Muqtada al-Sadr also said he would withdraw his support for the current government and its replacement. Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr says he will boycott Iraq’s upcoming general election, announcing that he is withdrawing support from the current and future governments. “In order to preserve what is left of the …

After Hayat Tahrir al-Sham told the Chechen jihadi group Jund al-Sham it could either join its ranks or leave Idlib, the group’s members evacuated their military positions in the countryside of Latakia. Well-informed sources among jihadi groups told Al-Monitor that the Chechen Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of the Levant) group has …

The apparent takeover of the Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party by Bafel Talabani is more family affair than policy dispute. The power struggle within Iraqi Kurdish Talabani dynasty sharply escalated late Tuesday as dozens of gunmen stormed the offices of a fledgling media outlet owned by Lahur Sheikh Jangi …