Kurd-Shia Split Over Mosul Threatens New Iraq Rift

A new Iraqi military offensive in Mosul, in the semi-autonomous Kurdish north, risks opening up a new fault-line in Iraq’s ethnic conflicts. Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led army is purging Kurdish units from the area, replacing them with Baghdad’s police and army, and forging ties with local Sunni hard-lines who have long resisted the Kurdish regional government. (NYT)