MENA Minorities

Phillip Smyth, who writes the blog Hizballah Cavalcade about Shiite militias in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, has an extensive policy paper (more a monograph) on Shiite militias in Syria out via the Washington Institute. I haven't read it yet, but after browsing through the notes my expectations were raised. The Shiite Jihad in Syria and Its Regional Effects by Phillip Smyth, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy Btw there is also an interesting posting from last month on Hizballah Cavalcade about a new Shabak militia in Iraq .

In contrast to the case of the Christians, which is more an expulsion, what is happening now to the Yazidis clearly has genocidal features. Other minorities like the Shabak might be next. One of the best overviews comes from Matthew Barber (also read his piece on the expulsion of Mosul's Christians) for Syria Comment: IS Routs Peshmerga, Takes Control of Sinjar Mountains, Jeopardizes Yazidi Homeland by Matthew Barber, Syria Comme nt Some round-up: Iraq’s Religious Minorities are Being Slaughtered and ISIS Just Captured the Last Town Giving Them Shelter by Andrew Slater, The Daily Beast In a major defeat for Kurdish forces the Iraqi town of Sinjar was captured Sunday by the group known as ISIS, now calling itself the Islamic State. This is the Kurds first major loss to ISIS and a catastrophe for the religious minorities who had taken refuge in the area and are now at imminent risk of being slaughtered. Reports from the region describe an unfolding tragedy with...