Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 5, 2017

Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post: ISIS will lose Mosul and Raqqa. What happens next?

The jihadists of the Islamic State are finally being driven out of their two main bastions: The northern Iraqi city of Mosul and the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa. For some three years, their ability to control these two urban centers, particularly Mosul, served as warped validation of their ambitions to build a modern-day caliphate.

Now, after months of airstrikes and a prolonged U.S.-backed offensive, the jihadists are in retreat. Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hailed the recapture of Mosul's historic Great Mosque of al-Nuri, which had been tragically reduced to rubble by the militants, as the "end" of the jihadists' "state of falsehood." It was from that site in 2014 that the Islamic State declared the advent of its caliphate. Iraqi forces are in what seems the final stages of an intense house-by-house battle to reclaim the last streets of the city still occupied by the militants.

Read more ....

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 5, 2017

Where ISIS Commanders Will Go After Raqqa Falls -- Feras Hanoush, Newsweek

How ISIS Will Go On Without Mosul -- Charlie Winter, Defense One

The fall of ISIS does not make Middle East

safer -- Jonathan Eyal, Straits Times

Jihad to proliferate despite blow to ISIS -- Talmiz Ahmad, The Asian Age

Islamic State nears its end -- The Economist

Turkey's high-stakes game supporting Qatar -- Cagri Özdemir, DW

North Korea missile launch marks a direct challenge to Trump administration -- Anne Gearan and Emily Rauhala, Washington Post

North Korea is making progress developing weapons. What can the U.S. do about it? -- PBS News Hour

North Korea just showed it had a missile that can hit the US — here's what happens next -- Alex Lockie, Business Insider

Analysis: North Korea missile launch raises the stakes in a big way. What now? -- Trevor Hughes , USA Today

It's carpe diem time for China. What that might mean for the world. -- Mary Kay Magistad, PRI

Why Afghanistan? Why Now? -- Roy Scranton, Daily Beast

Pakistan’s anxiety -- Moeed Yusuf, DAWN

Trump, Putin and the meeting that could shape the world -- Stephen Collinson, CNN

Europe's Smaller But Tougher Migrant Crisis -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

A Hegemon's Coming of Age: A Brief History of U.S. Foreign Relations -- Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs

Today’s Terror Threat Poses Array of New Challenges -- Suzanne Kelly, The Cipher Brief