Syria

US Troops in Iraq, Syria, targeted by Shiite Militias in Sympathy with Occupied Palestinians of Gaza

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Wednesday, Al-Quds al-`Arabi reports two rockets were fired at `Ayn al-Asad base in al-Anbar Province, Iraq, where US troops are stationed. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin both put pressure on Iraqi prime minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani. Al-Sudani reaffirmed his determination to […]

Climate Crisis

From Egypt’s Nile to Iraq’s Tigris-Euphrates, only Water Diplomacy can Forestall Coming Climate Conflicts

Middle East Monitor

By Prof. Dr. Aysegul Kibaroglu ( Middle East Monitor ) – One of the most pressing issues of the 21st century is the management and allocation of the limited freshwater resources in the world. Since an important number of those water resources are trans-boundary, crossing the political boundaries of more than one nation, the […]

Afghanistan

How 9/11 Bred a “War on Terror” from Hell

Tomdispatch

By Norman Solomon | – [Today’s piece is adapted from the introduction to Norman Solomon’s book War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine (The New Press, 2023).] ( Tomdispatch.com) – The day after the U.S. government began routinely bombing faraway places, the lead editorial in the New York Times […]

Featured

Putin’s Assassination of Prigozhin Decapitates Wagner’s Empire in Libya, Sudan, Syria and E. Europe, and Puts Oligarchs on Notice

Dan Dinello

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Russia confirmed Tuesday that Yevgeny Prigozhin, ex-convict oligarch and leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, died in a plane crash last week. Prigozhin had, in fact, been a dead man walking ever since he masterminded an aborted mutiny against Russia’s military leadership on June 23 of this year. His […]

Kurds

Amid growing Tension between Russia, Iran and the US, Syria’s Kurds have been Sidelined

The Conversation

By Scott Lucas, University College Dublin | – In north-east Syria, the 12-year conflict is far from over. Russian fighter jets buzz US surveillance drones, threatening to bring them down. Iranian-backed militias occasionally fire rockets at US positions. The Assad regime maintains that it will “regain every inch” of Syria, ending Kurdish autonomy in the […]

Arab League

Syria faces daunting Obstacles in its Attempt to rejoin the International Fold

The Conversation

By Scott Lucas, University College Dublin | – (The Conversation) – In the carefully composed photograph released by their state news agencies at the beginning of May, Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad has his arms outstretched to welcome the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi. The two men are beaming. Raisi’s visit was a sign of Tehran’s essential […]

Climate Crisis

Roots of Iraq’s Water Crisis: Upriver Dams along with Climate Change

McGuire Gibson

Response of McGuire Gibson, Professor Emeritus of Mesopotamian Architecture , University of Chicago, to Iraq’s Climate Crisis: America’s War for Oil and the Great Mesopotamian Dustbowl Juan: In your devastating post about Iraq’s drought, you could have given more attention to the crucial role of Turkey in flouting international law and damaging Iraq (and Syria) […]

Displaced and Refugees

Lebanon: Armed Forces Summarily Deporting Syrians

Human Rights Watch

Lebanese Armed Forces have summarily deported thousands of Syrians, including unaccompanied children, back to Syria between April and May 2023. Syrians in Lebanon are living in constant fear that they could be picked up and sent back to nightmarish conditions, regardless of their refugee status. Lebanese authorities should enable Syrians to regularize their status in […]

Displaced and Refugees

Put People’s Rights first in Syria Sanctions

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – The United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union should urgently renew the earthquake-related humanitarian exemptions they introduced to their Syria sanctions’ regimes in February 2023 to more effectively facilitate aid to the Syrian people, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch issued a question-and-answer document examining […]