Ansar al-Islam (AAI) is a jihadist group that formed in September 2001 in Iraqi Kurdistan from the merger of two small groups: Jund al-Islam, which was then led by Abu Abdullah al-Shafi’i, and a splinter group of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan, which was led by Mullah Krekar. In time, Krekar would become AAI’s leader. AAI initially comprised around 300 …
An illuminating conversation with Jason Rezaian, the Iranian-American journalist and former hostage of the Rouhani regime, about the hijab revolution, the response in Bidenworld, and the deepening alliance between Tehran and the Kremlin.
We reached CNN correspondent Nima Elbagir at the Iran-Iraq border, where she told us what she s heard from Kurdish Iranians who ve fled a regime they say is making people disappear.