Middle East

Al Jah (Yemen) (AFP) – Yemeni forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition launched an offensive Wednesday to retake the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, a key aid hub, sparking calls from the international community for restraint. Pro-government troops began the assault despite mounting international fears about the humanitarian fallout, pressing toward Hodeida airport south of […]

Israel/ Palestine

Int’l Criminal Court must investigate Top Israeli Officials for Gaza War Crimes: HRW

Human Rights Watch

New York (Human Rights Watch) – Israeli forces’ repeated use of lethal force in the Gaza Strip since March 30, 2018, against Palestinian demonstrators who posed no imminent threat to life may amount to war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. Israeli forces have killed more than 100 protesters in Gaza and wounded thousands with […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Women of Gaza and the Great March of Return

Fadi Abu Shammala

Co-author: Jen Marlowe Gaza City (Tomdispatch.com) – “I am here because I heard my town call me, and ask me to maintain my honor.” Fifty-seven-year-old Um Khalid Abu Mosa spoke in a strong, gravelly voice as she sat on the desert sand, a white tent protecting her from the blazing sun. “The land,” she says […]

Yemen

Yemen: US won’t stop UAE from Launching “Bloody, Prolonged” Battle for Hodeida

Fawaz al-Haidari

by Fawaz al-Haidari Khokha (Yemen) (AFP) – Pro-government forces fighting Yemen’s Huthi rebels are sending reinforcements towards the port of Hodeida, military sources said Tuesday, amid UN warnings against a high-stakes battle for the key aid gateway. AFP / NABIL HASSAN. A pro-government Yemeni soldier looks through binoculars on June 7, 2018, near al-Jah in […]

Syria

Nearly 1 Mn. Syrians made Homeless Already this Year, & UN Fears 2 Mn. to Come

Nina Larson

Geneva (AFP) – More than 920,000 people were displaced inside Syria during the first four months of 2018, the highest level in the seven-year conflict, the United Nations said Monday. “We are seeing a massive displacement inside Syria… From January to April, there were over 920,000 newly displaced people,” Panos Moumtzis, the UN regional humanitarian […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel’s Everyday Economic Violence Toward Palestinians in Gaza

Harry Blain

Don’t wait for the next massacre to start calling out the more insidious violence Palestinians suffer every day. New York (FPIF ) – “They just seem — well — less developed, less innovative, less productive than the Israelis.” This was one of the many objections I faced during a recent attempt to secure support for […]

Yemen

Saudi-led Attack on Yemen’s Hudaydah Port Could Cost 250,000 Lives: UN

Middle East Monitor

Clashes between troops backed by a Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthis intensified near Yemen’s Hudaydah over the weekend as the United Nations tries to negotiate a ceasefire to avert a possible assault on the main port city, military sources said. A military attack or siege on the Houthi-held western city, long a target in […]

Israel/ Palestine

Amid Gaza Health Crisis, Israeli Army Shoots Medical Workers in Demonstrations

Michelle Lonnquist

New York ( Human Rights Watch) – According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, an Israeli sniper fatally shot 21-year-old paramedic Razan al-Najjar inside Gaza near the separation fence on June 1, 2018. According to a medical volunteer with al-Najjar when she was shot, al-Najjar was clearly identifiable as a medical volunteer, and aiding injured […]

Iraq

Iraq Election Winner Muqtada al-Sadr calls on Militias to Disarm

Middle East Monitor

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Friday for a nationwide disarmament campaign and announced his Baghdad stronghold would be first to disarm just two days after an ammunitions cache exploded there and killed 18 people. Sadr, whose political bloc won Iraq’s parliamentary election in May, called on all armed groups to hand in their weapons […]