Middle East

Amid Jerusalem Clashes, Israeli Housing Minister Claims al-Aqsa Site, Declaring War on 1.5 bn Muslims

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Dozens of Palestinians suffered tear-gas inhalation and several others were injured by stun grenades, shrapnel and rubber-coated steel bullets during clashes in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound area on Wednesday, an official said. Palestinian Red Crescent official Amin Abu Ghazaleh told Ma’an that Red Crescent ambulances moved nine injured to the Al-Maqased Hospital […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Is a Showdown between Radical Shiites and al-Qaeda Brewing in Yemen?

contributors

SANAA (IRIN) – Yahia Abu Talib, serious and stoic, is in no doubt about the importance of his role. “We protect homes and mosques,” he says, referring to the so-called popular committees of which he is a member. In a mixed neighbourhood of Yemen’s capital Sana’a, Abu Talib calls himself a “social superviser” for the […]

Human Rights

Iran Jails Woman for trying to Watch Men’s Volleyball Match

contributors

Channel 4 News “A court in Iran has sentenced a British-Iranian woman to a year in prison because she tried to go to a men’s volleyball match. Iranian law bans women from attending men’s sporting events.” Iran jail woman for trying to watch men’s volleyball match | Channel 4 News

Iraq

Video: ISIL Pedophiles discuss Buying Minor Sex Slaves

contributors

via BReaking News “IS fighters talk about which female slaves to buy and sell ‘A new video has emerged showing IS fighters negotiating prices for female slaves . Footage shows ISIS fighters attending slave girl market – Disturbing: The clip begins with this bearded Islamic State fighter explaining it is . IS fighters talk about […]

Human Rights

Iraq: Lawless Islamic State Group In Mosul Targets Attorneys, Judges

contributors

Special Correspondent | Mosul | via Niqash When Sunni Muslim extremists took over Mosul in early June, they closed local courts and set up their own quasi-religious system of justice. They also put thousands of Mosul’s lawyers out of work. For those who didn’t flee the city, there was worse to come: judges have already […]

Egypt

Incredible Expanding Cairo (Video)

contributors

NYU STERN URBANIZATION PROJECT “The expansion of built up urban land in Cairo, 1800 – 2000. Prepared for the NYU Stern Urbanization Project using data compiled by Shlomo Angel, Jason Parent, Daniel Civco, and Alejandro Blei for The Atlas of Urban Expansion, published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.” (You have to watch it […]

Bashar al-Assad

American Weapons, provided to Syrian rebels, fall into Hands of al-Qaeda

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra (the Succor Front) not only took the territory of the moderate Muslim Syria Revolutionaries Front this weekend, it also polished off the Movement of the Resolute . The Movement of the Resolute (Harakat al-Hazm) represented itself as secular, but had its roots in a fundamentalist group backed […]

Israel

Fierce Entanglements require Dialogue: Israeli-Palestinian conflict rooted in their different stories about the World

contributors

By Donald Ellis When I was in Israel for a year on a Fulbright conducting research I interviewed Israelis, Palestinians, and Israeli Arabs. I asked them to talk about their ideas with respect to peace. The Israelis invoked the language of security, the Israeli Arabs spoke of fairness, and the Palestinians of historical justice. Clearly, […]

Bashar al-Assad

US Dilemma in Syria: Moderate Stronghold Falls to al-Qaeda, Fighters desert to Extremists

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole In a big setback for the Obama administration’s Syria policy, the al-Qaeda affiliate Succor Front (Jabhat al-Nusra) took the town of Deir Sunbul and its environs this weekend away from the Syria Revolutionaries Front, a relatively secular-minded group viewed as “moderates” by the United States. Deir Sunbul lies in the Jabal al-Zawiya […]