Arab World

By Ahmet T. Kuru | – Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first-ever democratically elected president, died unexpectedly during a trial in June 2019. He was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an almost century-old Islamist group that rose to power after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Its political tenure was short. Morsi was deposed by a coup […]

Yemen

The UAE Remains the Main Player in Yemen, and could Split the Country Up

Middle East Monitor

By Stasa Salacanin | – At the beginning of July, the UAE started to reduce its troop numbers in Yemen, signalling a shift in its military engagement. The move has been interpreted as a sign of the Emirates trying to distance itself from its main coalition partner, Saudi Arabia. Despite the troop drawdown, though, the […]

Featured

Saudi Woman dissident Refuses to Make Video exonerating Saudi State from Torture Charges

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The family of jailed Saudi dissident and women’s rights activist Loujain Hathloul has announced that the Saudi authorities offered to release her if she would record a video statement saying that she had not been tortured while in government custody. Her sisters say that she refused the offer, and they […]

Yemen

Yemen’s Southern Separatists Seeking International Recognition

Brian Whitaker

(Al-Bab.com | – Last Thursday Yemen’s southern separatists sent a letter to the UN Security Council and to the foreign ministers of all EU member states. Written in flawless English, it set out their grievances and demanded “credible southern representation” in political processes aimed at ending the four-year-long war. With hindsight, the letter can be […]

Archaeology

Thousands of Years of World’s Heritage Endangered in Syria, Cradle of Civilization

The Conversation

By Lubna Omar | – I used to be a Near Eastern archaeologist working in Syria. Nowadays, I am stuck in academic purgatory, observing from a great distance as the country burns, unable to help protect its history or its present. Syria sits within what’s known as the cradle of civilization. It’s part of the […]

Yemen

Civilian Casualties Mount in Indiscriminate Fighting in Yemen

Human Rights Watch

Separatist and Government Forces in Aden Showing Scant Concern for Civilians

Donald Trump

Trump-Saudi War on Yemen Collapsing as Southern Separatists Take Aden

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Yemen, a country of 28 million and one of the poorest in the world, had already become a byword for misery over the course of the last four years of war. Now, believe it or not, things have abruptly worsened. The strategic port of Aden has fallen to southern separatists, […]

Saudi Arabia

Are changes to Saudi Arabia’s Guardianship Laws really about Women?

Middle East Monitor

By Zarqa Parvez | – Saudi women are amongst the strongest, most intelligent and inspirational women in the Middle East. Female Saudi academics and activists have lobbied for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia for decades, but unfortunately have faced slow progress and a strong backlash from society and government. The recent changes in Saudi guardianship […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Women Fighting for & Gaining More Liberty, Even as Leaders are Jailed

The Conversation

By Alainna Liloia | – Saudi women will soon be allowed to obtain passports and travel without the permission of a male relative. This new regulation, announced by the government in early August, eases one of the most limiting aspects of the Gulf country’s “guardianship system,” which puts men in charge of their female relatives. […]