Arab World

By Wendy Pearlman | – Bashar al-Assad has “won” the war in Syria – or so many analysts tell us. His regime has reconquered swaths of territory from rebel forces with starvation-and-surrender sieges, barrel bombs, chemical weapons and what one human rights investigator called “industrial scale” torture and killing of detainees. Still, the regime might […]

Syria

The Syrian Civil War Exiled Millions and Produced ISIL; But how did it Start?

The Conversation

By Wendy Pearlman | – Amid headlines about the Islamic State group and photographs of rubble, it can be easy to forget that the Syrian war began as a nonviolent uprising. March 15, the uprising’s eighth anniversary, serves as a reminder that any enduring end to the Syrian conflict must address the grievances and aspirations […]

Bernie Sanders

In Historic Rebuke to Trump, Senate invokes War Powers to Halt US aid to Saudi War on Yemen

Juan Cole

The US Senate voted 54 to 46 to invoke the 1973 War Powers Act and to end US support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen. The Yemen War has involved extensive war crimes, in which the US is complicit. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the Saudis launched the war in spring […]

Egypt

What do Lonely Hearts Columns tell us about Social Crises in the Arab World?

contributors

By Andrea Rugh | – Recently an article by N. A. Hussein, “No Money; No Marriage” highlighted the costliness of marriage in Egypt. A problem long in the making, social issues like this rarely reach public attention until they are full blown crises. In this case, young men are calling for a boycott of marriage […]

Yemen

Saudi-Led Bombardment of Yemen kills 22, including Children, wounds 30

AFP

Sanaa (AFP) – Twelve children and 10 women have been killed by strikes in Yemen’s northern province of Hajjah in the past 48 hours, the United Nations said on Monday. Up to 30 people were reported wounded, including 14 children, several of whom “require possible evacuation to survive,” the UN’s humanitarian coordination office OCHA said […]

Algeria

Algeria: Street Crowds, Youth, Overthrow sixth Arab President in 8 Years

AFP

Algiers (AFP) – Algeria’s ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced Monday he is dropping his bid for a fifth term in office, scrapping the upcoming elections altogether after weeks of protests against his candidacy. “Peacefully, we have overthrown the puppet!” people sang in Algiers following the president’s decision. Celebratory honking of car horns rang out in […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Even after Trump’s Announced Withdrawal, US & Kurdish Allies Still Assaulting last ISIL Redoubt in Syria

Rouba El Husseini

co-author: Tony Gamal-Gabriel Syria (AFP) – US-backed forces said Sunday time was up for Islamic State group jihadists hunkering down in their eastern Syrian holdout and resumed their assault on the pocket. The extremists once ruled over millions in a swathe of Syria and Iraq, but they have since lost all that land except for […]

Saudi Arabia

UN Human Rights Council seeks Freedom for Saudi Women Activists, Justice for Khashoggi

Human Rights Watch

Geneva (Human Rights Watch) – A joint statement by 36 countries on March 7, 2019 calling on Saudi Arabia to improve its human rights record was a landmark step toward justice and accountability, Human Rights Watch said today. The statement, delivered by Iceland at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, condemns the murder […]

Featured

As News of Khashoggi “Kebab” at Saudi Consulate Emerges, GOP Senators Condemn Trump Admin Briefing as Substanceless

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Patricia Zengerle of Reuters reports that even Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee came away deeply disappointed with the briefing on the Khashoggi murder by low-level Trump administration officials from the Treasury Department and the State Department. The murder on October 2 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul […]