Fallujah key to defeating Islamic State - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Mushreq Abbas

Mushreq Abbas

Jul 9, 2014

Masked Sunni gunmen pray during a patrol outside the city of Falluja April 23, 2014. Government forces are fighting rebellious Sunni tribes and an al-Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), in western Anbar province. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3MDCC — Masked Sunni gunmen pray during a patrol outside of Fallujah, April 23, 2014. — REUTERS

Fighters of al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant carry their weapons during a parade at the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, near the border with Turkey January 2, 2014. Picture taken January 2, 2014. REUTERS/Yaser Al-Khodor (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX170U3

ISIS leader al-Baghdadi proves formidable enemy

Mushreq Abbas

A picture taken on October 28, 2019 shows Syrian bikers riding past a damaged car at the site of a suspected US-led operation against Islamic State (IS) chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the previous day, on the edge of the small Syrian village of Barisha in the country's opposition-held northwestern Idlib province. - US President Donald Trump announced that Baghdadi, the elusive leader of the jihadist group and the world's most wanted man, was killed in the early hours of Octobe 27 in an overnight US raid near th

New IS leader takes over following Baghdadi’s death

Giorgio Cafiero

Giorgio Cafiero

A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video. There had previously been reports on social media that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would make his first public appearance since his Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) changed its name to the Islamic S

The many names of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

People walk past a banner (in black and white) belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the city of Mosul, June 28, 2014. Since early June, ISIL militants have overrun most majority Sunni Muslim areas in the north and west of Iraq, capturing the biggest northern city Mosul and late dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. The banner reads, "There is no God but God, and Mohammad is his messenger." REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3W71S

Why Islamic State is no al-Qaeda clone

Mushreq Abbas