Saudi Arabia

RT | (Video report) — “Saudi-led coalition warplanes are continuing to pound Houthi targets in Yemen despite the rebels agreeing to UN-backed peace talks. The strikes have killed 58 people across the country over the past two days, according to the Houthis. And the humanitarian situation is getting worse by the day, according to the […]

Why ISIL’s Attacks on Shiites of Saudi Arabia Threaten World Economy

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) took responsibility for a terrorist attack Friday on the Shiite al-Husayn Mosque in Dammam, which left three victims dead. Saudi security forces are taking credit for spotting that the car the terrorists were driving was suspicious and preventing it from getting too near the […]

Food Security

Yemen conflict fans food insecurity

By Peter Salisbury and Louise Redvers | (IRIN) – AMMAN / DUBAI (IRIN) – The conflict in Yemen is worsening the country’s food insecurity, according to a new report, which predicts that the parts of Arab state may enter an emergency phase by the end of the year. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) […]

Daesh/ ISIL blows up Shiite Mosque in Saudi Arabia, seeking Sectarian Civil War

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – A suicide bomber with a concealed weapon detonated his payload during Friday prayers at the Ali b. Abi Talib Mosque in Qadif, a suburb of the major Shiite city of Qatif in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It killed 21 and wounded 102, according to the […]

GCC

Richest Countries Bomb among World’s Poorest: Yemen already a Forgotten War

VICE News | (Video) | – “For more than six weeks, nine countries led by Saudi Arabia have been carrying out airstrikes on Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation. Whole neighborhoods have been destroyed and communities reduced to rubble. According to the United Nations, the strikes, targeting Iranian-backed Houthi rebel positions in the Yemeni capital […]

Barack Obama

Was that a White House- Gulf Arab Summit or an Arms Bazaar?

By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia on Mar. 5, 2015, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before the two and their counterparts attended a meeting of the regional Gulf Cooperation Council. Credit: U.S. State Department/public domain UNITED NATIONS, May […]

Obama: No Mideast NATO, but US committed to Security of Arab Gulf States

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council came to meet President Barack Obama at Camp David in search of a renewed, formalized US commitment to their security. They came away disappointed. Though they did get firm oral commitments, there is no prospect of formal treaty obligations binding […]

Yemen: Fierce fighting in Lead-up to Saudi Ceasefire, Children at risk of Starvation