The Kurd- ISIS-Shia war leading to IRAQ’s division into three regions

ISIS, born from an al Qaeda splinter group and supported by many Sunni factions, made fierce advances in Iraq last year by taking over Iraq’s second biggest city, Mosul, and also the important cities of Fallujah and Tikrit.

Early this year Isis lost Tikrit, the home town of Saddam Hussein, and failed to take the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani in a 134-day siege despite suffering heavy losses. This led to belief that military situation had stabilized and Isis was on the retreat. But now that Ramadi, the provincial capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, has fallen to Islamic State, the group’s hold on a huge chunk of Iraq is tightening.