Middle East

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday warned international leaders at the UN General Assembly of the potential danger of ongoing events at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem. Abbas told Palestine TV that he had told world leaders in a series of meetings at the […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria: Is Bashar al-Assad winning the Diplomatic War? Rebels Fret

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, widely regarded as a war criminal with tens of thousands of deaths on his hands, is nevertheless on a roll. Russia and Iran, the backers of al-Assad, are not eager to see him go. Russia is now putting in more troops and […]

Bashar al-Assad

To Stem the Flow of Refugees, Stop the Syrian Regime’s Barrel Bombs

contributors

By Kenneth Roth, Executive Director | ( Human Rights Watch) – – Syrian asylum-seekers are the largest component of the latest refugee surge to Europe. Germany has been extraordinarily generous in providing a refuge. But with four million refugees having fled Syria’s daily atrocities and more waiting in the wings, we must ask how to […]

Iran

Israel’s Real Fear: w/out a Demonized Iran, West will see Tel Aviv as Irrelevant

contributors

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Inter Press Service) | – – OXFORD (IPS) – Relations between Iran and Israel go back almost to the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948. Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as a sovereign state, following Turkey, and the two countries had very close diplomatic and […]

al-Qaeda

US-trained Syria rebels gave weapons to al-Qaeda Pentagon confirms

contributors

RT | – – “The U.S. military has revealed that American -trained Syrian rebels surrendered equipment to an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group in exchange for safe passage. They handed over pick-up trucks and ammunition. A spokesman for the military described the move as “very concerning”. ” RT: “US-trained Syria rebels gave weapons to al-Nusra Islamists, […]

Dissent

Iranian Activists Call On Iran To End Support For Syria’s Assad

contributors

By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/ RL ) Scores of Iranian political activists and intellectuals have launched an online campaign calling on Iran to end its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and take in Syrian refugees fleeing violence there. The more than 70 activists, who include several former political prisoners, blame Assad and his […]

censorship

Israeli Soldiers Assault AFP Reporters at West Bank Demo

contributors

By IMEMC News | – – Two AFP journalists were assaulted Friday by Israeli soldiers who destroyed and seized their equipment in the occupied West Bank, after the funeral of a Palestinian killed by the army. A video journalist with the agency, Italian Andrea Bernardi, was thrown to the ground and jabbed in the side […]

Assyrians

Iraq: Can Mosul’s Christians ever Go Home to their Historic Neighborhoods?

contributors

Nawzat Shamdeen | Berlin | (Niqash.org) | – – They have been harassed, threatened, have lost all their worldly goods and forced to flee. What, if anything, would make Mosul’s Christians want to return to the city they used to call home? A celebration at an Orthodox church in Mosul in the early 20th Century: […]

Iraq

The tragedy of Iraq’s Sunnis

contributors

By Chloe Cornish IRIN | – – KIRKUK (IRIN) – Iraq is congested with armed men: Kurdish peshmerga in the north; forlorn Iraqi army troops strung across the country; ascendant Shia militia groups and volunteer Popular Mobilisation Forces in the centre; and, of course, fighters from so-called Islamic State in the west. Civilians travelling through […]