Lse Middle East Centre Podcasts

Speakers: Toby Dodge, Zeynep Kaya and Jessica Watkins, LSE Middle East Centre; Renad Mansour; Chatham House. It has now been over a year since the liberation of Mosul by Iraqi government forces in July 2017. This victory marks a new stage in the violent conflict that has destabilised Iraq since at least regime change in 2003. In some ways, the breakthrough in July 2017 can be compared firstly to the initial aftermath of the invasion in April 2003 until the insurgency transformed itself into a civil war in 2005, and then secondly to the period following the US-led surge that started in February 2007 until the reconstitution of ISIS and the fall of Mosul in 2014. However, as all these examples indicate, if the underlying drivers of instability are not properly identified and mediated through accurately targeted policy interventions, then a return to the levels of organised violence that have dominated Iraq for the majority of the last fifteen years is likely. This event marks the launch of the Conflict Resear