Middle East

Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – On Wednesday, the extremist Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) group, known for its brutal beheadings and mass murder, took over the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp inside Damascus city limits. Palestinian women and Christians and male secularists are at special risk now. Had they been living normally in their homes in what […]

Apartheid

Why Palestine joining the International Criminal Court could be a total game changer

contributors

By Kurt Mills, University of Glasgow | (The Conversation) – After more than five years and much diplomatic wrangling, Palestine has joined the International Criminal Court (ICC). Now, the prospect of Israel being held accountable for war crimes has greatly increased, and that will have significant repercussions for the peace process and for Palestinian statehood. […]

Apartheid

Israel’s Hidden Palestinians fight Eviction

contributors

AJ+ – “100,000 Palestinian Bedouins living in villages in Israel’s Negev desert are being threatened with eviction. Their communities are not recognised by the State of Israel, and so they have no paved roads, and aren’t connected to the electricity or water networks. Ayman Odeh, leader of the third-largest political group in Israel, led an […]

Displaced and Refugees

As Aden falls to Houthis & Saudis Bomb, Yemenis buy up Food, Fuel

contributors

By Almigdad Mojalli – SANA’A, 1 April 2015 (IRIN) – Yemen’s war continued to escalate on Wednesday, with Saudi-led airstrikes in most major cities and firefights across the country. Saudi and its allies are seeking to depose Houthi rebels who claimed control of the capital Sana’a last September. After another night of heavy bombing on […]

Featured

As Iran talks Progress, US, Iran forces cooperate in taking Tikrit

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – By now the Iraqi government has a long history of claiming areas are “liberated” when the local picture remained mixed. This is the sort of thing that occurred recently in where Tikrit, where PM Haydar al-Abadi went on television and declared Tikrit no longer in the hands of […]

Apartheid

Barghouthi: “Joining ICC A Significant Move To Strip Israel’s Illegal Immunity”

contributors

By IMEMC News | – Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, stated that by joining the International Criminal Court (ICC), Palestine would be able to file cases against Israel and its commanders for war crimes against the Palestinian people, and to strip Israel of its illegal immunity that allowed it to continue […]

Featured

War with Iran, by the Numbers

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Sen. John McCain and others on the American Right are in favor of dropping those pesky negotiations with Iran and just bombing their nuclear enrichment sites. Doing so, however, would only set them back a year or so, and would certainly put Iran on a war footing with […]

Iran

What’s at Stake in Nuclear Talks for Ordinary Iranians

contributors

By Saideh Jamshidi Iran’s new round of nuclear negotiations with the United Nations is expected to be completed by March 31, today. But one thing is clear: Leader Ali Khamenei wants to gain as much as he can from this political dilemma. He might be the only one who can end to this political comedy […]

Houthi

Saudi airstrike on Yemen Refugee Camp kills 45

contributors

RT | – 45 people were killed and another 65 injured in an airstrike by a Saudi-led coalition at a refugee camp in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen on Monday, the International Organization for Migration (IMO) said. The bombardment took place in the vicinity of the Mazraq refugee camp, Joel Millman, IMO spokesman told Reuters, citing the […]