Middle East

Middle East Monitor | – – Turkey will open an embassy in East Jerusalem, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, days after leading calls at a summit of Muslim leaders for the world to recognise it as the capital of Palestine. “God willing, the day is close when officially, with God’s permission, we will open […]

Children

Iraq: Parliament Rejects Marriage for 8-Year-Old Girls

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – Amendments Would Have Instated Discriminatory Laws on Family Matters (Beirut) – Iraq’s parliament has rejected proposed amendments to Iraq’s Personal Status Law (PSL) that would allow religious judges to impose discriminatory law on family matters, Human Rights Watch said today. The amendments would have covered areas including inheritance and […]

Bashar al-Assad

Putin’s talk of Draw Down in Syria isn’t about Russia leaving, but staying

contributors

By Moritz Pieper | (The Conversation) | – – Standing on the Russian military airbase at Khmeimim on his December visit to Syria, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will withdraw the bulk of its forces from Syria following the “successful intervention” in Syria’s armed conflict. This is Putin’s second withdrawal announcement within two years. And […]

Israel/ Palestine

Trump did This: Israeli Troops injure 150 Palestinian protesters in Palestine

contributors

Ma`an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets on Friday in continued protest of US President Donald Trump’s announcement last week recognizing Jerusalem — the Eastern part of which is illegally occupied by Israel in contravention of international law — causing clashes with Israeli forces to erupt […]

Israel/ Palestine

Trump did this: Israeli Troops injure Palestinians

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Redirect: This article is found here {click)

Israel/ Palestine

Palestinians outraged but unsurprised by Trump on Jerusalem: ‘World already ignores our existence’

Juan Cole

By Joey Ayoub | ( GlobalVoices.org) | – – US President Donald Trump's declaration that the country would move its embassy in Israel to the city of Jerusalem was met with shock throughout the world. Among Palestinians, however, it was outrage mixed with a distinctive lack of surprise. Jerusalem is a controversial site of contention […]

Featured

Muslim Countries call for E. Jerusalem as Palestine Capital, reject US as Honest Broker

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Organization of the Islamic Conference, a regular meeting of the foreign ministers of 57 Muslim-majority countries, held an extraordinary session in Istanbul on Wednesday, in which they rejected US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In a communique they called […]

Epidemics

Now Diptheria besets Yemen, along with Saudi Bombs and Blockade

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Yemen, ravaged by war, hunger and disease, is seeing a spike in diphtheria cases that will inevitably erupt into a larger, deadly outbreak because so few people have been immunized, aid officials said on Wednesday. At highest risk are children, who account for many of the more than 280 […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia: The Coming Crisis in the Kingdom

contributors

By Pierce Gootee | (TeleSur) | – – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has, in recent months, tightened their blockade on the war-ravaged country of Yemen. The justification for this tightening was the launch of a long-range ballistic missile by Houthi rebels towards the capital city of Riyadh in November. Despite these heavy-handed tactics in […]