Middle East

By Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | – – Dubbed “Jihadi John” by the British media after video footage of his murderous exploits was seen around the world, Mohammed Emwazi became a symbol of a complex conflict – a shorthand for the evil threatening the West as well as those in Syria and Iraq. On […]

Featured

Kurdish Fighters cut Road between ISIL centers of Raqqa and Mosul

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Al-Arabiya reports that the Security Council in Iraqi Kurdistan has announced that their paramilitary, the Peshmerga have taken 150 square kilometers of the city of Sinjar from Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) and has the entire city surrounded. Some sources say that 70% of the city has fallen […]

Israel/ Palestine

Jerusalem Tensions: It’s how the Israelis are Ruling Palestinians There

contributors

Brian K. Barber | (Informed Comment) | – – Once again violence has spiked between Palestinians and Israelis; a surge that might well be hard to quell given the chaotic, random, crude, and brutal forms it has taken. There is still an alarming amount of commentary that attributes blame for the violence primarily or solely […]

Hizbullah

Beirut: ISIL claims twin Suicide Bombs in Shiite Area that kill over 41, injure 200

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — At least 41 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in two suicide bombs targeting a Hezbollah stronghold in the south of the Lebanese capital of Beirut, according to local news reports. Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said initial reports indicated that two suicide bombers blew […]

Featured

Are 2,000 Gulf fighters in Syria a terrorist threat to . . . the Gulf?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A Saudi preacher has given a press briefing on young men from the Gulf fighting against the al-Assad regime. Although the Hizbullah fighters from Lebanon are often mentioned in the US press as an example of foreign interference, there is little mention of this Gulf contingent. […]

Iraq

Is the Iraqi army a lost cause?

contributors

By Jon Moran | (The Conversation) | – – Building an army in a short space of time is a very difficult task. To be sure, there are some impressive examples. Cromwell’s republican New Model Army was put together while the English Civil War was already underway; Washington’s army of US Independence quickly wore down […]

European Union

EU approves labeling of Israeli Squatter products

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The European Union on Wednesday adopted measures to label products from Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law, in a move welcomed by the Palestinian leadership. The EU Commission, the executive branch of the EU, said the body had adopted an interpretative notice on the “indication […]

Jabhat al-Nusra

Syria: The Other Front, not ISIL or Assad: al-Qaeda al-Nusra

contributors

Medyan Dairieh | VICE News | (Video Report) – – “VICE News filmmaker Medyan Dairieh gains exclusive access to the Syrian branch of al Qaeda, al Nusra, a jihadist group fighting against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the Islamic State (IS). Spending more than a month with al Nusra and exploring their expanding territory, Dairieh […]

BDS Occupied Territories

Why EU Labeling of Israeli Squatter Goods could Affect Israeli Economy

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The European Union will probably issue a ruling today that goods produced in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank by Israeli squatters must be so labeled. Such labeling is already carried out in some European countries, but this ruling would extend the practice to all 28 EU […]