March 16, 2015

Iraq's Sunni Reawakening

In early March, Baghdad started a push to retake the historic city of Tikrit, located in the center of the so-called Sunni triangle, from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). This is a critical first offensive in what will be a larger campaign to wrest territorial control of the Sunni heartland—the Anbar and nearby Nineveh provinces—from ISIS. Some Americans must be feeling a sense of déjà vu; the U.S. military tried something similar as part of the 2006–07 Arab Sunni Awakening. Then, as now, counterterrorism operations combined with efforts to win Sunni hearts and minds required the tough, tedious work of offering the right guarantees and incentives to “flip” key leaders of the Iraqi Sunni tribal region away from the terrorists in their midst.

Read the full article at Foreign Affairs.

Commentary
- European Council on Foreign Relations
- October 2, 2023
Iraq’s persistent fault line: The dangers of escalating tensions in Kirkuk
While Kirkuk remains contested, risks of destabilisation will continue to hang over Iraq and the Sudani government....

By Hamzeh Hadad
Commentary
- Breaking Defense
- August 7, 2023
Washington’s Security Strategy in Iraq Was Deep-frozen. This Week Might Bring an Overdue Thaw.
It will require immense political will and courage to reform an Iraqi defense establishment that continues to perpetually hollow itself through corruption, indifference, and o...

By Jonathan Lord
Commentary
- European Council on Foreign Relations
- July 25, 2023
A golden opportunity: How Iraq can benefit from regional calm
Leaders are concerned with the economic wellbeing of their citizens in a transforming, and less oil reliant, world....

By Hamzeh Hadad
Video
- June 28, 2023
Jonathan Lord on the DoD and Kurdish Air Support
Jonathan Lord joins AL-Hadath to explain some of the challenges facing United States Department of Defense in providing air defense systems to the Kurdistan Regional Governmen...

By Jonathan Lord