Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Kurdish “peshmerga” troops walk during an intensive security deployment after clashes with militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Jalawla. (Reuters)

Iraq’s Kurds deny PM accusations of harboring ISIS fighters

by Hamza Mustafa | Jul 10, 2014 | Middle East

Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Recent remarks by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki in which he accused Erbil of harboring fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have provoked the ire of Kurdish politicians, who have dismissed the accusations as...

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Kurdish Peshmerga forces seize control of Mosul’s Rabia district after Iraqi army forces abandoned the city to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, June 14, 2014. (Emrah Yorulmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Yesterday’s Enemies, Tomorrow’s Friends?

by Soner Cagaptay | Jul 10, 2014 | The Majalla Magazine

When I visited Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in 2007, my host, a leading Kurdish official, asked me when Turkey was going to invade the KRG. Today, the world has seen a 180-degree shift, and the question now is if the KRG will cut ties...

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A member of Halparki Kirkuk practices his dance moves. (Hannah Lucinda Smith)

Dancing in Kirkuk

by Hannah Lucinda Smith | Jul 10, 2014 | Majalla Blogs

On a baking hot Monday afternoon just before the start of Ramadan, a group of teenagers filed into a dilapidated sports hall in Kirkuk. There was no air-conditioning and no watercooler, and the sweat dripped down their faces as they started to dance. But they beamed...

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The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, arrives for a session of the Kurdistan parliament on July 3, 2014 in Erbil, the Kurdish region’s capital in northern Iraq. (AFP Photo/Safin Hamed)

Iraqi Kurdistan will press ahead with independence referendum, says official

by Ma'ad Fayad | Jul 6, 2014 | Middle East

London, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will press ahead with a referendum on declaring independence from Iraq, the autonomous region’s top diplomat said on Saturday, as fears continue to grow of the break-up of the country. Speaking...

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A photograph made from a video released on 05 July 2014 by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul, Iraq, 04 July 2014. (EPA Photos)

Opinion: ISIS has reshuffled the regional cards

by Huda Al Husseini | Jul 6, 2014 | Opinion

For the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is a month of jihad and crucial decisions. ISIS kicked off the month of Ramadan with the declaration of its Islamic State and it is, no doubt, planning large-scale military operations...