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.

Members loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) wave ISIL flags as they drive around Raqqa June 29, 2014. The offshoot of al Qaeda which has captured swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria has declared itself an Islamic "Caliphate" and called on factions worldwide to pledge their allegiance, a statement posted on jihadist websites said on Sunday. The group, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, has renamed itself "Islamic State" and proclai

IS uses intelligence to purge opponents

Ali Mamouri

A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard at a checkpoint during an intensive security deployment in Baghdad, June 16, 2014. The United States is contemplating talks with its arch-enemy Iran to support the Iraqi government in its battle with Sunni Islamist insurgents who routed Baghdad's army and seized the north of the country in the past week. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT) - RTR3U2D3

Islamic State fears hang over Baghdad

Ali Mamouri

Female school students wearing a full veil (niqab) walk along a street in the northern province of Raqqa March 31, 2014. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has imposed sweeping restrictions on personal freedoms in the northern province of Raqqa. Among the restrictions, Women must wear the niqab, or full face veil, in public or face unspecified punishments "in accordance with sharia", or Islamic law. REUTERS/Stringer (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT RELIGION SOCIETY EDUCATION TPX

IS imposes new rules on education in Syria, Iraq

Ali Mamouri

$A policeman carries his weapon as he mans a checkpoint in Sanaa September 25, 2014. Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has warned Yemenis their country is heading towards civil war after the takeover of the capital by Shi'ite Muslim rebels, a move that has allowed the insurgents to dictate terms to a weakened, fractured government. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CRIME LAW) - RTR47NQU$

Common enemy brings Iran, Saudi Arabia closer

Ali Mamouri

Shi'ite Muslims attend prayers for Eid al-Fitr as they mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan at the headquarters of Shi'ite cleric Ammar al-Hakim, the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), in Baghdad July 29, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad (IRAQ - Tags: SOCIETY RELIGION) - RTR40GYT

Iraq’s Shiite authority flexes its political muscle

Ali Mamouri

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, wait for aid at an abandoned building that they are using as their main residence, outside the city of Dohuk August 25, 2014. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR43P9T

Iraqi scholar burns his books to protest Yazidi ethnic cleansing

Ali Mamouri

Shi'ite volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against militants of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), carry a picture of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf, August 16, 2014. School is out, but northern Baghdad's classrooms are packed - not with students, but with people who have travelled further than most to escape the Sunni militant onslaught splitting Iraq. REUTERS/Alaa Al

Salafist danger spawns pan-Shiite solidarity

Ali Mamouri

A woman prays inside a damaged church in Maaloula August 21, 2014. Residents of Maaloula, a Christian town in Syria, call on other Christian groups and minorities to stand up to the radicalism that is sweeping across Syria and Iraq. The town was regained by Syrian Army forces in April from Islamic militants, and several months later life is slowly returning to the town. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY RELIGION) - RTR43A30

Iraq’s minorities demand weapons, training

Ali Mamouri

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, wait for aid at an abandoned building that they are using as their main residence, outside the city of Dohuk August 25, 2014. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR43PC3

Iraqi clerics show support for minorities

Ali Mamouri

Iraqi military personnel distribute water to Shiite Iraqi Kurds, known as "Shabak", displaced by fierce fighting between Kurdish peshmerga forces and jihadist militants from the Islamic State (IS) after arriving on the road between Kirkuk and Arbil having fled the area of Bartala near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, on August 8, 2014. Jihadists seized Iraq's largest dam north of their hub of Mosul, giving them control over the supply of water and electricity for a vast area, officials said. AFP PHOTO / MA

IS threatens Iraq's minority Shabak community

Ali Mamouri

Iraqi refugees, who fled from the violence in Mosul, walk during sunset inside the Khazer refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, June 27, 2014. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential Shi'ite cleric in Iraq, called on the country's leaders on Friday to choose a prime minister within the next four days, a dramatic political intervention that could hasten the end of Nuri al-Maliki's eight year rule. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS SOCIETY) - RT

No end in sight for Islamic State’s attack on Iraq

Ali Mamouri

Shi'ite volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against militants of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), carry a picture of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf, August 16, 2014. School is out, but northern Baghdad's classrooms are packed - not with students, but with people who have travelled further than most to escape the Sunni militant onslaught splitting Iraq. REUTERS/Alaa Al

How did Sistani succeed in ousting Maliki?

Ali Mamouri