Denise Natali - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Denise Natali

Denise Natali is a former columnist for Al-Monitor. She is a distinguished research fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University where she specializes on regional energy politics, Middle East politics and the Kurdish issue. The views expressed are her own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the US government. On Twitter: @dnataliDC

Is Iraqi Kurdistan heading toward civil war?

Denise Natali

Members of the Iraqi army gather in central Falluja, Iraq, June 18, 2016. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani - RTX2GXW3

The myth of a tripartite Iraq

Denise Natali

Protesters display a huge Iraqi flag during a demonstration against corruption, poor services and power cuts in Baghdad, Iraq, August 21, 2015. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad - RTX1P48C

Don't underestimate Iraqi nationalism

Denise Natali

A picture taken on July 3, 2014 shows the building of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region's parliament in Arbil, Kurdistan's capital in northern Iraq. The president of Kurdistan, Massud Barzani asked its parliament to start organising a referendum on independence. AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Is Iraqi Kurdistan splitting apart ... again?

Denise Natali

Turkey’s protracted PKK problem

Denise Natali

Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters drive a tank at the eastern entrances to the town of Tal Abyad in the northern countryside of Raqqa, Syria, June 14, 2015, after they took control of nearby Suluk town from Islamic State fighters. The YPG, working with the U.S.-led alliance and small Syrian rebel groups, has pushed into Islamic State's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa province, threatening one of its supply lines to the jihadists' de facto capital, Raqqa city. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RTX1GFQ8

The Coalition’s quagmire with Syrian Kurds

Denise Natali

Smoke rises from the site of a bomb attack in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, April 17, 2015. A car bomb exploded on a road outside the U.S. Consulate and compound in Erbil on Friday, a Reuters witness said. The consulate houses U.S. diplomats and staff but there was no immediate reports of casualties. Gunfire was heard immediately after the blast but stopped later, the witness said. REUTERS/Stringer - RTR4XRWU

Islamic State infiltrates Iraqi Kurdistan

Denise Natali

Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stand guard at a checkpoint in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, June 11, 2014. Since Tuesday, black clad ISIL fighters have seized Iraq's second biggest city Mosul and Tikrit, home town of former dictator Saddam Hussein, as well as other towns and cities north of Baghdad. They continued their lightning advance on Thursday, moving into towns just an hour's drive from the capital. Picture taken June 11, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNRE

The Islamic State’s Baathist roots

Denise Natali

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are seen during the battle with Islamic State militants on the outskirts of Mosul January 21, 2015. Kurdish forces in northern Iraq said on Wednesday they had cleared Islamic State insurgents from nearly 500 square kilometres of territory and broken a key IS supply line between the city of Mosul and strongholds to the west near Syria. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR4MDE9

Iraqi Kurdish land grabs anger Sunni Arabs

Denise Natali

Sunni volunteers from Mosul take part in military training as they prepare to fight against militants of the Islamic State on the outskirts of Dohuk province December 8, 2014. Picture taken December 8, 2014. REUTERS/Ari Jalal (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4IEJV

Iraqis bicker over liberating Mosul

Denise Natali

Iraq's Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (R) speaks with Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz (L) at the Iraq-Kurdistan Oil and Gas Conference at Arbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region, December 2, 2013. Turkey said on Monday it stood by a bilateral oil deal with Iraq's Kurdistan region that bypassed central government but wanted to win Baghdad's support by drawing it into the arrangement. Reuters reported that Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package last week, infuriatin

Turkey's Kurdish client state

Denise Natali

Peshmerga fighters walk on Mosul Dam in northern Iraq August 21, 2014. Iraqi and Kurdish forces recaptured Iraq's biggest dam from Islamist militants with the help of U.S. air strikes to secure a vital strategic objective in fighting that threatens to break up the country, Kurdish and U.S. officials said on Monday. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR438VW

Islamic State inciting Arab-Kurdish divide in Iraq

Denise Natali