Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — The pan-Arab London daily, Al-Hayat [Life] reports that the Iraqi Kurdistan paramilitary, the Peshmerga, have taken Mt. Sinjar from Daesh (what Arabs call ISIL or ISIS). They have therefore saved several thousand members of the Yezidi (Izadi) Kurdish religious minority, who have been besieged and sometimes enslaved or […]

Dissent

Leftist Jordanians protest expected gas deal with Israel

contributors

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Dozens of protesters marched in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Friday to denounce a gas deal with Israel that is expected to be passed by the end of the year. Protesters held signs against the Israeli diplomatic mission in Jordan and against normalization with Israel during the rally, bearing messages such […]

Iran

Iran Honors Its Fallen Jewish Soldiers

contributors

By Frud Bezhan | (RFE/RL) | — Iran is well-known for its stinging anti-Israeli rhetoric and refusal to recognize what it calls the “Zionist regime.” So, it might have come as a surprise when officials in Tehran unveiled a monument honoring Iranian-Jewish soldiers who died in action during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. Iranian […]

Apartheid

Palestinians Under Threat In Jerusalem

contributors

AJ+ | — “With tensions rising in Jerusalem, hate crimes against Palestinians have increased in recent months. Mohammed lost his cousin to one such incident a while ago, and now he is one of the newest victims. Like others, he fears for his life. This is the story of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and […]

Israel

“Palestinian State Essential to a Democratic Israel” – Frmr Israeli President Shimon Peres

contributors

TeleSur | — “In France, former Israeli President Shimon Peres said that a Palestinian State is necessary in order to have a democratic Jewish state. This statement came the same day that the United States and Israel dismissed the Palestine peace plan that was submitted by Jordan to the UN. teleSUR TeleSur English: “Peres: Palestinian […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli Squatter Fires on Palestinian Demonstrators near Bethlehem

contributors

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Dozens of Palestinians on Friday held a march against the Israeli occupation and settlement policies in the West Bank in the village of al-Masara near Bethlehem. Organizers from the local Popular Committees Against the Wall and Settlements said that during the rally a Jewish settler opened fire on the marchers, but no […]

Iraq

Daesh/ ISIL close to Taking al-Anbar Province as Tribal Levies lack Ammunition, Funding, Unity

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | — Last week, fighters from tribes in Anbar were forced to give up their hold on the town of Wafaa to extremists from the Islamic State because they ran out of ammunition. And they ran out because apparently the Iraqi government won’t supply them. The steady defeat […]

Displaced and Refugees

The Yezidi Minority, Daesh/ISIL, and Iraq’s Human Rights Catastrophe

contributors

by Patrick Ball Patrick Ball with Yezidi boys at an informal camp in Sharya, Iraq. Farhad (not his real name) got the call from ISIS on his personal cell phone just after lunch: we have your sister, and we will give her back if you pay us $6000, plus $1500 for the driver. Carrying little […]

Free Syrian Army

The Israeli Hospital Admitting Syrian Fighters: The War Next Door

contributors

Vice News | — “In August, al Nusra Front jihadists took control of Syria’s side of the border crossing with Israel and kidnapped over 40 United Nations peacekeepers — who have since been released. But al Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-affiliate, isn’t Israel’s only threat from Syria. President Bashar al-Assad’s military, in a possible effort […]