So much of today’s conflict in the Middle East can be understood by studying the region’s history. Sectarian conflict, tribalism, oil and trade routes all have played critical roles in the fighting that we see going on today. This Washington Post piece takes a look at Mosul and how the city has developed over the course of the past thousand years.
I’ll be posting about Mosul a lot over the next couple of weeks and this article explains why it is such an important city in the fight against ISIL.