Ali Mamouri - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Ali Mamouri

Ali Mamouri was the Associate Editor of Iraq at Al-Monitor.

Shi'ite fighters from Hashid Shaabi forces walk with their weapons at the front line at the Shi'ite Turkman village of Bashir, 20km south of Kirkuk, March 14, 2015. Kurdish peshmerga forces, backed by Shi'ite militia fighters, have been attacking Islamic State-held towns and villages south and west of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, peshmerga sources said. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR4TCDN

Leaked cables show Gulf leery of Shiite expansion

Ali Mamouri

Militant Islamist fighters parade on military vehicles along the streets of northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. Militant Islamist fighters held a parade in Syria's northern Raqqa province to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq, a monitoring service said. The Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot previously known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), posted pictures online on Sunday of people waving black flags from cars and

Extremist groups transform concept of jihad

Ali Mamouri

Fighters from the Shi'ite Badr Brigade militia stand near their flag as they guard at a checkpoint along a highway recently taken from militants of the Islamic State, outside the town of Sulaiman Pek September 5, 2014. The highway, which continues south to Baghdad, is now controlled by Shi'ite militia fighters and the Kurdish Peshmerga. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR454AO

Is the Shiite revival here?

Ali Mamouri

A Muslim woman reads the Koran before Iftar, when Muslims break their fast, during the holy month of Ramadan at the historic Umayyad Mosque in Old Damascus August 26, 2009. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and conducting sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA SOCIETY RELIGION) - RTR274NK

Contemporary Islamic views support reform in favor of women

Ali Mamouri

A man walks past a poster, commemorating Shi'ite fighters who were killed in battles with Islamic State militants, at Tahrir Square in Baghdad February 7, 2015. Baghdad residents commended a decision by Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to end their city's nightime curfew on Saturday. Some form of curfew has been in place since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, hindering commercial and civilian movement. The midnight (2100 GMT) to 5 a.m. curfew has been in place for more than seven

Iraq needs justice, not revenge

Ali Mamouri

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (R) arrives to address troops at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait February 23, 2015. Carter is gathering top U.S. military commanders and diplomats for talks in Kuwait on Monday about the battle against Islamic State, as America's military effort approaches major hurdles in both Iraq and Syria. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (KUWAIT - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR4QS89

IS eager to confront US ground forces in Iraq

Ali Mamouri

Shi'ite fighters participate in an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants in Jurf al-Sakhar October 26, 2014. After helping government forces break Islamic State's grip over a strategic town just south of Baghdad on Saturday, Shi'ite militias decided it was time for payback. To match story MIDEAST-CRISIS/IRAQ-EXECUTIONS REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani (IRAQ - Tags: MILITARY CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR4BO5H

Concern in Iraq grows over unregulated Shiite forces

Ali Mamouri

Shi'ite Muslims attend a religious ritual at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, January 8, 2011. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS) - RTXWC4X

Shiite faithful defy danger to visit shrines

Ali Mamouri

An Islamist protester holds a Salafist flag with Arabic words that read "There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his prophet" as Egyptian security forces stand guard during a protest against the French operation in Mali outside the French embassy in Cairo January 18, 2013. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3CLWR

Why Salafists see Shiites as their greatest enemy

Ali Mamouri

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (R) welcomes an Iraqi Shiite cleric at the Royal Palace in the Moslem holy city of Mecca. October 21, 2006. Iraqi Shi'ite and Sunni clerics meeting in Mecca called on Friday for an end to sectarian violence that many fear could lead to civil war in Iraq. REUTERS/Saudi News Agency/Handout (SAUDI ARABIA) - RTR1IJKP

Shiites have mixed reactions to new Saudi king

Ali Mamouri

A Palestinian police officer loyal to Hamas pushes back Salafists during a protest against satirical French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, outside the French Cultural Centre in Gaza city January 19, 2015. Dozens of Jihadist Salafi men rallied in Gaza on Monday to condemn continued publication by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo of cartoons deemed offensive to Islam's Prophet. Charlie Hebdo published a picture of Mohammad weeping on its cover last week after gunmen s

Moderate Islam pushes back extremism

Ali Mamouri

Students attend a traditional Sufi "halaqa" (study group) at the Ribat Tarim religious school in the historical city of Tarim in southeastern Yemen February 23, 2010. Tarim has long been a teaching centre for Sufism, a mystical strand in Islam, but all Islamic schools have come under scrutiny since al Qaeda in Yemen said it was behind a failed attack on a U.S.-bound jet on Dec. 25. Picture taken on February 23, 2010. To match feature YEMEN-RELIGION/ REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN - Tags: RELIGION EDUCAT

How Sufism could balance Salafism

Ali Mamouri