(2026-01-23). Iraqi Gov't Agrees with US to Take Custody of 7,000 ISIL Fighters in Light of Syrian Instability. juancole.com Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — Iraq is seeking custody of the captured ISIL (ISIS, Daesh) fighters who had been imprisoned by the Syrian Kurdish YPG forces. Some of these prisoners escaped recently when the fundamentalist Salafi Arab government in Damascus made a Blitzkrieg into eastern Syria, pushing out the YPG and seizing oil fields, towns, a dam, and vast territory. The Shiite-dominated government in Iraq does not like the new Syrian government of hard line ("Salafi") Sunni fundamentalists one little bit. Baghdad is petrified that instability in Syria will spill over into Iraq. And ISIL fighters escaping…
(2026-01-23). Bay Area Kurds Protest Oppression by Turkish and Syrian States. indybay.org Kurds fought alongside U.S. military forces in the fight against ISIS, yet are now being slaughtered…
(2026-01-23). Rifaat Assad, Butcher of Hama, dies aged 88. albawaba.com