About the authors

Nancy Ezzeddine is a research fellow at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit. In this role she contributes to the Middle East research programme, exploring identity politics and the use of religion as means of political mobilization in the Middle East.

Alba Di Pietrantonio Pellise is a former intern at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit with a research focus on Iraq and European Union foreign policy in general.

Photo credits

Cover: A member of Iraqi security forces inspects the remains of wall panels and colossal statues of winged bulls destroyed by Islamic State militants in the Assyrian city of Nimrud, on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, south of Mosul, Iraq. August 1, 2017
© REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily