UGS MarSec Digest 19 June 2014
UGS MarSec Digest 19/06/2014 By Ilias Papadopoulos Master in International Relations & Strategic Studies Last week saw the rise of an unexpected danger in the Middle East, the radical Islamic ISIL (Islamic State for Iraq and the Levante), an offshoot of al Qaeda that operates in Iraq and Syria. Iraq is a country populated by three distinct groups, Sunni Muslims, Shi’a Muslims and Kurds, with the Shi’a being the majority. After the US intervention in the country in 2003 the later came to power and conducted along with their US allies counterterrorist operations against the radical Sunnis (then called al Qaeda in Iraq). However two factors changed the largely successful approach in the country. The first was … Continue reading