Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 03/2015

The Fight Against ISIS: Shiite Militias and the Coalition Effort

Michael Knights, Phillip Smyth, P. J. Dermer

February 2015

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Abstract

On February 6, 2015, Michael Knights, Phillip Smyth, and P.J. Dermer addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Knights is an Institute Lafer Fellow and author of the Institute study The Long Haul: Rebooting U.S. Security Cooperation in Iraq. Smyth is a researcher at the University of Maryland and author of the Institute study The Shiite Jihad in Syria and Its Regional Effects. Dermer is a retired U.S. Army colonel who served multiple tours in the Middle East, including two in Iraq. The following is a rapporteur's summary of their remarks.