Arab World

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump spoke on foreign policy Sunday on “Face The Nation,” further explaining his thinking on US troops in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. He seems to have made it clear that the US troop presence in Iraq is not, as advertised, to help Baghdad mop up ISIL remnants but rather to […]

Saudi Arabia

Top Ten Reasons Saudi Women are Running away from their Country

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Beirut) – Rahaf Mohammed, the Saudi woman who managed to successfully flee her allegedly abusive family, has shed new light on the countless women trapped under the abusive male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said today. Women face systematic discrimination and are left exposed to domestic violence under the […]

Yemen

UN: Saudi-Led War on Yemen has Killed 6,700 Children, Left 358,000 Severely Malnourished

Middle East Monitor

More than 6700 children have been killed since the outbreak of the Yemen war in 2015, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) announced yesterday. “Around 358,000 Yemeni children suffer from severe acute malnutrition,” UNICEF said on Twitter, stressing that the victims required “immediate treatment.” The UN organisation called for “halting attacks” against children […]

Feminism

Social Media Ridicule: Emirates’ Gender Equality Award Winners All Men

TeleSur

The award was meant to promote female participation in government, however, this year only men were honored. A storm of tweets bombarded the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after it was clear women had been completely excluded from this year’s gender-equality awards ceremony. “Gender balance has become a pillar in our governmental institutions,” said UAE vice […]

Iran

Syria and Iran Sign Strategic Economic Plan, including Tartus Naval Base

AFP

Damascus (AFP) – Syria and Iran signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding late Monday, including a “long-term strategic economic cooperation” deal aimed at strengthening cooperation between Damascus and one of its key allies in the civil war that has torn the country apart. The agreements covered a range of fields including economy, culture, education, […]

Bahrain

Defying US, Bahrain Affirms Life Sentence against Shiite Leader “farcically” charged with Spying

Natacha Yazbeck

Dubai (AFP) – A Bahraini court on Monday upheld a life sentence for opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman for spying for Gulf rival Qatar, a ruling his party slammed as “political revenge”. Salman, who headed Al-Wefaq, a now-banned Shiite movement, was convicted by an appeals court in November in a decision rights groups called a […]

Syria

Damascus Condemns Turkey Presence in North Syria as Violation of Deal

AFP

Damascus (AFP) – The Syrian government on Saturday condemned Turkey’s military presence in northern Syria as a violation of a 1998 protocol between the two countries. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted the Adana Protocol gives his country the right to intervene militarily in the neighbouring country. Turkey and its Syrian rebel proxies control […]

Iraq

Party of Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr tables Bill to expel US Troops from Iraq

Middle East Monitor

Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon Bloc, which dominated Iraqi legislative polls last year, has submitted a bill to parliament that would, if passed, require all foreign military personnel to leave the country within one year, Anadolu Agency reports. At a Friday press conference in Baghdad, Sairoon Chairman Sabah Assadi said the proposed “Law against Foreign Military Deployments […]

Syria

With Trump out, Putin and Turkey’s Erdogan Carve up Syria

AFP

Moscow (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday vowed to coordinate their actions more closely in Syria. “Cooperation between Russia and Turkey is a touchstone for Syrian peace and stability,” Erdogan said in translated comments at a joint press conference after their […]