"No iron can enter the human heart as chillingly as a full stop placed at the right time." - Isaac Babel
How did Turkey enter the fight against Islamic State militants while simultaneously fighting a Kurdish rebel group whose allies are fighting Islamic State militants? I unpack the three-way conflict in this explainer for the BBC News website. From July 2015.
Top story for Vanity Fair’s homepage: “In 2008 The Hurt Locker introduced the Americans who defuse explosives in Iraq. Now that all US troops will be gone by 2012, meet the Iraqi soldiers left carrying the fuse.”
Photograph by Kamaran Najm/Metrography
An Iraqi man who worked as an interpreter for the US military is shot dead for having apparently converted to Christianity. The reaction to his murder illustrates the difficulty of balancing ancient articles of faith against a democratic obligation to guard religious minorities.
Baghdad is urging the US to return a trove of artifacts that date to the now-extinct Jewish presence in Iraq. However, Jewish groups also want access to the valuable archive – which may not be possible if it is returned to Iraq.
After an inconclusive election, Iraq’s political rivalries are best understood in terms of contrasting attitudes towards Iran – showing the extent of Tehran’s influence over its neighbour.
Kirkuk’s anti-terrorist police ride around in battered pickup trucks, keeping a nervous lookout for the bombers that have killed scores of their colleagues. With the American military eying an exit from Iraq, the force has become a central player in a seemingly intractable conflict over land and oil.
I accompanied the officers as they carried out overnight raids in pursuit of an insurgent cell linked to al-Qaeda.
Photographs by Kamaran Najm/Metrography
Armour-piercing weapons have been deployed to devastating effect against British and US forces in Iraq – but the science behind them is more than a century old. Analysis for BBC News, October 2005
Legendary Magnum photographer Philip Jones Griffiths talks about embedding and censorship from Vietnam to Abu Ghraib. Interview for BBC News, April 2005
An Iraqi schoolboy recovers in Britain from an explosion that left him severely disabled. BBC News, December 2004
While the Red Cross warns of a health crisis, a hospital on the outskirts of besieged Falluja says it has yet to receive any patients. BBC News, November 2004
A series of interviews with Fadhil Badrani, an Iraqi journalist in Falluja, led to this diary-style account of the US assault on the city. Badrani was living behind rebel lines. I spoke to him over the phone from London and wrote the English text for the BBC News website. Translation was courtesy of the BBC Arabic service.
Farewell to Falluja, 24 November 2004
Fear remains after assault, 16 November 2004
Ghost city calls for help, 13 November 2004
Smoke and corpses, 11 November 2004
Defiance amid carnage, 10 November 2004
Watching tragedy engulf my city, 9 November 2004
Taking cover in Falluja, 8 November 2004
A survey of the armed groups in Iraq, from the US-led coalition to the militias and insurgents. Written on the eve of the handover of power to an interim government, as it was becoming clear that the dissolution of the Iraqi army had swelled the insurgents’ ranks. Analysis for BBC News. June 2004.
Neil Arun 
