallujah: Militiamen on the rampageIraq′s political crisis: Al-Sadr the power brokerIslamic State: Know your enemy
Demonstration by General Qassem Soleimani′s supporters in Mashhad (photo: SNN.ir)

The role of Qassem Soleimani in Iraq

Reining in the lion

Until recently, General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards "Quds" Force, was still being hailed as a military hero and man for the future. But more and more details are emerging concerning his destructive role in Iraq. By Ali SadrzadehMore

Profile: Qassem Soleimani: The man who pulls the stringsIran's role in the Iraq conflict: An ally, but not a puppetProtesting corruption and mismanagement in Iraq: Caught in the spotlight
Shias protest in Baghdad against corruption and mismanagement (photo: Reuters/T. Al-Sudani)

Protesting corruption and mismanagement in Iraq

Caught in the spotlight

Haider al-Abadi′s faltering reform programme and the effects of partial IS occupation are being thrown into stark relief by the latest wave of protests against corruption and government inefficiency in Iraq. By Chiara CruciatiMore

Interview with Wilfried Buchta on the rise of IS and the fall of Iraq: "Iraq is irreversibly split"Interview with Iraqi political scientist Ghassan Al-Attiyah: A nation torn apartThe genesis of Islamic State: A new chapter in the decline of the Arab world
IS jihadists in Mosul in June 2014 (photo: picture-alliance/AP)

Interview with Wilfried Buchta on the rise of IS and the fall of Iraq

"Iraq is irreversibly split"

In his new book, "Terror vor Europas Toren" (Terror at the Gates of Europe), Wilfried Buchta analyses the reasons for the rise of the jihadist militia of the self-styled "Islamic State" and the disintegration of the Iraqi state. Ulrich von Schwerin spoke to Buchta, a scholar of Islam, who worked as a UN analyst in Baghdad for many years about the future of the nationMore

Interview with Iraqi political scientist Ghassan Al-Attiyah: A nation torn apartInterview with "Der Spiegel" reporter Christoph Reuter: The strategists of terrorSunni-Shia conflict: The enemy of my enemy
Christoph Reuter travelling through Aleppo in May 2015 (photo: Christoph Reuter)

Interview with "Der Spiegel" reporter Christoph Reuter

The strategists of terror

At present, IS is the most dangerous terrorist militia in the world. It controls a territory that stretches from north-eastern Syria to western Iraq, including almost all Syrian oil and gas fields. Igal Avidan spoke to Christoph Reuter (correspondent for the German weekly news magazine "Der Spiegel") about the ascent of ISMore

Interview with Middle East expert Michael Luders: "Homs is likely to be IS's next target"The civil war in Syria: When minorities become pawns in a power gameOne year of IS in Iraq: The caliphate is a reality Recruitment strategies used by Islamic State: A mutation of religion
IS militants posing in Yarmouk Palestinian camp, Damascus, Syria (photo: picture-alliance/abaca/Balkis Press)

One year of IS in Iraq

The caliphate is a reality

One year ago, Islamic State began its triumphal march through Iraq. The capture of the province Anbar played a key role in this advance. Birgit Svensson in Baghdad looks back on a year of IS in IraqMore

Interview with Middle East expert Michael Luders: "Homs is likely to be IS's next target"Recruitment strategies used by Islamic State: A mutation of religionInterview with Iraqi political scientist Ghassan Al-Attiyah: A nation torn apartInterview with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb: "What the Islamist armed movements are doing is wrong"
A sandal rests on the head of a demolished statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad (photo: AP)

Interview with Iraqi political scientist Ghassan Al-Attiyah

A nation torn apart

According to Ghassan Al-Attiyah, Iraq's political elite failed to develop an interdenominational understanding of the state after the end of the Baath dictatorship. Mulham Al-Malaika spoke to the renowned Iraqi political scientist about the country's future and the fight against ISMore

Sunni–Shia conflict: The enemy of my enemyMilitary offensive against IS in Iraq: Strike and counter-strikeOffensive against IS in Iraq: Sowing the seeds of the next disaster
A Shia imam and a Shia fighter in Iraq (photo: Reuters)

Sunni-Shia conflict

The enemy of my enemy

Anyone who thinks that the Sunnis in Tikrit and Mosul will welcome the opponents of Islamic State with open arms as liberators is mistaken. They fear the Shia militias even more than they do IS. This shows how the inner-Islamic religious war has polarised Iraqi society. By Stefan BuchenMore

Military offensive against IS in Iraq: Strike and counter-strikeOffensive against IS in Iraq: Sowing the seeds of the next disasterIran's foreign policy: All options are openThe Iraq crisis and the West: The ugly new order in the "Fertile Crescent"
Shia units of the Iraqi army near the suburbs of Ad-Dawr near Tikrit (photo: Getty Images/AFP/Al-Rubaye)

Military offensive against IS in Iraq

Strike and counter-strike

The Iraqi army hopes that taking back Tikrit will come to mean to it what Kobani means to the Kurds: a turning point and a motivational push in one. By Birgit Svensson in BaghdadMore

Offensive against IS in Iraq: Sowing the seeds of the next disasterInside Kobani: The political game and the humanitarian crisisIran's foreign policy in Yemen and Iraq: Arab fear of the "extended arm of Iran"Portrait: Qassem Soleimani: The man who pulls the strings
Navid Kermani (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Interview with Navid Kermani

"One should take the religious façade seriously"

The writer Navid Kermani spent a week in mid September travelling through Iraq, visiting a number of different parts of the country. In this interview with Kersten Knipp, he speaks of his impressions of the country and some factors that have led to the rise of IS in IraqMore

Islamic State (IS): A totalitarian, expansive and hegemonic projectNew government in Iraq: Shouldering a huge political burdenBritish fatwa against IS: Breaking the spell of a poisonous ideology

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