Middle East

by **JULIE POUCHER HARBIN, EDITOR, ISLAMiCommentary, with KUBILAY YADO ARIN UPDATE ON TUESDAY JULY 28: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Ankara could not continue the peace process with the Kurds amid continuing attacks against Turkish targets. As Turkish and U.S. officials reportedly worked on a plan to create a safe-zone by […]

Barack Obama

Iran Deal: The Calculus of Power in the Mideast just Changed Forever

contributors

By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Don’t sweat the details of the July nuclear accord between the United States and Iran. What matters is that the calculus of power in the Middle East just changed in significant ways. Washington and Tehran announced their nuclear agreement on July 14th and yes, some of […]

Featured

Turkish Tanks Shell Syrian Kurds who expelled ISIL from Zur Maghar

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Syrian Kurds and the British based Syrian Observatory said Monday that Turkish tanks had shelled the village of Zur Maghar near Kobani on the Syrian side of the border held by the YPG [People’s Protection Unit] leftist Kurdish militia. Four of its fighters were wounded. The […]

GCC

Yemen: Saudi & Coalition guilty of War Crimes for Bombing Civilians: HRW

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Sanaa) – Saudi-led coalition airstrikes that killed at least 65 civilians, including 10 children, and wounded dozens in the Yemeni port city of Mokha on July 24, 2015, are an apparent war crime. Starting between 9:30 and 10 p.m., coalition airplanes repeatedly struck two residential compounds of the Mokha […]

Bahrain

After Vienna, Arabs, Israel seek massive conventional Arms Deals: US ready to Sell

contributors

By Thalif Deen | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The nuclear agreement concluded last week between Iran and six big powers, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, is threatening to trigger a new Middle East military build-up – not with nuclear weapons but with conventional arms, including fighter planes, combat helicopters, […]

Islam

Jerusalem: Ultra-Right Israelis again invade Aqsa Mosque compound; UN condemns provocation

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Right-wing Israelis broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday for the second day in a row, as the UN expressed concern over “religious provocations” in and around holy sites in the Old City of East Jerusalem. Witnesses said that 70 right-wing Jews entered the compound […]

Featured

Top Six Signs ISIL/ Daesh is Doomed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – It has been over a year since Mosul fell to Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). In some ways the organization has continued to make advances since then, taking Ramadi and Palmyra in the past few months. It isn’t as important as FBI director James Comey says it is, […]

Pollution

Syria Civil War leaves Civilians with Water Cut-offs, Raw Sewage in Rivers

contributors

By Kanya D’Almeida | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Caught in the grips of a summer heat-wave, in a season that is seeing record-high temperatures worldwide, residents of the war-torn city of Aleppo in northern Syria are facing off against yet another enemy: thirst. The conflict that began in 2011 […]

Human Rights

Jerusalem: Israeli forces, extremist Jews, storm Aqsa mosque compound

contributors

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces broke into Al-Aqsa mosque compound Sunday morning firing stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at Muslim worshipers as they cleared way for right-wing Jews who were visiting the compound to mark a Jewish fast day, witnesses said. Dozens of Palestinian worshipers were reportedly hit with rubber-coated bullets and suffered excessive […]