ISIS: The State of Terror (available here)  By JM Berger & Jessica Stern 385 pp. (hardcover), HarperCollins $27.99 Reviewed by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi The ISIS phenomenon that has swept Iraq and Syria with global repercussions has produced a demand for information on the origins, rise, operations and future of arguably the most brutal jihadist movement yet. […]

By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi Readers of my report on my visit to the north Aleppo town of Azaz near the border with Turkey will recall that authority in Azaz is divided between two bodies: the local council and the Shari’a committee. Broadly speaking, the local council covers the realm of public services, while the Shari’a […]

From a friend commenting on discrepancy in SOHR’s recent numbers: SOHR is all over the place with numbers. This is his latest: here. The new number is 210k; he says that 100k are civilians 80%+ of which are men. He estimates 85k+ fighters unaccounted for across all sides. 1.5 million injured. 50% displaced. His detailed […]

ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror Michael Weiss & Hassan Hassan £5.99, 1169p. (I-Phone Reading). Reviewed by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi. The rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS, subsequently calling itself just “The Islamic State” since the Caliphate declaration of  29 Jun 2014) across Iraq and Syria will naturally provoke much questioning […]

By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi While most analysis of the Druze in Syria focuses on their positions in Suwayda province- where they constitute the majority of the population- as well as Jabal al-Sheikh in Damascus/Quneitra provinces, it should be remembered that there is also a Druze community in the Jabal al-Summaq area of Idlib province. This […]

Browse Archive By Year Current 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 After Facing Up to World of Change, Clinton Leaves a Legacy of Caution – Dec 27, 2012 By Guy Taylor | The Washington Times “You feel to a certain degree as if she’s covering […]

Frontline Developments:   From a friend: Souriatna is a rebel newspaper distributed in rebel territory. In a recent issue they printed a full page “je suis charlie” poster (viewable here, page 9: http://issuu.com/souriatna/docs/souriatna_173). Nusra found out about it and started knocking down doors to find the place that published it. They attacked the Radio Fresh […]

By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi As outlined previously on this site and elsewhere in my writings, Jamaat Ansar al-Islam (JAI) is a jihadi group that originated in Iraq and expanded into Syria in 2011 thanks at least in part to the efforts of one Abu Muhammad al-Muhajir (an Iraqi himself who was later killed near Mosul […]

By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi With the fragmentation of Iraq and Syria primarily along sectarian fault-lines- principally that of the Shi’a vs. Sunni dynamic- third way ethno-religious groups such as the Christians find themselves caught in the middle. Lacking organizational coherence, unity and strength to form their own separatist projects, Christians in Iraq and Syria generally […]

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi Those of you reading this post will probably know by now of the latest viral story to hit social media: namely, the revelation of the true identity of the most prominent Islamic State (IS) fanboy on Twitter by the pseudonym of ‘Shami Witness.’ Originally using the name ‘El Saltador’ (Spanish for ‘the […]