Publications

Control of Terrain in Iraq: August 7, 2014

August 7, 2014 - Institute for the Study of War

Changes for August 7 update: ISIS gunmen deployed to the Ninewa Plains, an area that includes many villages that are historically home to a large Iraqi Christian population.

Iraq Situation Report: August 7, 2014

August 7, 2014 - Institute for the Study of War

The status of the Mosul Dam remains unclear as reports conflict regarding who controls it.

Iraq Situation Report: August 6, 2014

August 6, 2014 -

ISIS control of Sinjar has severely escalated the humanitarian crisis in northern Iraq, especially for minority populations like the Yezidis that face brutal persecution if they attempt to subsist under ISIS control.

Iraq Situation Report: August 5, 2014

August 5, 2014 - Institute for the Study of War

The president of Iraqi Kurdistan and the leader of the KDP, Masoud Barzani, issued orders for the Peshmerga to take an offensive role against ISIS. 

Control of Terrain in Iraq: August 4, 2014

August 4, 2014 -

There were unconfirmed reports that ISIS took Mosul Dam yesterday. It is unlikely that the Peshmerga would surrender this critical piece of infrastructure, hence the deployment of Peshmerga reinforcements to the dam that was reported today.

Iraq Situation Report: August 4, 2014

August 4, 2014 -

ISIS took control of the Sinjar district yesterday, while hundreds of families fled the area to the nearby Sinjar Mountain.

Iraq Situation Report: August 3, 2014

August 3, 2014 -

ISIS has launched a new offensive in northern Iraq to take control of Sinjar and other critical terrain in Kurdish areas north and west of Mosul. 

Iraq Situation Report: August 2, 2014

August 2, 2014 -

Clashes between ISIS and Peshmerga forces in Zammar and Jalula indicate an attempt by ISIS to secure the areas that it is contesting against Kurdish troops.

Iraq Situation Report: August 1, 2014

August 1, 2014 -

ISIS continues to attack the Baiji oil refinery with the intent to complete its control of Baiji city.

ISIS Governance in Syria

August 1, 2014 -

By Charles C. Caris & Samuel Reynolds
The Islamic State’s June 2014 announcement of a “caliphate” is not empty rhetoric. In fact, the idea of the caliphate that rests within a controlled territory is a core part of ISIS’s political vision. The ISIS grand strategy to realize this vision involves first establishing control of terrain through military conquest and then reinforcing this control through governance. This grand strategy proceeds in phases that have been laid out by ISIS itself in its publications, and elaborates a vision that it hopes will attract both fighters and citizens to its nascent state. The declaration of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, however, raises the question: can ISIS govern?

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