Syria

By Scott Lucas | – All the standard public relations ploys were in evidence for the recent meeting between Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad and Russian envoy Alexander Lavrentiev in Damascus. More than 230 officials from 30 federal executive bodies, five Russian regions, and the Russian defence ministry had trekked to the Syrian capital. There were […]

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Iraqi Shiite Militias hit back at US Bases in Syria after Biden Air Raids; Why does US have Bases in Syria? Why Hasn’t it Left Iraq?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al-Quds reports that Shiite militias in Syria fired several rockets or artillery shells at the US military base in the al-`Umar oil field in Deir al-Zor province in southeastern Syria on Monday evening, in response to Sunday’s US bombing raids on Iraqi Shiite militias on the Syria-Iraq border. There were […]

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Syrian Missile strikes Near Israel’s Nuclear Facility at Dimona, Which could have Turned into a Dirty Bomb

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli site i24 reports that on early Thursday morning, a Syrian missile slammed into the desert very near to the Israeli nuclear reactor at Dimona, which Israeli authorities have used to produce an arsenal of an estimated two hundred nuclear bombs. Air raid sirens sounded in southern Israel. Explosions […]

al-Qaeda

What will be the Mideast Crises facing Biden in the Coming Year? US Intelligence Threat Assessment

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community is out. It has a Middle East section and a report on Afghanistan in the South Asia section. Although the threat assessment aims at highlighting potential threats to the US and US interests, I am struck by how little their analysis […]

Joe Biden

Syria needs Long-Term Housing for the Neediest, and the US needs to Stop Blocking it

Global Voices

By Hany Al Banna | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – March 15, 2021, will mark a grim milestone—the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the popular uprising that led to the civil war still engulfing Syria. As we all grapple with the deadly crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world’s […]

Syria

Every day is war’ – a decade of slow suffering and destruction in Syria

The Conversation

By Ammar Azzouz | – Abduljalil sent me a photo of his ruined home in Homs, Syria. “It is the third floor”, he told me over WhatsApp. The building still stands but it looks like an empty skeleton. Most of its facade has been destroyed, while piles of debris surround it. Residents have not been […]

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10 Years after the Outbreak of the Syrian Revolution, the US is Still Prolonging the Agony

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On March 15, 2011, ten years ago this week, the first tiny demonstrations took place in Damascus in Syria. A larger protest, however, was staged in the town of Deraa south of the capital on March 18, from which most observers start the Syrian revolution. The first wave of protests, […]

Iraq

How Biden is already being drawn into unwinnable Tit for Tat with Iraqi Militias

Reese Erlich

( 48hills.org ) – For the first time, the Biden Administration ordered a cross-border military attack in the Middle East. On February 26, seven US missiles slammed into a facility used by Iranian-backed militias in Syria. Washington was retaliating for the February 15 attack on a US base in northern Iraq. Biden is siding with […]

Bashar al-Assad

Is it still possible to prevent the collapse of Syria?

Middle East Monitor

By Marwan Kabalan | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Syrian intellectuals and activists from across political and intellectual spheres are busy searching for a way out of the disastrous situation their country has reached after ten years of violent conflict. The issue is not straightforward, and the exit is unclear, with everyone trying […]