Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on Sunday attacked an isolated outpost of the Syrian Arab Army in a few neighborhoods in the north of the city of Deir al-Zor, which are surrounded by Daesh from every side. The SAA also still controls a military airfield just north of […]

Iraq

Iraq: Ethnic Fighting endangers Civilians; now it’s Kurds and Shiites

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Kurdish and Shia Turkmen armed groups have repeatedly harmed and endangered civilians in clashes in Iraq’s Tuz Khurmatu district, in Salah al-Din province, since October 2015. The armed groups have killed, wounded, and abducted civilians and destroyed scores, if not hundreds, of homes and shops. “Some of […]

Druze

Israeli plan for minorities slammed as bid to ‘divide and conquer’

contributors

By: Chloe Benoist | (Ma’an News Agency) | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A plan approved by Israel’s cabinet last week to provide half a billion dollars worth of assistance to Israel’s Druze and Circassian minorities has been denounced by leaders of Israel’s Palestinian community as a “divide and conquer” tactic. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin […]

censorship

Triumph of Diplomacy: Iran, on cusp of Sanctions relief, releases 5 Iranian-American Detainees

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iranian news agencies announced Saturday that the government had released four dual nationals (Iranian-Americans with both passports). A fifth release was later reported. The release is another major diplomatic victory for President Obama and Sec. of State John Kerry, and is good news indeed for the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestinian Kids Dodge Settler Attacks Daily

contributors

AJ+ | – – “These Palestinian kids need an army escort to get to school.” AJ+: “Palestinian Kids Dodge Settler Attacks”

Arab Spring

Five years on, Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution continues from the ground up

contributors

By Adnan Saif | (The Conversation) | – – Tunisians are marking five years since the culmination of their “Jasmine Revolution”. Since its longtime authoritarian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced out of office in January 2011, Tunisia has been embarking on a long transition to constitutional democracy – a transation that, although […]

Israel/ Palestine

Swedish FM: Israel Extrajudicial killings; Netanyahu: OK to Kill Assailants

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday waded into a growing row over a call by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom for an investigation into the possibility that Israeli forces have been carrying out “extrajudicial executions.” Speaking to foreign reporters at a new year’s reception, Netanyahu […]

Featured

Noam Chomsky slams Turkish Pres. Erdogan for Arresting Academics, supporting Extremism

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Matthew Weaver of the Guardian reports retired MIT linguist Noam Chomsky’s reply to a personal attack by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan criticized Chomsky and other international scholars who signed a petition against the Turkish government’s current vendetta against Kurdish-Turkish citizens in the country’s southeast. Erdogan […]

Assyrians

For Iraqi Minorities, ‘Immigration No Longer A Choice, It’s Inevitable’

contributors

By Saad Salloum | Baghdad| (Niqash.org) | – – In an interview, Raad Jabar al-Khamis, a representative of the Christian Sabean-Mandaean minority, talks about why all minorities in Iraq will leave the country over the next decade. Raad Jabar al-Khamis has held many senior political positions on behalf of Iraq’s Sabean-Mandaean minority. The Sabean-Mandaeans are […]