Iraqi Shiites join Sunnis to fight Islamic State - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Ali Mamouri

Ali Mamouri

Nov 11, 2014

Shi'ite volunteers, from Abbas Unit 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), parade down a street in Kerbala, southwest of Baghdad August 14, 2014. U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that the Islamist militant siege of Iraq's Mount Sinjar had been broken and most of the U.S. military personnel sent to assess the situation would be pulled out of Iraq in the coming days. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhamme — Shiite volunteers who joined the Iraqi army's Abbas Unit to fight militants of the Islamic State parade down a street in Karbala, southwest of Baghdad, Aug. 14, 2014. — REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed

Residents and Iraqi security forces inspect the site where a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at the entrance to Kadhimiya, a mostly Shi'ite Muslim district in northwest Baghdad, Iraq July 24, 2016. REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily - RTSJDJ7

Kadhimiya and Adhamiya, symbols of Iraqi sectarianism

Adnan Abu Zeed

Sunni Muslims chant "Allahu Akbar", meaning God is great, during an anti-government demonstration in Ramadi, 100 km (62 miles) west of Baghdad, March 8, 2013.Thousands of Sunni Muslims protested after Friday prayers in huge rallies against Shi'ite Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, demanding that he step down. REUTERS/Ali al-Mashhadani (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS RELIGION) - RTR3EQ8A

Baghdad's Residents Fear Renewed Civil War

Mushreq Abbas

An Iraqi man holds a picture of top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani at a campaign rally for Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), which is part of the broad Shiite coalition the Iraqi National Alliance, in Baghdad March 5, 2010. Politicians launched into their last day of campaigning as more than a million Iraqis living abroad began voting in an election that could turn the page on years of deadly sectarian strife. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit sho

Sistani's critics want greater activism in Iraqi politics

Ali Mamouri

Egyptians carry coffins of Shi'ite victims killed in sectarian violence, following funeral prayers in El Sayeda Nafisa Mosque in Cairo, June 24, 2013. Egypt's president, accused of fuelling sectarian hatred, promised swift justice on Monday for a deadly attack on minority Shi'ites as he tried to quell broader factional fighting to avoid a threatened military intervention. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST RELIGION) - RTX10ZE4

Zarqawi's Legacy Continues: Rising Sectarianism in Islamic World

Bruce Riedel