Lindsey Hilsum
A combined force of Iraqi army, Shia militia and Kurdish peshmerga is trying to retake Tikrit from IS. But it is more likely to want vengeance than an orderly retaking of the area.
Lindsey Hilsum
I was in Baghdad in 2003, filming “shock and awe”. Despite the violence, it was a time of hope. But now the Iraqi capital is riven by terrorism and state-sponsored violence.
Cathy Newman
Why, when insurgents are rampaging through Iraq, were British journalists permitted to ask John Kerry and William Hague only two questions at a press conference today?
Jon Snow
The entity of Iraq – invented by Britain – cannot hold, and the utter foolhardiness of 2003’s Shock and Awe adventure has been exposed.
Lindsey Hilsum
Every time I visit, Lebanon seems more fragile. In August, Beirut was recovering from a car bomb that killed 27. Today, a suicide bomber followed by a car bomb exploded outside the Iranian embassy, killing 23.
Lindsey Hilsum
Countries justify their involvement in conflict by claiming they are fighting a “just war”. But the moral struggle in Syria may be morphing into a power play between the west and Russia.
The visit of the UN envoy Kofi Annan to Damascus this week underscored international concern about the horror being visited on civilians, but no-one, it seems, has an easy way of resolving the deeper issues.