the iraq-isis conflict in maps, photos and video - nytimes.c

5/20/2018 The Iraq-IsIS Conflict in Maps, Photos and Video - NYTimes.c

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A visual guide to the crisis in Iraq and Syria.

Having occupied crucial sections of Syria over the past year and more recently seizing vast areas of Iraq, the Islamic State in

Iraq and Syria controls territory greater than many countries and now rivals Al Qaeda as the worlds most powerful jihadist

group.

American fighter jets and drones attacked 68 targets in northern Iraq in the first week and a half of airstrikes, according to

the U.S. Central Command.

The Iraq-ISIS Conflict in Maps, Photos and Video - NYTimes.com 22/09/2014

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/world/middleeast/in-retaking-of-iraqi-dam-evidence-of-american-impact.htmlhttp://iswiraq.blogspot.com/http://www.longwarjournal.org/http://caerusassociates.com/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/world/middleeast/iraq.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/middleeast/index.html


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Tens of thousands of Yazidis, a religious minority group in Iraq, were trapped on Mount Sinjar, besieged by ISIS militants

who captured their towns at the foot of the mountain range in early August. Satellite imagery taken Aug. 7 indicates that

many of the displaced fled ISIS by driving vehicles up the mountain, where some encountered road blocks and abandoned

their cars.

The United Nations estimates that militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have forced nearly 180,000 families

or more than a million people from their homes in Iraq. The exodus roughly breaks down into three phases.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/world/middleeast/joy-in-us-at-news-that-yazidi-plight-is-easing.html


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American jets attacked mobile artillery vehicles that had been shelling Kurdish targets in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan

region. The city has boomed since the American-led invasion of Iraq. It is home to a growing expatriate community of

investment consultants and oil executives, as well as to an American consulate.

Though ISIS has grown to be

the most powerful militant

group in Iraq, its foothold in

the country relies on

negotiating a shifting tangle of

smaller groups and alliances.

This is a snapshot of the activemilitant groups in provinces

north and west of Baghdad,

based on information from the

Pentagon and other U.S.

officials and reporting by Times


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/world/middleeast/iraq.htmlhttp://iomiraq.net/dtm-page


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journalists in Iraq.

In northern Iraq, Kurds control

a semiautonomous region that

is more economically secure

because of access to oil, and

relatively stable because of a

well-trained military force

known as the pesh merga.

Recent gains by militants in

Iraq prompted the pesh merga

to take control of towns ( ),

including the oil-rich area

around Kirkuk. The regional

government hopes to hold a

referendum on independence

soon, but faces pressure from

the United States and other

countries to remain a part of

Iraq.

More than a million Iraqis

have been displaced this year,

according to new estimates by


http://iswiraq.blogspot.com/http://www.longwarjournal.org/http://caerusassociates.com/http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/world/middleeast/kurdish-leader-calls-for-iraqi-premier-to-resign.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/world/middleeast/us-and-iraqis-try-to-fragment-extremist-group-.html


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e n e a ons, worsen ng

a regional refugee crisis

stemming from Syrias civil

war.

The Islamic State in Iraq and

Syria is trying to establish its

own Sunni state across borders

that have their origins in the

Ottoman Empire and post

World War I diplomacy.

Beginning on June 20 and in a rapid succession, ISIS fighters captured the western border crossings at Qaim, Waleed and

Trebil. More recently the Iraqi government claims to have retaken some crossings.

Baghdad became highly segregated in the years after the American-led invasion of Iraq. The citys many mixed


http://iswiraq.blogspot.com/http://www.longwarjournal.org/http://caerusassociates.com/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/world/middleeast/sunni-militants-seize-crossing-on-iraq-jordan-border.htmlhttp://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/world/middleeast/redrawn-lines-seen-as-no-cure-in-iraq-conflict.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/world/middleeast/a-reignited-war-drives-iraqis-out-in-huge-numbers.html


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neighborhoods hardened into enclaves along religious and ethnic divisions. These maps, based on the work of Michael I zady

for Columbia Universitys Gulf 2000 project, show how the city divided from 2003 to 2009.

Witnesses reported that Sunni

extremists seized Iraqs largest

oil refinery on June 18 after

fighting the Iraqi Army for a

week, but officials disputed the

reportsand the situation

remains unclear. Workers were

evacuated, and the facility,

which provides oil for domestic

consumption to 11 Iraqi

provinces, including Baghdad,

was shut down.

Since seizing Mosul on June

10, the Islamic State in Iraq

and Syria has been attacking

towns along the main highway

heading south, coming closer

and closer to the capital.


http://www.longwarjournal.org/http://iswiraq.blogspot.com/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/world/middleeast/sectarian-violence-appears-to-spread-to-streets-of-baghdad.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/world/middleeast/iraq-isis.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/world/middleeast/iraq-isis.htmlhttp://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml


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The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the Sunni militant group that staged a stunning operation to seize Iraqs second largest

city, has been fueling sectarian violence in the region for years.

After sweeping across the porous border from Syria to overrun Mosul, insurgents aligned with the jihadist Islamic State in

Iraq and Syria continued to press south down the main north-south highway toward Baghdad.

The Islamic State in Iraq and

Syria has vowed to establish a

caliphate a unified Islamic

government ruled by a caliph,

someone considered to be a

successor to Muhammads

political authority stretching

from western Syria across Iraq

to the eastern border with Iran.

This map shows the boundaries

envisioned by ISIS.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/world/asia/iraq.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/world/middleeast/syrian-war-fueling-attacks-by-al-qaeda-in-iraq-officials-say.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/23/world/23iraq.html?pagewanted=allhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/world/middleeast/rebels-fast-strike-in-iraq-was-years-in-the-making.html


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The insurgents, originating in Syria, move

Sunni-dominated north and west, occupyi

surrendered by Iraqi soldiers and police. Th

avoided the Kurd-dominated northeast, bu

to march on to Baghdad and into the Shiit

of the south.

Many of the Iraqi cities that have been attacked and occupied by militants in recent days were also the sites of battles and

other major events during the Iraq War.

Moises Saman for The New York Times

Max Becherer for The New York Times

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/15/world/a-nation-at-war-tikrit-in-hometown-hussein-s-glory-is-quickly-gone.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Arhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/09/world/the-struggle-for-iraq-combat-marines-battle-guerrillas-in-streets-of-falluja.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Arhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/international/middleeast/04iraq.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Arhttp://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml


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Ayman Oghanna for The New York Times

A look at the goals of of the

three main groups in Iraq

Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish as

the country threatens to split

apart along sectarian lines.

The United Nations estimates

that at least 500,000 Iraqis

were displaced by the takeover

of Mosul. Food supplies are low

and there is limited fresh water

and little electricity. An

additional 430,000 people were

displaced by fighting In Anbar

Province, which insurgents

have controlled for more thansix months.

An Iraqi family, one of thousands who have fled Mosul for the autonomous Kurdish region, walks past tents at a te

Background on the Islamic

State in Iraq and Syria, the


http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/middleeast/100000002932429/isis-behind-the-group-that-took-mosul.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/video/world/middleeast/100000002939649/iraqs-factions-and-their-goals.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/23/world/23iraq.html?pagewanted=all


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Islamist group that appears to

be in control of the second

largest city in Iraq.


http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/middleeast/100000002932429/isis-behind-the-group-that-took-mosul.html

the iraq-isis conflict in maps, photos and video - nytimes.c

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