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ISIS Finds a Niche in Northern Iraq
(Wall Street Journal) Jonathan Spyer - The core of Islamic State is regrouping near the Qara Chokh mountain range in northern Iraq. A recent report from the Institute for the Study of War found ISIS maintains similar networks of support and de facto control in the Hamrin Mountains in Diyala Province, the Hawija District, eastern Salah al-Din Province, Daquq, and south of Mosul city - all in Iraq's central Sunni heartland. The report, entitled ISIS' Second Resurgence, puts the number of fighters available to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria at 30,000. It also estimates that ISIS has smuggled as much as $400 million out of Iraq. The writer is director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis.