Middle East

By IMEMC | – – Palestinian members of local neighborhood watch committee, in Talfit village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, managed to capture two armed fanatic Israeli colonists, who invaded the village and attacked farmers. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official in charge of Israeli settlements file in the northern parts of […]

Dissent

Baghdad on Lockdown not from fear of ISIL but of poor Protesters

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Baghdad was a ghost town on Saturday,, as security forces fanned out, blocking key roads into the Green Zone, the area downtown, closed off by blast walls, that houses parliament and foreign embassies. On Friday, over a hundred protesters were wounded and at least 2 died […]

Featured

Egyptians “shocked” at Lieberman Appointment, note Barak’s accusation of “fascism” in Tel Aviv

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – What do Israel’s Arab neighbors think about the political earthquake that struck PM Binyamin Netanyahu’s cabinet on Thursday and Friday? Netanyahu invited into his government the far right Yisrael Beitenu ultra-nationalist party and offered the minister of defense position to extremist Avigdor Lieberman. He appears to […]

al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda’s Al-Zawahiri, 9/11 Mastermind, Plays Syrian Politics

contributors

By Sam Heller | ( RFE/RL ) | – – When the self-proclaimed Islamic State declared the establishment of a global Muslim “caliphate” in 2014, the move accelerated a race for legitimacy within the international jihadist movement. IS’s rival Al-Qaeda — which had long held out a righteous Islamic state as a far-off ideal, not […]

Iraq

Baghdad Locals Fear Shiite-On-Shiite Violence As Alliance Fractures

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Protests and suicide bombings have caused tension within the Shiite Muslim alliance that’s been fighting extremists. As neighbourhoods are taken over by militias, locals fear intra-sectarian fighting. Abu Fatima al-Budairi is a member of the powerful Badr Organization, one of the largest Shiite Muslim militias […]

Featured

Israel: Netanyahu replies to Officers’ charges of Fascism, makes far Right Lieberman their boss

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu bolstered his majority and rid himself of a troublesome voice of conscience Thursday by appointing the extremist Avigdor Lieberman minister of defense. This move strengthened Netanyahu’s hand politically, removing a critic in the form of Moshe Yaalon, the previous minister of […]

Egypt

Is it ISIL? US Official Says Likely Explosion Happened on EgyptAir Plane

contributors

TeleSur | – – EgyptAir said the plane’s emergency devices sent a distress signal at 4.26 a.m. local time, about two hours after the previously stated radar contact. A senior U.S. Intelligence official familiar with the U.S.’s capabilities in the region told NBC News that infrared and multi-spectral imagers strongly suggest there was an explosion […]

Featured

Baghdad takes Rutba from ISIL: Jordan-Iraq Commercial Route to Reopen

Juan Cole

by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi forces have taken Rutba in al-Anbar province, hundreds of kilometers west of the provincial capital, Ramadi, which is also now in government hands (though much of its population is displaced). Only a few dozen Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) forces were in Rutba in the end and […]

Displaced and Refugees

Saudi bombing, Rebel Shelling leave 7 Million in Yemen Food Insecure

contributors

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage | (Inter Press Service) | – – John Ging, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs briefs journalists on his recent trip to Yemen. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas John Ging, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs briefs journalists on his recent trip to Yemen. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas UNITED NATIONS, May […]