Rachel Kantz Feder is a researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and a lecturer at Tel Aviv University. She is completing her doctorate on Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and the Foundations of Modernization and Revivalism in Shi‘ism.
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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaA call to arms: what lies beneath Sistani’s potent fatwa?Ayatollah Sistani’s fatwa, urging collective responsibility for Iraq’s religious sites, has been variously construed as a Shi’i mobilization campaign or a nationalist call to arms. But beneath the fatwa’s surface lie deeper roots: the very ruptures and fissures that plague Iraq’s Shi’is.
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Published in: openSecurityIraq's political crisis and the shadow of sectarian politicsAs the US completed its official withdrawal from Iraq, a series of events stoked a political crisis that will push Iraq toward a precipice.
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Published in: HomeObstacles to Iranian influence in Iraq: Shi'i leaders' pattern of oscillation and Turkey's increasing footprint
As the US prepares to withdraw a number of factors may frustrate Iranian ambitions in Iraq. Iraq's Shi'i leaders conduct and Ankara's expanding role is slated to serve as a counterweight to Iranian influence.