In the face of a new and unexpected threat, Iraq is hurriedly rebuilding its air force, but not with help from the U.S., as one might expect. Instead they are turning to Russia, and to an old enemy, Iran. The sudden and dramatic taking of the city of Mosul on June 10 by the ji-hadist group, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), poses one of the biggest challenges to the Iraqi state since the fall of Saddam Hussein. After Mosul, ISIS insurgents grabbed territory across northwestern Iraq. The country's security and armed forces were almost powerless to stop the rapid spread of the fighters into many of the country's Sunni provinces before ISIS declared the formation of a new caliphate-Islamic state-in areas under its control on June 29.
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