In anticipation of the fifth anniversary of the start of the Egyptian revolution, authorities have clamped down on dissidents in an effort to avoid further political unrest.
Druze elders from the Golan Heights (officially Syrian territory, but "annexed" by Israel). A plan approved by Israel's cabinet to provide half a billion dollars worth of assistance to Israel's Druze and Circassian minorities has been denounced by leaders of Israel's… Read more‘Divide and Conquer’ in Israel
Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in 2015, with beheadings reaching their highest level in the kingdom in 20 years—overwhelmingly for non-lethal offenses.
Shi'ite protesters have repeatedly mobilized in Bahrain to demand the release of imprisoned dissident cleric Sheikh Ali Salman—ignored by the foreign media except in Iran.
Prime Minister Erdogan exploited the ISIS terror attack in Istanbul for illogical propaganda against the PKK—as his military presses its bloody counterinsurgency in Turkey's east.
The State Department named "bringing peace" to Syria as a 2015 accomplishment—as Russian air-strikes continue on schools, and starvation sets in behind rebel lines.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the use of cluster bombs by the Saudi-led coalition against residential neighborhoods in Yemen may amount to a war crime.
Imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi—winner of the EU's Sakharov Prize—has suffered fainting spells and deteriorating health owing to his lengthy hunger strike.
Amid counterinsurgency against Kurds in Turkey, Kurdish opposition leader Selahattin DemirtaÅŸ is received in Moscow—now executing a grisly counterinsurgency in Syria.
The UN resolution on a democratic transition in Syria assumes this can happen under Assad's rule. The US is now openly blocking with Russia over support for the dictatorship.
Russian naval forces got in a confrontation with Turkish vessels in the Black Sea, with control of contested oil platforms off the Crimean Peninsula at issue.
Turkey's prime minister accuses Russia of "ethnic cleansing" with air-strikes targeting Turkmen in Syria—as Ankara continues to attack Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq alike.
