Alice Fordham

Fed up with what they say is years of discrimination by the Shiite-led government, ordinary Sunnis have joined Islamist fighters. There are echoes of past conflicts, with a few important distinctions.

With Syria in chaos, minority Kurds there hope they can realize long-standing ambitions for autonomy. Kurds who fled to northern Iraq from Syria will press those demands when they finally go home.

At least a million Syrian refugees are now in Lebanon. The influx is straining the balance in the fragile country of only four million people.

A flashy hotel just opened in Iraqi Kurdistan, reflecting the region's ambitions. But the Arab-led government in Baghdad has given the region an economic jolt, putting its outsized dreams in doubt.

The extremists now committing a wave of attacks in Iraq's Anbar province are significantly better trained, funded and equipped than the al-Qaida-linked groups American soldiers battled there.

A regional conference in northern Iraq, under way now, is highlighting the shifts and maneuvers set in motion by the Syrian conflict. Alice Fordham reports on the conference from Iraqi Kurdistan.

Riding the bus to Beirut's southern suburbs used to be a bumpy, crowded but fun experience. Everyone crammed in next to each other, bouncing around on the way to the area they call the Dahiyeh, the Arabic word for "suburb."

This sprawling southern district of Lebanon's capital is the place ...