Tag: Greater Middle East

Greater Middle East

Syria: regime rejects Rojava elections

SyriaThe Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northern Syria has set dates for local council and regional assembly elections—a move immediately rejected by the Bashar Assad regime. Deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad told reporters from Damascus that the elections "will be a joke. Syria will never ever allow any part of its territory to be separated… Those who will move in those directions know what price they have to pay."

Greater Middle East

US tilt to Assad: now it’s official

SyriaWashington has now made it official that its enemy in Syria is just ISIS and al-Qaeda—and explicitly not the Bashar Assad dictatorship. A US Army representative told CNN that the Coalition has issued a directive to rebel forces operating out if its base in southern Syria that they must be exclusively focused on fighting ISIS and not the Damascus regime. One rebel faction, Shohada al-Quartyan, has refused to accept this ultimatum, and left the base.

Greater Middle East

Tunisian revolutionaries betray Syrian revolution?

TunisiaThe democratic transition in Tunisia since the 2011 uprising has been the one real success story of the Arab Revolution—and the Tunisian revolution was also the first that served to spark the subsequent wave. So Tunisia's pro-democracy forces have international responsibilities, seen as keepers of the flame. It is distressing to learn that the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), a pillar of the country's pro-democracy movement, sent a delegation to Damascus to meet with dictator Bashar Assad and express solidarity with his "war against terrorism."

Greater Middle East

Malnutrition and cholera in war-torn Yemen

YemenIn Yemen, the world's worst cholera outbreak is unfolding amid the world's largest humanitarian crisis, according to the heads of three United Nations agencies. "The country is on the brink of famine, with over 60% of the population not knowing where their next meal will come from," said UNICEF, the World Food Program and World Health Organization in a joint statement. The agencies stressed that 2 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished, and in need of urgent aid.

Greater Middle East

Egypt sentences anti-Mubarak protesters to life

EgyptAn Egyptian criminal court sentenced 43 men to life in prison for charges of vandalism, rioting and attacking authorities during the uprising that led to the downfall of long-ruling dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Ten other protesters were handed down lesser sentences of five or 10 years, Mubarak, acquitted on retrial of ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 demonstrations, was meanwhile released from prison earlier this year.

Greater Middle East

Raqqa endgame heightens Kurdish contradictions

SyriaAmong international volunteer brigades drawn by the anarchist-influenced politics of the Rojava Kurds is now the first explicitly LGBT military unit in the Syrian war—the Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA). But these international brigades are attached to the Kurdish militia force being backed by the Pentagon to take Raqqa from ISIS. Mounting civilian casualties of US air-strikes on Raqqa, as well as charges of abuses by the advancing Kurdish forces, raise grim questions about northern Syria's future after the eventual defeat of ISIS.

Greater Middle East

Syria: new popular uprising against al-Qaeda

SaraqebResidents of Saraqeb town in Syria's Idlib province rose up and drove off fighters of the local al-Qaeda affiliate after jihadists fired on protesters. The incident began when Saraqeb residents held self-organized elections for the town council, and raised the Free Syria flag from the radio tower in celebration. Tahrir al-Sham fighters responded by tearing down the flag, trampling it, and firing in the air in a display of defiance. This sparked a general uprising against the group's presence in Saraqeb.

Greater Middle East

Turkish court detains six human rights activists

TurkeyA Turkish court ordered that six human rights activists, including Amnesty International's Turkey director Idil Eser, remain in custody pending trial for allegedly aiding an armed terrorist group. Amnesty issued a statement rejecting the "bizarre accusations" and charging the Turkish state with a "politically motivated witch-hunt."

Greater Middle East
Persian Gulf

Bahrain sentences rights defender to two years

Gulf StatesAmnesty International condemned Bahrain's sentencing of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab to two years in prison—for the crime of protesting on his Twitter account the harsh conditions in Bahrain's prisons. Rajab has served time for illegal tweeting before, and still awaits sentencing on other similar charges. Amnesty condemned the conviction as a "flagrant violation of human rights."

Greater Middle East

UK court approves arms sales to Saudi Arabia

KSALondon's High Court of Justice ruled that the UK can continue to export arms to Saudi Arabia, rejecting a case asserting that the weapons have been used in the commission of war crimes in Yemen. A substantial portion of the court's reasoning is contained in a "closed judgment" document only available to the government's legal team and a security-cleared "special advocate" for the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).

Greater Middle East

Civil resistance to Erdogan dictatorship moves

Civil resistance is mounting to the consolidating dictatorship in Turkey, with thousands marching cross-country from Ankara to Istanbul and protests emerging to Erdogan's power-grab.

Greater Middle East

Syria: will peace plan mean world war?

Russia announced that it is sending forces to police the "de-escalation zones" in Syria—which could provide a spark for massive escalation.