Greater Middle East

Bahrain activist charged over insulting tweets

Rights activist Nabeel Rajab faces criminal charges over his tweets that claimed Bahrain's security institutions were the first incubators for extremist ideology.

Greater Middle East

Syria: first Alawite protest against regime

Members of Syria's Alawite sect took to the streets of Homs to protest a deadly car bomb attack on an elementary school, for the first time taking up anti-regime slogans.

Greater Middle East

Egypt: rights lawyer joins detainee hunger strike

Rights lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali joined a hunger strike by dozens of Egyptians to demand the release of activists detained under the new anti-protest law.

Greater Middle East

ISIS eyes Mecca, pledges to destroy Kaaba

Saudi Arabia carried out a sweep of suspected terrorists as ISIS threatened to take Mecca and destroy the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, calling it a bastion of idolatry.

Greater Middle East

Lebanon: punishment for burning ISIS flag?

Lebanon's Minister of Justice called for the "sternest punishments" for protesters in Beirut who burned the flag of the militant groups ISIS and the Nusra Front.

Greater Middle East

One year later, Syrians recall chemical massacre

Opposition activists say they have confirmed 27 cases of chemical gas use in Syria since the UN passed UNSCR 2118, calling for destruction of all chemical weapons in the country.

Greater Middle East

Turkey: clashes over monument to PKK leader

Tens of thousands joined the funeral for a youth killed by Turkish troops who attacked local Kurds trying to protect a statue of PKK guerrilla leader Mahsum Korkmaz near Diyarbakır.