After the fall of Gaddafi, Libya’s historic military and political leader, many clans were left fighting for power; one of such led by Haftar, the other called the GN focused on Islamic law. Libya’s outcome following the Arab Spring led to a divided state with two factions fighting for power. The Government of National Accord led by Fayez-al-Sarrej is internationally… Read more »
Three years in the making, President Trump’s long awaited Middle East plan was revealed on Tuesday, January 28th. The plan is intended to resolve ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, however it was conceived without Palestinian input and clearly favored Israeli priorities. The United states has previously backed minor adjustments to the Israeli boundaries that existed before the Arab-Israeli war… Read more »
The crisis that aid workers were trying to avoid has become a reality in the past week. Aid workers from Turkey and more countries were working to build safe shelters for displaced Syrians in the Idlib province, one of the only safe areas left in Syria. This single province has become home to displaced people trying to flee to Turkey… Read more »
The Middle East, only on our radar because of major investment: oil. Oil is the driving factor in the United States and most developed country’s interest in this volatile region. But as the finite resource depletes and the modern world heeds the need for renewable energy, what will happen to the Middle East? Petrostates, mainly Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman,… Read more »
ISTANBUL/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Turkish-backed Syrian rebels shot down a government helicopter west of Aleppo in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region, where violence and displacement has spiked in recent weeks, Turkish and Syrian state media said on Friday. A rebel military source and eyewitnesses told Reuters Russian jets had been targeting areas in the countryside west of Aleppo earlier on Friday, but… Read more »
ALGIERS (Reuters) – Thousands of Algerians marched on Friday, a year since the start of weekly protests calling for a complete overhaul of the ruling elite, an end to corruption and the army’s withdrawal from politics. “We will not stop,” chanted a crowd in the center of the capital Algiers, despite a large police presence. Over the past year the… Read more »
AMMAN/GENEVA (Reuters) – Families fleeing air strikes and advancing troops in Syria’s Idlib province are sleeping rough in streets and olive groves, and burning toxic bundles of rubbish to stay warm in the biting winter weather, aid workers say. Hundreds of thousands of people have been uprooted by a Syrian government assault which has corralled ever growing numbers of people… Read more »
Baghdad, Iraq – By the time Mazen Mohammad woke to the news of a fire in his warehouse, the Iraqi businessman had lost an estimated $2m in merchandise. All three floors and the basement of the warehouse had been engulfed in flames overnight, when violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces sparked the fire in Baghdad’s commercial centre. The… Read more »
Baghdad, Iraq – Defiant chants and combative banners filled Tahrir Square in Iraq‘s capital Baghdad on Thursday as hundreds of women from all walks of life gathered to demand their rights. The march, spearheaded and organised by women, sought to challenge a Twitter post by Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr which called for gender segregation in the anti-government rallies that have swept across… Read more »
Kirkuk, Iraq – (Reuters) – A rocket hit a base in northern Iraq that hosts U.S. forces on Thursday but caused no casualties, Iraqi security sources said. The base, known as K1 near the city of Kirkuk, is where a U.S. civilian contractor was killed in December in a similar attack, blamed by Washington on Iran-backed militias. A Reuters witness… Read more »