Publication

This report examines the precarious situation the city of Falluja in Iraq's Anbar province. The author explains that in December 2013, after police cleared a year-long anti-government sit-in, protesters took to the streets. The army was sent in, and extremists of the al-Qaeda offshoot Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took advantage. Subsequently, a self-reinforcing cycle has taken root: jihadi activity encourages government truculence that pushes the city to seek protection from jihadis. The author argues that this political and security impasse must be addressed before a miscalculation or calculated escalation produces a new round of devastating conflict.