Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The United Nations Security Council finally passed a resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire between the Damascus government and the al-Qaeda-dominated guerrillas in Eastern Ghouta. UN Secretary-General António Guterres reminded all sides of their absolute duty in international law to safeguard the life of innocent noncombatants. […]

censorship

Saudi Arabia, UN Human Rights Council Member, Continues Rights Crackdown

contributors

By Khalid Ibrahim, executive director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) an independent, non-profit organisation that promotes freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in the Gulf region and its neighbouring countries. Saudia Arabia, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), continues its crackdown on human rights. The HRC, consisting […]

Bashar al-Assad

Rescuers say cannot keep up with air strikes battering Syria’s Ghouta

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Rescuers in Syria’s eastern Ghouta said the bombing would not let up long enough for them to count the bodies, in one of the bloodiest air assaults of the seven-year war. Warplanes pounded the rebel enclave on Saturday, the seventh day in a row of a fierce escalation by […]

Israel/ Palestine

Ahed Tamimi: father speaks of his pride as Palestinian activist prepares for trial

contributors

Emma Heywood | (The Conversation) | – – Popular resistance against the Israeli presence in the West Bank, be it violent or peaceful, is a constant feature of life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. With no money and little international support, Palestinian activists put their own lives at risk and sacrifice their well-being to fight […]

Featured

Are Kurds, Shiite Militias and the Baath Gov’t allying against Turkey’s Afrin Op?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Fundamentalist Salafi militias, some linked to al-Qaeda, and backed by Turkey, have allegedly taken three new villages in the Afrin canton away from the leftist Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Over all, the Turks and their allies claim the conquest of 71 villages in northern […]

Israel/ Palestine

New South African Gov’t to Cut ties with Israel over Apartheid toward Palestinians

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – South Africa has been a staunch ally of the Palestinian struggle and regularly spoken out against the atrocities committed by the Israeli government The South African government is intending to cut diplomatic ties with Israel in protest of its treatment of the Palestinian people, the country’s Science and Technology […]

Iran

In Irony, Ahmedinezhad calls for Free Elections in Iran

contributors

Middle East Monitor |- – Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose 2009 re-election prompted mass unrest over alleged vote rigging, has called for “free” presidential and parliamentary elections in an open letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Reuters reports. Khamenei backed Ahmadinejad after his return to power kicked off protests in which dozens of […]

Bashar al-Assad

The Age of Total War in Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the most distressing take-aways of the Syria War since 2011 is that the United Nations does not work and all the hopes of the framers of its charter in 1945 have been dashed. World War II was a total war that polished off some […]

Israel

Saudi dreams of an anti-Iran Axis with Israel Evaporating: Khashoggi

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – The well-known Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi confirmed that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince has started a relationship with Israel and tried to pressure the Palestinians to accept the so-called “deal of the century”. However, this approach has floundered. Khashoggi was speaking during a seminar in Istanbul hosted by the “Riwaq […]