Middle East

Ma’an News Agency | – – HEBRON (Ma’an) — More than 200 Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Wad al-Haseen and Wad al-Nasara near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba overnight in the eastern Hebron district of the occupied southern West Bank, locals and medics said. During the attack, Israeli settlers threw stones […]

Featured

Syrian Army advances under Russian air Support, al-Qaeda no. 2 Killed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Arabic press is reporting that under cover of Russian air support, the Syrian Arab Army of Bashar al-Assad has made some advances against al-Qaeda in Syria and hard line Salafi rebels fighting for imposition of sharia or their conception of Islamic law on the country. […]

Eastern Europe

‘Putin of Arabia’ hugely popular among Iraqi Shiites

contributors

By Jean-Marc Mojon with Raji Nasser in Najaf | ( Your Middle East ) | – – The new Iraq Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bullish entry into the Syrian conflict has worked wonders for his popularity in neighbouring Iraq, where some await “Hajji Putin” like a saviour. Sitting at his easel in his central Baghdad […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestine: Death of a Stone-Thrower: Intifada 3.0

contributors

VICE News | (Video Report) | – – “Tension builds in Israel and the West Bank with three new stabbing attacks on Israelis reported on Saturday, and the funeral for a young Palestinian stone-thrower killed by Israeli forces in Nablus. VICE News attends the funeral, where grief turns to rage and calls for revenge.” VICE […]

Palestine

The anger of Palestine’s ‘lost’ generation

contributors

By: Killian Redden | – Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A few weeks before an Israeli soldier shot him through the stomach, Mutaz Zawahreh discovered a love of the sea. On the coast of Brittany, Mutaz and two friends from Duheisha refugee camp, Murad Ouda and Issa al-Saifi, amazed the French […]

Iran

Will Iran’s Alliance with Russia Strengthen its hand in Mideast?

contributors

By Nader Habibi and Harith Hasan Al-Qarawee | (The Conversation) | – – The sudden launch of Russia’s military operations in Syria late last month caught the United States and regional players by surprise. It began with an announcement that defined the primary objective of the mission as a confrontation with the Islamic State (ISIS) […]

al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda in Syria Leader: Kill Alawite Minority, Russians; Christians fear West Backs Him

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The leader of al-Qaeda in Syria, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, has called for an escalation in attacks on the population centers of the Alawite Shiite minority. The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, and other leading members of the ruling Baath Party belong to this folk sect of […]

Afghanistan

Still underestimating al-Qaeda & Taliban despite 1500 Military Analysts

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – That figure stunned me. I found it in the 12th paragraph of a front-page New York Times story about “senior commanders” at U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) playing fast and loose with intelligence reports to give their air war against ISIS an unjustified sheen of success: […]

Israel/ Palestine

Read their lips: Israeli leaders’ plans for the Palestinians

contributors

By: Samah Sabawi | (Ma’an News Agency) | – – History in the Holy Land seems stuck in a loop. In 2000, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, at the time leader of the opposition, visited the Al-Aqsa compound in a deliberate provocation that triggered the Second Intifada. Israel launched operation “Defensive Shield” to crush […]