--- description: Here's a breakdown of who is siding with whom as the success of the militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has led to new ties between former foes in the region title: Middle East: What's Happening in Iraq in One Chart image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Middle East's Unlikely Alliances by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 19, 2014 10:30 AM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 19, 2014 10:30 AM CUT ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2897327/middle-east-alliances/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2897327/middle-east-alliances/"},"headline":"The Middle East's Unlikely Alliances","datePublished":"2014-06-19T10:30:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:29:58.761Z","description":"Here's a breakdown of who is siding with whom as the success of the militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has led to new ties between former foes in the region","url":"https://time.com/2897327/middle-east-alliances/","keywords":["Iran","Iraq","Middle East"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2897327/middle-east-alliances/","name":"The Middle East's Unlikely Alliances"}}]}] ```