Iraq, Syria and the Middle East

Iraq Syria and the Middle East: an essay by Tony Blair

Read the essay from Former British Prime minister on his official website to find out what he thinks Western governments should do.

Need to find out more about Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)?  Try the starting points listed below.

• A good basic Profile of ISIS is on the BBC website 
• The Washington Institute has a 2013 analysis which assesses how ISIS has gained a foothold in Syria. It also has up to date news and analysis of the current security collapse in Iraq
• Mapping Militant Organizations from Stanford University is a research project which traces the evolution of militant organizations and the interactions that develop between them over time. It has mappings of global Al-Qaeda and Iraq
• The Jihadology Website is personal project of Aaron Y. Zelin, Richard Borrow Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It serves as a clearing house for  jihadi primary source material, including original analysis, and translations.
• For historic data try the Global Terrorism Database from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terror (START), which is supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the University of Maryland.  It has 146 incidents attributed to them from 1970-2012 (note later incidents not recorded here. ) These give details about the nature of the attack and casualties.
• The annual Country Reports on Terrorism from the U.S. State Department have more recent updates from 2013. 
• Good sources of news and analysis on the current security situation include: Institute For War and Peace Reporting Syria archive which has coverage of groups within Syria. This includes insight from local media.
• The Iraq Blog from the Institute for the Study of War has regular daily updates on the situation with news about the role of ISIS
• The Rand blog also has military and security analysis from experts.