![Freeing Fayza: A Journey to War-Torn Iraq to Rescue a Yazidi ISIL Slave Girl](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/freeing-fayza-a-journey-to-war-t-187x137.jpg)
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Archives: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
![Freeing Fayza: A Journey to War-Torn Iraq to Rescue a Yazidi ISIL Slave Girl](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/freeing-fayza-a-journey-to-war-t-187x137.jpg)
![Was ISIL’s destruction of Mosul’s Grand Mosque Grand Strategy?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/was-isils-destruction-of-mosuls-187x137.jpg)
Was ISIL’s destruction of Mosul’s Nuri Mosque Grand Strategy?
By Benjamin Isakhan and Jose Antonio Gonzalez Zarandona | (The Conversation) | - - On June 29 2014 – nearly three years ago to the day – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took the…![In Apocalyptic Vandalism, ISIL blows up 800-year-old Nuri Mosque in Mosul](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/in-apocalyptic-vandalism-isil-bl-187x137.jpg)
In Apocalyptic Vandalism, ISIL blows up 800-year-old Nuri Mosque in Mosul
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - al-Hayat (Life) reports that on Wednesday evening around 9:30 pm local time, Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) blew up the Nuri Mosque in Mosul. The…![Aerospace Campaign in Syria: Did Putin kill ISIL’s so-called ‘caliph’?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/aerospace-campaign-in-syria-did-187x137.jpg)
Aerospace Campaign in Syria: Did Putin kill ISIL’s so-called ‘caliph’?
TeleSur | - - The statement came a day after Russia said it killed several senior leaders, 30 field commanders and up to 300 of their personal guards in an airstrike last…![Obama’s last Victory: Syrian Democratic Forces hold Parts of ISIL Capital](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/obamas-last-victory-syrian-democ-187x137.jpg)
Obama’s last Victory: Syrian Democratic Forces hold Parts of ISIL Capital
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with…![GOP Rep. urges US Terror alliance with ISIL against Iranian civilians](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/gop-rep-urges-us-terror-alliance-187x137.jpg)
GOP Rep. urges US Terror alliance with ISIL against Iranian civilians
NIAC | (Video News Clip) | - - NIAC Action: "Shocking: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Suggests Tehran ISIS Attack Was "Positive"![Could ISIL attacks in Tehran plunge the Middle East into greater turmoil?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/could-isil-attacks-in-tehran-plu-187x137.jpg)
Could ISIL attacks in Tehran plunge the Middle East into greater turmoil?
By Mohammadbagher Forough | (The Conversation) | - - Iran experienced its first major ISIL attack on June 7, as armed men and suicide bombers targeted two symbols of the Islamic Republic…![How Trump should have responded to London Attacks if he were Normal](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/06/how-trump-should-have-responded-187x137.jpg)
How Trump should have responded to London Attacks if he were Normal
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Donald J. Trump 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue/ Mar-a-Lago Florida (Golf Course) Dear Prime Minister May and Mayor Khan: I was devastated to learn that…![Baghdad and Manchester: Let’s Commemorate ISIL Victims in Both](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/05/baghdad-and-manchester-lets-comm-187x137.jpg)
Baghdad and Manchester: Let’s Commemorate ISIL Victims in Both
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - ISIL (ISIS, Daesh) lashed out at the civilian population in Iraq on Tuesday with three bombings and over 60 casualties. With its signature…![Mosul curses ISIL corpses: “Beguiled by promises of Virgins, you’re Garbage now”](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/05/mosul-curses-isil-corpses-beguil-187x137.jpg)
Mosul curses ISIL corpses: “Beguiled by promises of Virgins, you’re Garbage now”
Special Correspondent | (Mosul) | (Niqash.org) | - - NIQASH’s Mosul correspondent left the city shortly after the extremist Islamic State group took over. But most of his family remained. After 34…![Who are Egypt’s Coptic Christians, ISIL’s latest Victims?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/05/who-are-egypts-coptic-christians-187x137.jpg)
Who are Egypt’s Coptic Christians, ISIL’s latest Victims?
By Paul Rowe | (The Conversation) | - - Coptic Christians in Egypt have been attacked while traveling on pilgrimages and bombed while praying on Palm Sunday, amid an accelerating series of…![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/05/MEN_0033a0aa016936_6849884-187x137.jpg)
Terror and Geopolitics: Manchester 2017 and 1996
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Manchester, UK, was hit with the deadliest bomb attack on Monday since a June Saturday morning in 1996, when a massive 3000 lb.…![What will new French President Macron do about Syria & ISIL?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/05/what-will-new-french-president-m-187x137.jpg)
What will new French President Macron do about Syria & ISIL?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Now that Emmanuel Macron is president of France, it is worthwhile asking what sort of foreign policy he would be likely to pursue.…![Power, Water, Music: Mosul comes back to Life](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/05/power-water-music-mosul-comes-ba-187x137.jpg)
Power, Water, Music: Mosul comes back to Life
Special Correspondent | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - Locals in the parts of Mosul, from which extremists have been pushed out, are celebrating small signs of returning life: For one thing,…![Trump sends US Troops to Patrol Turkish-Syrian Border as Ankara Threatens US Allies](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/05/trump-sends-us-troops-to-patrol-1-187x137.jpg)
Trump sends US Troops to Patrol Turkish-Syrian Border as Ankara Threatens US Allies
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Only one fighting force in Syria is practically speaking taking on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on the ground, and that is the Syrian Democratic…![UK: Labour’s Corbyn Says Could Halt Syria Airstrikes If Elected](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/04/uk-labours-corbyn-says-could-hal-187x137.jpg)
UK: Labour’s Corbyn Says Could Halt Syria Airstrikes If Elected
TeleSur | - - Corbyn also said he would have to consider whether he would authorize a drone strike against the leader of Islamic State group to limit civilian deaths. The leader…![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/04/167941-187x137.jpg)
ISIL Terror-Trolls French Election, Supporting far Right; Will French Fall for It?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Thursday's shooting at the Champs Elysee, left one policeman dead, another gravely injured, a third lightly wounded along with a German tourist shot…![ISIL Now Controls only 7% of Iraq: What will its Defeat Mean for the Country?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/04/isil-now-controls-only-7-of-iraq-187x137.jpg)
ISIL Now Controls only 7% of Iraq: What will its Defeat Mean for the Country?
Peter Bartu | (OpenDemocracy.net) | - - The west has treated ISIL as enemy number one while local actors see it as a sideshow in a political arena stretching from the Mediterranean…![Russia’s not Leaving: Syria is about old-Fashioned Sphere of Influence, not Oil](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/04/russias-not-leaving-syria-is-abo-187x137.jpg)
Russia’s not Leaving: Syria is about old-Fashioned Sphere of Influence, not Oil
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Russia is not going to yield its sphere of influence in Syria to Donald Trump or anyone else. Russia has all but won…![Sharpening Contradictions: ISIL Strikes Egyptian Christians on Palm Sunday](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701055717im_/https://media.juancole.com/images/2017/04/sharpening-contradictions-isil-s-187x137.jpg)