Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Houthi Ansarullah Movement that controls most of north and west Yemen staged what was by all accounts an enormous demonstration in the capital of Sanaa on Saturday. It may have been the single largest demonstration in the country’s history. While it was unlikely actually to […]

Featured

Near-War: US Planes almost tangle with Syrian MiGs, which bombed area of US troop Embeds

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The fighting that has broken out between Kurdish YPG fighters and the Syrian Arab Army in Hasaka, northeast Syria, is hardly a new thing. There were clashes in April. Syria says that the Kurds brought it on themselves by trying to expand into government-held territory. As […]

Israel/ Palestine

Gaza power plant runs out of fuel amid longstanding electricity crisis

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – GAZA (Ma’an)– The besieged Gaza Strip’s only power plant announced on Thursday that it was unable to operate on more than one generator after exhausting its fuel reserves. In a statement, the electricity supplier noted that efforts were being made to obtain fuel in the coming week. Even at […]

Syria

The Haunting Image of a Syrian Boy Who’s Only Known War

contributors

TeleSur | – – The image is haunting: A boy sits silent and stone-still in an ambulance, hands resting in his lap, his feet dangling from the chair as though suspended in mid-air, staring straight ahead, dust and dried blood covering his face like a mask. With a shock of thick, brown hair dissecting his […]

Saudi Arabia

Economic Damage from Civil War Costs poverty-stricken Yemen $14 Billion

contributors

TeleSur | – – The civil war in Yemen has caused a humanitarian disaster. The cost from damage to infrastructure and economic losses in Yemen’s civil war is more than $14 billion so far, according to a confidential report obtained by Reuters that highlights the effort needed to rebuild the country, where more than half […]

Central Asia

Dragon Rising? China seeks Closer military Cooperation with Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | Informed Comment | – – The Arabic press is reporting that a high Chinese official on a visit to Damascus has announced that Beijing intends to strengthen its military relationship with the current Syrian government. At the same time he affirmed that China would avoid involvement in the civil war. Reuters […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israelis raze homes near Hebron, Bethlehem, Palestine, leaving 70 Palestinians homeless

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – HEBRON (Ma’an) — More than 50 Palestinians of the same extended family, including several children, were left homeless Tuesday morning after Israeli forces demolished eight homes in the outskirts of Sair village in the eastern Hebron district of the southern occupied West Bank, while another 20 lost their home […]

Featured

Does this Change Everything? Russia’s first strikes on Syria from Iran Airbases

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russian bombers for the first time have taken off from bases in Iran to carry out air strikes on rebel targets in Syria. The US military is complaining that under a Russian agreement with the US, it was supposed to get a timely notification of Russia […]

Israel/ Palestine

Evangelical Lutheran Church Votes to Divest from Israeli Occupation

contributors

by Anna Baltzer, US Campaign to End the Occupation | IMEMC | – – On Friday, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted overwhelmingly — by an estimated 90% — to create an investment screen that would identify and remove the Church’s investments in corporations profiting from Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, and other […]