Iraq

World News

Iraqis Displaced By ISIS Face Another Threat: Winter

4:55pm October 12, 2014

by Leila Fadel

With winter approaching, most of the 1.8 million Iraqis displaced by Islamic extremists will be living outside through the winter in Iraq's north, where temperatures frequently drop below freezing.

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In Arid Iraq, Control Of Water Is Part Of ISIS Arsenal

1:14pm October 12, 2014

Water is a crucial resource to those living along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to researcher Matthew Machowski about how ISIS is using that natural resource as a weapon.

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Some Weapons Bound For Syrian Rebels End Up With ISIS

2:20pm October 11, 2014

Conflict Armament Research tracks the weapons the self-proclaimed Islamic State uses. As Damien Spleeters tells NPR's Scott Simon, the group traced weapons back to more than 20 countries.

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Turkey Agrees To Train, Equip Moderate Syrian Opposition

1:36pm October 10, 2014

by Scott Neuman

The pledge to create a force to assist in fighting the self-declared Islamic State comes a day after Ankara called for creating a buffer zone around its border with Syria.

Smoke rises after a U.S.-led airstrike in the Syrian town of Kobani on Wednesday. The Kurdish border town has been fiercely contested in a three-week assault.

World News

The War With No Name

1:24pm October 09, 2014

by Greg Myre

After two months, the U.S. bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria has not yet dealt a major blow to the Islamic State. And the Pentagon still hasn't come up with a moniker for the operation.

A black flag belonging to the so-called Islamic State is seen in the Syrian town of Kobani on Thursday, as seen from the Turkey-Syria border near the southeastern town of Suruc.

Turkey: Unilateral Ground Operation Against ISIS 'Unrealistic'

12:24pm October 09, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says his country cannot be expected to go it alone to protect Kurds inside Syria against militants with the self-declared Islamic State.

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Distrust Between Kurdish Forces And Arabs May Benefit ISIS

9:13am October 09, 2014

by Leila Fadel

Kurdish forces in Iraq are protecting Arab villages from being attacked by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. They are also encircling those Arabs and not letting them enter or leave the villages.

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Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike, seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkey-Syria border in Suruc, Sanliurfa province, on Tuesday.

Islamic State Poised To Capture Syrian Border Town, Turkey Warns

1:21pm October 07, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Militants with the self-described Islamic State raised their group's black flag over the eastern gate in Kobani on Monday.

Leon Panetta says he and other top national security advisers to the president argued to keep some U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq after 2011.

Panetta: Fight Against Terrorism Will Be A Long, Sustained War

12:04pm October 07, 2014

In a new memoir, Leon Panetta says he and other presidential advisers argued to leave some U.S. forces in Iraq after 2011. That might have left Iraq in better position to fight ISIS, he tells NPR.

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Islamic State Beheads British Aid Worker, Makes New Threat

1:50pm October 04, 2014

by Kelly McEvers

A fourth westerner has been beheaded by the terrorist group calling itself the Islamic State. We explore how a former British cab driver named Alan Henning become their latest victim.

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