Middle East

By Reese Erlich | (48Hills.org) | – – The American military and complex Middle East politics create a horrible humanitarian crisis One of the most important US Senate votes in decades took place recently, and few people know it happened. On March 20, Senators voted on whether to stop US support for Saudi Arabia’s vicious […]

Kurds

A Second Palestine? Neo-Ottoman “Sultan” Erdogan Captures Syria’s Kurdish Enclave of Afrin

contributors

By Dr. Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkey’s capture of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria has added a new dimension to the highly volatile geopolitical environment in the Middle East. Not only is it a major assault on war-ravaged Syria’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty, the event speaks of […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestine: 17% increase in Israel’s squatter settlements under Trump

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank surged 17 per cent during the first year of US President Donald trump’s presidency, Israeli monitoring group Peace Now has said. According to data released by the group, Israel began construction of 2,783 settlement homes in 2017, 17 per cent more […]

Saudi Arabia

Yemen: Thousands Protest 3 Years of West-backed Saudi War

contributors

TeleSur | – – in Since the military offensive began 10,000 people have been killed, and 53,000 wounded. In Yemen‘s capital Sanaa, tens of thousands took to streets Monday to protest “three years of aggression” by Saudi Arabia and its allies in a war that has been backed by several western governments. This March 26 […]

Featured

Apocalyptic Numbers: The Saudi-Trump War on Yemen

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Three years ago this month, the then 29-year-old Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia (now its crown prince) launched a ruinous war on Yemen. Yemen had been in Saudi Arabia’s back pocket in the 1990s and 2000s, and was a major recipient of Saudi aid, which […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestine RIP

Juan Cole

By Hossam Shaker | (Middle East Monitor) | – – They do not want to recognise the truth. The project of an independent Palestinian state has ended forever, and any talk about a “Palestinian state” today remains a dead letter that does not go along with its meaning. This is what the Americans, Europeans, Israelis […]

Bashar al-Assad

Trump Happy, Bolton Sad? Syrian Regime claims 90% of E. Ghouta as 105k civilians Flee

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the last major rebel enclaves in Syria, East Ghouta, is near to falling back completely under the control of the Baath regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The enclave consists of three districts, Harasta, Zamalka-Irbin-Jobar, and Douma, east and south of the capital. Although […]

censorship

Before phony polls, Egypt arrests, expels Times reporter Bel Trew

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Egypt has deported a British journalist working for The Times, the newspaper said on Saturday, describing an “increasingly oppressive environment” for media in the country ahead of next week’s presidential election. The Times said its correspondent, 33-year-old Bel Trew who had been based in Cairo for several years, was […]