By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday called on Saudi Arabia and its allies to halt their blockade of Qatar. “There are humanitarian consequences to this blockade,” he said. In addition, he worried that the dispute would undermine the struggle against ISIL (ISIS, Daesh): “The blockade […]
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Middle East
Saudi v. Qatar: Will Turkish intervention cause Escalation?
By James M. Dorsey | (Inter Press Service) | – – SINGAPORE (IPS) – Turkey’s parliament is this week fast tracking the dispatch of up to 3,000 troops to Qatar, home to the country’s military base in the Middle East. Certain to stiffen Qatar’s resolve to resist Saudi and UAE-led pressure to force it to […]
Could ISIL attacks in Tehran plunge the Middle East into greater turmoil?
By Mohammadbagher Forough | (The Conversation) | – – Iran experienced its first major ISIL attack on June 7, as armed men and suicide bombers targeted two symbols of the Islamic Republic in Tehran: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s mausoleum and the Iranian parliament. At least 12 people are reported to have been killed and 42 wounded. […]
Civilian Casualties Mount in Battle to Re-take Mosul
By Mark Lattimer | (Inter Press Service} | – – LONDON (IPS) – East of Mosul, many of the lands liberated from ISIS stand empty. Driving through the Nineveh plains, traditional homelands of Iraq’s minority communities of Yezidis, Christians, Shabak and Turkmen, you pass one ghost town after another, peopled only by members of the […]
Turkey OKs draft Bill to send Troops to bolster Qatar re: Saudis
TeleSur | – – Turkey and Qatar also both supported Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated projects throughout the Arab Spring, drawing strong Saudi ire. Turkey has waded into the geopolitical storm engulfing Gulf Arab states as its Parliament approved a draft bill Wednesday to expedite the deployment of troops to a Turkish military base in Qatar. The move […]
Trump’s Ally: Saudi Arabia’s drive for Aristocratic Hegemony in the Middle East
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Arabia is making a drive to become a regional hegemon. It has long used its oil wealth to achieve a great deal of influence among neighbors, of course. But it is now flexing military muscles. From a Saudi point of view, they have suffered decades […]
Qatar in the Cross-Hairs – How Bad can it Get?
By Brian Whitaker | ( Al-Bab.com ) | – – The extraordinary propaganda offensive against Qatar which has been raging in sections of the Arab media for the last couple of weeks shifted from words to deeds yesterday when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in effect placed Qatar under siege. There are four possible […]
Is breathtaking Iran your next Tourist Destination?
By Frud Bezhan | ( RFE/RL) | – – Stunning landscapes, famous hospitality, and numerous World Heritage sites. Iran’s potential as a holiday destination is vast, but foreign tourists have largely avoided the country ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The reasons are numerous. The visa process can be lengthy and complex. Some female […]
Israel: 50 Years of Occupation Abuses
Human Rights Watch | – – Ramp Up Pressure for Accountability on all Sides (Jerusalem) – Fifty years after Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it controls these areas through repression, institutionalized discrimination, and systematic abuses of the Palestinian population’s rights, Human Rights Watch said today. At least five categories of major violations […]