Arab World

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters is reporting that some 22 Russian special operations forces have set up a base in Western Egypt near the Libyan border in preparation for an intervention in Libya. Other recent reports have suggested that Russian mercenaries have been active in eastern Libya. The Russian government […]

Arab World

New Scientific Evidence that Middle East may become Uninhabitable

contributors

By Baher Kamal | (Inter Press Service) | – – ROME (IPS) – New evidence is deepening scientific fears, advanced few years ago, that the Middle East and North Africa risk becoming uninhabitable in a few decades, as accessible fresh water has fallen by two-thirds over the past 40 years. The water table is falling […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Under Trump, More Coalition Strikes on Yemen in a Week than in a Year under Obama

contributors

TeleSur | – – More drone and airstrikes have rained on Yemen in the past week than in any year of Barack Obama’s administration, with dozens of U.S. coalition airstrikes hitting schools, hospitals, markets and private homes. The strikes have reportedly targeted Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, yet also killed civilians, including at […]

Donald Trump

Do Syria’s Kurds hold the Key to the future of the Middle East?

contributors

By Clemens Hoffmann and Can Cemgil | (The Conversation) | – – The Trump administration’s plans for the war against the so-called Islamic State (IS) are at last becoming clear. And it seems his still-young government has chosen which ally to put first: the Syrian Kurds. On February 24, the US’s top commander in the […]

Featured

Syria: As 400 more Troops go in, What’s Trump’s Mission?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US had about 500 troops embedded with the People’s Protection Units (Kurdish acronym YPG) until this week, when another 400 were deployed, along with heavy artillery. It is rumored in the Arabic press that yet more troops, perhaps as many as 2000, will soon be […]

Donald Trump

Surging Trump’s America: What didn’t work in Baghdad won’t work in Washington

contributors

By Danny Sjursen | ( Tomdispatch.com | – – The other day, I found myself flipping through old photos from my time in Iraq. One in particular from October 2006 stood out. I see my 23-year-old self, along with my platoon. We’re still at Camp Buerhing in Kuwait, posing in front of our squadron logo […]

Israel/ Palestine

As Civil War heats up in S. Syria, Palestinian Refugees displaced Again

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN agency responsible for providing services to some five million Palestinian refugees, released a statement on Wednesday expressing concern over the escalation of violence in the city of Deraa in southern Syria. “Fighting among parties to the […]

Donald Trump

What Syrian Refugees think of Trump’s Refugee Ban

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters Arabic reports that a wave of anger swept the Syrian refugee camps of southern Lebanon Monday and Tuesday when they learned that Trump intends to ban Syrians and five other nationalities from coming to the US for at least 3 months and all refugee entries […]

Archaeology

Syrian Musicians Celebrate Palmyra’s Liberation

contributors

TeleSur | – – The city and its ruins, designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1980, have traded hands several times during Syria’s six-year civil war. The 15-year-old’s voice floated over the ancient Roman theater, heavily damaged then abandoned by Islamic State group members Thursday as Syrian army forces drew near, eventually liberating the […]