Middle East

By Thalif Deen | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The nuclear agreement concluded last week between Iran and six big powers, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, is threatening to trigger a new Middle East military build-up – not with nuclear weapons but with conventional arms, including fighter planes, combat helicopters, […]

Islam

Jerusalem: Ultra-Right Israelis again invade Aqsa Mosque compound; UN condemns provocation

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Right-wing Israelis broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday for the second day in a row, as the UN expressed concern over “religious provocations” in and around holy sites in the Old City of East Jerusalem. Witnesses said that 70 right-wing Jews entered the compound […]

Featured

Top Six Signs ISIL/ Daesh is Doomed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – It has been over a year since Mosul fell to Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). In some ways the organization has continued to make advances since then, taking Ramadi and Palmyra in the past few months. It isn’t as important as FBI director James Comey says it is, […]

Pollution

Syria Civil War leaves Civilians with Water Cut-offs, Raw Sewage in Rivers

contributors

By Kanya D’Almeida | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Caught in the grips of a summer heat-wave, in a season that is seeing record-high temperatures worldwide, residents of the war-torn city of Aleppo in northern Syria are facing off against yet another enemy: thirst. The conflict that began in 2011 […]

Human Rights

Jerusalem: Israeli forces, extremist Jews, storm Aqsa mosque compound

contributors

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces broke into Al-Aqsa mosque compound Sunday morning firing stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at Muslim worshipers as they cleared way for right-wing Jews who were visiting the compound to mark a Jewish fast day, witnesses said. Dozens of Palestinian worshipers were reportedly hit with rubber-coated bullets and suffered excessive […]

Featured

Turkey’s new “war on terror” mainly targeting Kurds

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – What was at first announced as a new Turkish turn toward attacks on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on Friday has quickly become largely a campaign against Kurds instead. It is being alleged that the Turkish Air Force launched dozens of strikes against bases of the Kurdistan Workers […]

Iran

Iraqis Divided on Iran Deal: Sunnis say, “The US sold us to Iran”

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – While the rest of the world debates the merits of the Iranian nuclear deal, Iraqis are arguing about it too: Did the US sell them out? Will Iran now be able to interfere in Iraq with impunity? Earlier this month news broke that a deal on […]

Arab Spring

Young Protesters Languish in Jail under Egypt’s Military Counter-Revolution

contributors

By Nelly Bassily | ( openDemocracy) | – – Yara Sallam is starting the second year of her sentence in Qanater Women’s prison outside Cairo. She says, “I do not feel any regret or self-defeat, the prison is not inside me.” Yara Sallam is starting her second year of detention in an Egyptian prison. No […]

Bahrain

Why the Arab Gulf Oil Monarchies should Welcome Iran Deal

contributors

By Miriam R Lowi | (Via al-Araby al-Jadeed ) | – – Gulf states, long-time rivals of Tehran, should seize the opportunities for regional peace and security offered by the historic deal, writes Miriam Lowi. In recent months, a lot has been said about the promises and perils of negotiating with Iran, making compromises and […]