Kurdish peshmerga divisions hamper war effort

The majority of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces are divided between the two main rival political parties, hindering efforts in the fight against the Islamic State.

Iraq

Shiite leaders forbid insults against Sunnis

Najaf's Shiite authorities in Iran and Iraq issue fatwas against insults to Sunni figures and their sanctities.

Iraq

Iran's new group in Iraq: Saraya al-Khorasani

Saraya al-Khorasani appears to have more direct contact and cooperation with Iran than other groups and militias it has ties with.

Iraq

Bahraini Shiite leader arrested

The detention of Sheikh Ali Salman mirrors the marginalization of Sunnis in Iraq over the past decades and is likely to lead to further religious tension.

Bahrain

Iraqi female nurses struggle for equality

Women in the health industry are looked down upon by Iraq's conservative society, but the need for nurses and for women to be employed are slowly liberalizing attitudes.

Iraq

Teenage suicide bomber hopes for second chance

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Usaid Barho, a teenaged suicide bomber dispatched by the Islamic State, tells of his odyssey from an Aleppo mosque to the gates of a Shiite house of worship in Baghdad wearing an explosive vest.

Iraq

Russia and the Kurds

Russia balances its relationships with various Kurdish groups with its support for the states the Kurds live under.

Iraq

Iraqis dream of jinn

Belief in superstition, magic and, more specifically, jinn — supernatural creatures in Islamic mythology — has pervaded Iraqi society across socioeconomic classes.

Iraq

As Iraqis cope with past injustices, so should Israelis

Iraqis are looking courageously into their past, examining the attacks against the Jewish community in the 1950s that forced it to flee the country, and Israelis should do the same by acknowledging the Palestinians' suffering.

Palestine

Islamic State book burnings target minorities

The Islamic State has imposed strict conditions for books entering Iraq by land, confiscating all those related to Christianity and slowly destroying cultural pluralism in Iraqi society.

Iraq

Jordan to arm Sunni tribes in Iraq, Syria

Jordan is concerned airstrikes alone will not defeat the Islamic State threat, and is considering arming Sunni tribes in Iraq and Syria to prevent the jihadists from reaching its borders.

Iraq

Iraqi youths embrace religious traditions

In the historic towns of Babil and Karbala, religion has come to determine every aspect of social life.

Iraq