Greater Middle East
Has Syria crossed chemical ‘red line’?
Israel's claim that Syria has used chemical weapons comes as rebel militias have assumed positions near the line of control in the Golan Heights.
Tag: Arab Revolution
Greater Middle East
US pledges $100 million in aid to Syrian rebels
As the Friends of Syria summit opened in Istanbul, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced $100 million in new “non-lethal” aid to the Syrian opposition.
Iraq
Syria: Nusra Front merge with Iraq Qaeda wing
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, “emir” of al-Qaeda in Iraq, announced a merger with Syria’s Nusra Front to form a new organization, the “Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.”
North Africa
Whither the ‘Topless Jihad’?
Rival online campaigns are waged by the "Topless Jihad" and Muslim Women Against Femen. Is the Topless Jihad a defense of women's freedom, or imperialist propaganda?
Greater Middle East
Syria: Alawite dissidents break with regime
Opposition activists from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect publicly broke ranks with the regime at a meeting in Cairo, and urged their fellow Alawites in the army to rebel.
North Africa
World Social Forum meets Arab Spring
As thousands of activists from around the world converge on Tunisia for the World Social Forum, the country faces austerity measures as the condition of a $1.78 billion IMF loan.
Greater Middle East
Bahrain rights activists on hunger strike
Two Bahraini human rights activists have intensified their hunger strike and are refusing fluids, according to a report by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR).
Greater Middle East
UN announces probe into Syria chemical weapons
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced that the UN will initiate a probe into the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria following an attack on a village near Aleppo.
North Africa
Moammar Qaddafi’s cousin arrested in Egypt
Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam, cousin of Moammar Qaddafi, was arrested in Cairo by Libyan forces. The raid came on the second anniversary of the opening of NATO's Libya campaign.
Greater Middle East
Syria massacres: regime, rebels blame each other
In a new massacre near Homs—one of several in Syria over the past weeks—the regime blames the Nusra Front rebels, while the opposition blames the pro-regime Shabiha militia.
Greater Middle East
Saudi court sentences rights activists to 10 years
A criminal court in Riyadh sentenced two Saudi Arabian human rights activists on to at least 10 years in prison on charges of sedition and operating an unlicensed organization.
Iraq
Iraq 10 years later: ‘cycle of human rights abuses’
Ten years after the US invasion, Iraq is enmeshed in a cycle of human rights abuses, including attacks on civilians, torture and unfair trials, Amnesty International charges.