Inna Badman Place: Iraq and Syria, The Islamic State [VLOG]

On August 8, nearly three years after the United States pulled out of Iraq, President Barack Obama ordered airstrikes to commence on Islamic State positions in northern Iraq, as the group’s fighters advanced towards the Kurdish capital of Erbil. For six weeks prior to the strikes the Islamic State made stunning gains within Iraq, effectively dismantling the border with Syria and defeating the Iraqi army with little in the way to stop them.

In the final installment of VICE News’ unprecedented look inside the Islamic State, reporter Medyan Dairieh journeys 200 miles from the the group’s power base in the Syrian city of Raqqa to the border with Iraq. There, after defeating the Iraqi army manning the checkpoint, Islamic State fighters work further to bulldoze the border.

Inna Badman Place: Iraq and Syria, The Islamic State [VLOG]

Christian City Under Siege: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 5) [VLOG]

Earlier this week, ISIS began an assault on the historically Assyrian Christian city of Qaraqosh in the northern Nineveh province, just east of Mosul. Kurdish peshmerga forces moved into the city to fortify it against a barrage of mortar shells. The city, though not officially located in the Kurdistan Regional Government, has become one of the disputed areas, as the Iraqi government has abandoned it and ISIS is vying for control.

Dozens of mortar rounds landed on the outskirts of the city Wednesday night, causing tens of thousands of residents to flee towards Erbil. Assyrian Christians from Mosul had previously fled the ISIS takeover and were seeking sanctuary in Qaraqosh and in the nearby Christian city of Bartella.

Iraq’s Assyrian Christians are some of the earliest converts to Christianity and are indigenous to the Nineveh plains. Of recent, they have suffered massacres and persecution owing to the instability sowed by the American invasion in 2003. Qaraqosh has always seen as a safe haven, especially for those periodically fleeing violence in Mosul, such as in 2008.

While the attack continued, VICE News was caught in a miles long traffic jam as many residents fled in fear with nothing but the clothes on their back. Peshmerga forces, fearing car bombs and hidden insurgents, meticulously combed through the traffic, and set up tense checkpoints, causing further chaos. We also travelled to the abandoned city of Qaraqosh to speak with residents who have remained there despite the attacks. They tell us why they’ve decided to stay and protect their city.

Christian City Under Siege: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 5) [VLOG]

The ISIS Uprising: The Battle for Iraq [Video]

Day by day, the escalating Iraqi crisis replicates an element from the ongoing Syrian war, making the possibility of a new large-scale suffering in the region just a matter of days.

Despite the numerous crowds taking over city after city in Iraq, projecting their irreversible goal to be the eradication of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government, the international community’s only stake in this massive scene is so far the “miniature” Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Inasmuch as the Syrian crisis has been reduced to the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and the al-Qaeda-inspired ISIS, i.e. terrorism, there is in the international community’s rhetoric on Iraq now too much talk about ISIS with no mentioning whatsoever of the other elements in the escalating crisis there that is prophesying a prolonged civil war.

The large-scale suffering of the Syrian people and the massive destruction to their country is not that big of a concern to the international community compared with its alarm towards the rising radicalism there. The world’s style of action on Syria has been already determined how ISIS will be dealt with. watch The ISIS Uprising: The Battle for Iraq (Dispatch 2)

The ISIS Uprising: The Battle for Iraq [Video]