Arab World

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that nearly three dozen Turkish soldiers in a barracks in Syria were killed Friday by an air strike. Although most reports say that the bombing was carried out by the Syrian Air Force, some Syria experts suggest that it was instead done by the Russian Aerospace Forces, […]

Afghanistan

Gone Shopping! America’s Forever Wars Lumber on Because Americans don’t Know About Them

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – There is no significant anti-war movement in America because there’s no war to protest. Let me explain. In February 2003, millions of people took to the streets around the world to protest America’s march to war against Iraq. That mass movement failed. The administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney had […]

Bashar al-Assad

With a Million Fresh Refugees and a 9-Year Civil War, Can Impoverished Syrians Survive?

Stasa Salacanin

( Middle East Monitor ) – A devastating civil war and international sanctions have destroyed Syria’s economy, leaving it with a GDP that is a third of what it was in 2010. The monetary crisis and depreciation of the currency is the latest chapter of the country’s economic meltdown. Despite the lack of accurate statistics, […]

Russia

As Tensions Flare between Russia and Turkey in Syria, will Trump be Drawn in on side of Ankara?

Middle East Monitor

By Bakr Sidqi | – Amid international neglect of the tragedy of an additional one million displaced individuals from the “de-escalation” zones in the countryside of Idlib and Aleppo provinces, Moscow and Ankara announced that the talks that took place on Monday and Tuesday failed to reach any new understandings. “We did not accept the […]

Russia

In Syria’s Idlib, Turkey is trying to play middle man between Russia and the US – with little success

The Conversation

By Umut Korkut and Tarik Basbugoglu | – The recent turn of events in Idlib, an opposition stronghold in north-western Syria undergoing bombardment by the Syrian military, has put Turkey in a difficult position. Since the end of January, Syrian regime forces have killed 13 Turkish soldiers who were monitoring a tense ceasefire in Idlib. […]

Donald Trump

UN Condemns ‘Shocking’ and ‘Terrible’ US-Backed Saudi Coalition Bombing That Killed 31 Yemeni Civilians

Common Dreams

By Jake Johnson, staff writer | – (Commondreams.org) – “Those who continue to sell arms to the warring parties must realize that by supplying weapons for this war, they contribute to making atrocities like today’s all too common.” The United Nations and humanitarian aid groups condemned the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition for carrying out airstrikes Saturday […]

Bashar al-Assad

Trump Supports Turkey against Putin-backed Russo-Syrian Campaign to Finish off Rebels in Idlib

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump called Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday and appeared to back Turkey against Russia and Syria with regard to the current Syrian Arab Army campaign in west Aleppo province and the province of Idlib. The Turkish press said that Trump thanked Erdogan for his efforts to avert a humanitarian […]

Yemen

Yemen’s looming environmental disaster as Saudi Arabia and US Pursue War on it

Global Voices

Risk of a catastrophic oil spill, alarming water shortages and pollution, climate change, and other environmental disasters are adding to Yemen’s suffering

Featured

Rockets slam into US Embassy Compound in Iraq, as Base with US Troops also Comes under Fire

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Agence France Presse Arabic is reporting that early Sunday morning several rockets or mortars slammed into the area around the US Embassy in Baghdad. Warning sirens sounded, and fighter jets began patrolling the skies. Reuters reports an American military officer as saying that a base at which US troops are […]