I just interviewed Al Rai's Elijah Magnier about the Moqtada al-Sadr-Qais Khazali split. Unlike conventional wisdom that said the two split in 2006 and Khazali went on to create Asaib Ahl Al-Haq (AAH), Magnier said that AAH was actually a front group created by Sadr and Iran to carry out deniable attacks for the Sadr trend. Sadr and Khazali didn't split until much later thanks to the work of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force commander Gen. Qasim Suleimani. Please read more here.
Took me a whole week but I finally compiled all of the security statistics for 2014 in Iraq. Counted 10,209 attacks, 24,725 killed, 37,970 wounded. Complete statistics, and charts breaking down those numbers can be found here.
Did a year end review of Iraq stories for 2014. Is no way comprehensive list, but some of the major events month by month that I wrote about for my blog Musings On Iraq. Here's a link.
Just published my weekly security report for Jan1-7, 2015 in Iraq. Attacks have been going up over last several weeks, but casualties remained stable. Read more here.
Another Iranian was reported killed in Iraq Jan 10. Was a commander in the Basij militia likely working with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force. This is the sixth Iranian that has officially been announced as dying in Iraq since the fall of Mosul in June. Read more here.
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