Middle East

By Yaser Alashqar | – In his latest update to the UN Security Council in late October, Nicolay Mlandenov, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, warned that as the occupation of Palestinian land continues and a two-state solution moves further away: “It is a multi-generational tragedy for the peoples of this […]

Assyrians

Unconstitutional: VP Pence Directed USAID Help for Iraqis to tiny Christian Minority

ProPublica

by Yeganeh Torbati | (ProPublica) | – Officials at USAID warned that favoring Christian groups in Iraq could be unconstitutional and inflame religious tensions. When one colleague lost her job, they said she had been “Penced.” Last November, a top Trump appointee at the U.S. Agency for International Development wrote a candid email to colleagues […]

Israel/ Palestine

How Israel is Usurping the Rich Archeological Heritage of the Palestinian West Bank

Middle East Monitor

By Nabil Al-Sahl | – Palestine is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of antiquities, competing with Egypt in the Arab world. At least 22 civilisations have left their mark on Palestine, the first of which were the Canaanites; their presence is still visible today . . . Studies have indicated […]

Hizbullah

The Iraqi and Lebanese Popular uprisings Caught between Iranian and Israeli Geopolitics

Middle East Monitor

By Oraib Al-Rantawi | @OraibAlRantawi It is not only Iran that is paying close attention to the uprisings of the Iraqi and Lebanese people; Israel is also monitoring the situation closely, especially in Lebanon. It has also been involved in the Iraqi crisis recently and dealing direct blows to the Popular Mobilisation Forces and the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Is Microsoft Funding Israeli Spying on Palestinians?

Ramzy Baroud

(Middle East Monitor) – The act of Palestinian activists covering their faces during anti-Israeli occupation rallies is an old practice that spans decades. The masking of the face, often by Kufyias – traditional Palestinian scarves that grew to symbolise Palestinian resistance – is far from being a fashion statement. Instead, it is a survival technique, […]

Human Rights

Saudi Arabia’s High Cost of ‘Reform:’ Arrests, Torture, Murder

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC) – Important social reforms enacted under Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have been accompanied by deepening repression and abusive practices meant to silence dissidents and critics, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 62-page report, “‘The High Cost of Change’: Repression Under Saudi Crown Prince Tarnishes […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syrian Kurds charge Turkey with Ethnic Cleansing as US Military frets it will be “blind” without Kurdish Help

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northeast Syria today accused Turkish forces of conducting ethnic cleansing campaigns in the Kurdish region they have occupied between Tel Abyad and Ra’s al-Ayn. The communique said, “and after more than 300,000 civilians fled from its cities and villages and hamlets and houses and hospitals […]

Hizbullah

Hezbollah: What Lebanon’s Protests against Sectarian Elite Mean for the Party-Militia

The Conversation

By Adham Saouli | – The national uprising that has engulfed Lebanon since mid-October is historic and revolutionary. Protests have continued across Lebanon, even after Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned on October 29 saying he wanted to give the country a “positive shock”. The response of Hezobllah, the armed political movement that has been part […]

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