Arab World

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stated that “every two hours, a mother and six newborns die in Yemen due to complications in pregnancy or childbirth.” The data was included in a report issued by the organisation, Monday. UNICEF explained that “the years of war in Yemen have led to worsening the condition of women […]

Featured

Bipartisan move in Congress to Cancel Trump’s Stealth $8 bn Arms sale to Saudis

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dan De Luce at NBC News reports on a bipartisan attempt in Congress to block Trump’s sidelining of the legislature in fast-tracking an $8 bn arms sale to Saudi Arabia that includes components useful in building ballistic missiles. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo justified the step on the grounds of […]

Syria

Russia/Syria: Flurry of Prohibited Weapons Attacks

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch ) – (Beirut) – The Russian–Syrian joint military operation has used internationally banned and other indiscriminate weapons in unlawful attacks on civilians in northwest Syria in recent weeks, Human Rights Watch said today. According to the United Nations, the area is home to 3 million civilians, at least half of whom […]

Sudan

Sudan Democracy Protesters Reject Negotiations with Military after Bloody Crackdown

Middle East Monitor

Sudan’s military rulers offered to resume talks with opposition groups on Wednesday, two days after security forces mounted a deadly raid on a protest camp, but the opposition rejected the invitation, Reuters reports. Medics linked to the opposition said the death toll from Monday’s operation and subsequent unrest had risen to 108 and that it […]

Featured

Hezbollah’s Nasrallah: War on Iran will Endanger US Forces in Region & Kushner Plan for Palestine is “Historic Crime”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Hasan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hizbullah (Hezbollah), the Lebanese Shiite party-militia, gave a speech Friday in which he raked the Trump administration’s Middle East policy over the coals. Nasrallah said that the US kept accusing Hizbullah of having factories in Lebanon for the construction of precision rockets. He said his […]

Arab World

Arab League, GCC Summits Rattled Sabers at Iran but ignored Arab world’s Humanitarian Crises

Middle East Monitor

By Thembisa Fakude | @fakudet | – Saudi Arabia hosted three summits side-by-side this week. Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud hosted the 14th summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday. Saudi Arabia exploited the date and place of the OIC meeting to further its agenda, by calling for emergency meetings […]

Donald Trump

With Trump Doubling down on Yemen War, Will Congress End Imperial Presidency?

The Conversation

R. Joseph Parrott | – The Trump administration on May 24 announced an emergency declaration to sell billions of dollars worth of arms to Saudi Arabia without congressional approval. This comes just a month after Congress passed legislation demanding the halt of U.S. aid for the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen against Houthi rebels loosely aligned […]

Arab World

Saudi King Salman calls at Summit for Int’l Condemnation of Iranian “Terrorism”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The emergency summit of the Arab league just held in Mecca had as it purpose to shore up pan-Arab support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their war on Yemen, in their conflict with Iran, and in their willingness to negotiate with Jared Kushner over his “deal […]

Saudi Arabia

Troika Fevers: Key American Allies in the Middle East are the Real Tyrants

Danny Sjursen

(Tomdispatch.com) – American foreign policy can be so retro, not to mention absurd. Despite being bogged down in more military interventions than it can reasonably handle, the Trump team recently picked a new fight — in Latin America. That’s right! Uncle Sam kicked off a sequel to the Cold War with some of our southern […]