Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday to announce the city’s “liberation” from the Islamic State, and to congratulate the Iraqi armed forces and people on their “victory” in the city after nearly nine months of urban warfare, and bringing an end to jihadist rule in the city, the WSJ reported. As a reminder, Mosul is where the Islamic State achieved its greatest military victory when it captured the city in just four days on June 29, 2014 and handed the Iraqi military a humiliating defeat, sending shock waves through the region.

Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

The Islamic State on Wednesday night destroyed the famous Grand al-Nuri Mosque located in Mosul, best known for its leaning minaret, known as the "hunchback" and one of Iraq’s most famous landmarks. The entire structure has been destroyed, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing an Iraqi military statement.

The mosque is where the Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ascended a pulpit in 2014 and declared a caliphate after his fighters took control of Mosul and swept through other areas of northern Iraq and Syria, according to the NYT.

Authored by Federico Pieraccini via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

In a climate of outright confrontation, even the Gulf monarchies have been overtaken by a series of unprecedented events. The differences between Qatar on one side, and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on the other, have escalated into a full-blown diplomatic crisis with outcomes difficult to foresee.

Authored by Jacob Hornberger via The Future of Freedom Foundation,

In my article “The Evil of Killing Children,” I pointed out how the U.S. government, in an attempt to achieve regime change in Iraq, knowingly and intentionally killed hundreds of thousands of innocent children in Iraq.