Iraq's Kurdish And Arab Communities Are Now Completely Split From Each Other

The Guardian: After Isis: Kurds and Arabs return to old lives and new tensions

In Iraqi areas recaptured by peshmerga from Islamic State neighbours are turning on each other as population movement redraws the map.

When Shvan, who is a Kurd, returned home to Zumar in north-west Iraq and saw his property had been reduced to rubble, he found an empty house belonging to an Arab and moved his family in.

Now, life is gradually returning to the town, which was seized by Islamic State in August 2014 then captured by Kurdish forces with coalition air cover in October. A schoolgirl with a satchel on her back walks home past shattered buildings while men sell meat and vegetables by the roadside. There are plans to restore water and electricity.

WNU Editor: When I read stories like this .... I cannot help but feel that Iraq's sectarian divisions will never be placated .... certainly not in my lifetime.