As demonstrators voice their frustration with the Iraqi political system, they are also targeting Tehran, which has increasingly tightened its grip on the country and exerts an almost unfettered influence.

“In terms of international law, there is no international legal principal that requires a country to repatriate their nationals. But under international law, countries are not allowed to turn away people who are their nationals if they make it home.”

Ultimately, whether IS will regain the formidable reputation it once had is an open question. Its ideology is still attractive to many, and the world will have to remain vigilant.

The first, still best, option – repatriation of foreign nationals – is arguably a quickly closing window. Even then, questions would remain about what should happen to Iraqi and Syrian nationals, and what role the West should play in resolving their situation. But European powers must avoid taking the third option they’d been exercising by default – doing nothing, and waiting for circumstances to change.

If the 2015 movement could be deemed as characteristic of a ‘new civil society’, the specificities of the Iraqi context structured by political and sectarian violence make the rejection of identity politics, especially sectarian identity and religion, central. For Iraqi protesters individual freedom, especially the freedom not to belong to a religious and sectarian group is considered as essential as economic equality.

The country is no stranger to demonstrations, but this time the mass action appears to be more widespread and less coordinated, making it harder to contain. The cause of the unrest is, however, a long and familiar list of grievances.

It is becoming ever clearer that the movement is transforming itself at a much faster rate than expected, even as the US president seeks to bring the troops back from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. In the short term he may win some political advantage, and it might even help his re-election bid, but the reality is that we are actually in a relative lull in a very long conflict, even if western leaders remain convinced that military power has been the right answer, even after 19 years of failure.

While Israel’s military actions against Hezbollah and other Iranian allies have been mounting, the responses to these actions suggest a new phase in the regional power games.

No religious authority in Iraq has made an official statement about Mahdawi rap so far, indicating that it is more a cultural trend than a ‘deviant’ means of expression. It may, however, serve as a reminder that as forms of expression evolve constantly, religion does too.

Today, Mandaeism is an endangered religion. Since the American-led intervention in Iraq in 2003, Sabian-Mandaeans have been subject to religious and ethnic persecution, including torture, murder, rape, forced conversion and marriage. Although the Islamic State never reached the Mandaeans’ historical homeland in southern Iraq, the community has endured severe human rights violations linked to the rise of Islamic extremism and lack of security.