Kurds weigh in as Isis advances

摘要

A new crisis in Iraq could finally give the country’s Kurds an autonomous oil sector,if the slide towards Sunni-Shia civil war does not overtake them as well. Stunning military advances made by insurgent group the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham(Isis)in Iraq this week threaten to drag the country back to levels of sectarian strife last seen in 2006-07.The offensive by Isis,a splinter group of al-Qaida,has put it in control of a large swathe of terri-tory in western,northern and central Iraq,including the country’s second city,Mosul,following the rapid with-drawal of Iraqi forces from the area.Isis now controls a ter-ritorial arc that stretches into eastern Syria.Reports on 11 June that Isis’offensive captured the country’s largest refinery —the 300,000 b/d plant at Baiji—were later denied,but the insurgents threatened an assault on Baghdad and the south.