Greater Middle East
Kurdish wild card in Syria conflict
Kurdish militias in Syria—some linked to the PKK—are battling jihadist rebels, but it is uncertain if they necessarily back the Damascus regime.
Tag: Greater Middle East
Greater Middle East
Lebanon issues warrant for Syrian official
A Lebanese judge issued an arrest warrant for a top Syrian intelligence official and his aide for alleged involvement in a bombing plot in Lebanon.
Greater Middle East
Armed left behind Ankara embassy blast?
The suicide blast at the US embassy in Ankara was allegedly carried out by the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C), an armed left faction.
Greater Middle East
Egypt: death sentences for anti-Muslim ‘film’
An Egyptian court upheld the in absentia death sentences of seven Coptic Christians and a US preacher on charges stemming from the amateur anti-Muslim film Innocence of Muslims.
Greater Middle East
Egypt: Ikhwan Holocaust denial abets Zionists
Fathi Shihab-Eddim, a senior aide to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, spews Holocaust-denying malarky—seemingly oblivious to how he legitimizes Zionist political logic.
Greater Middle East
Israeli air-strikes on Syria-Lebanon border
Israeli warplanes carried out an air-strike on Syrian territory, allegedly targeting an arms convoy bound for Hezbollah. Damascus claims a research facility was the real target.
Greater Middle East
Riots rock Egypt on revolution anniversary
Protesters calling for the fall of President Mohamed Morsi clashed with police clashed in Cairo on the eve of the the second anniversary of the uprising against Hosni Mubarak.
Greater Middle East
UN Security Council urged to refer Syria to ICC
More than 50 countries asked the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court, saying atrocities against the population are now “almost the norm.”
Greater Middle East
Saudi court convicts Egyptian rights lawyer
A Saudi Arabian court convicted Egyptian human rights lawyer Ahmed el-Gezawi of smuggling drugs, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and 300 lashes.
Greater Middle East
‘Dark forces’ in assassination of Kurdish leaders
Kurdish activists charge that “dark forces” bent on sabotaging Turkey’s peace talks with the PKK were behind the armed attack that left three leaders dead in Paris.
Greater Middle East
Qatar: imprisoned poet appeals life sentence
Muhammad al-Ajami, a Qatari poet who was sentenced to life in prison for “insulting” the Emir in a poem extolling the Arab Spring, has been granted an appeal.
Greater Middle East
UN rights office: 60,000 killed in Syria conflict
A study by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights finds that more than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Syria since March 2011.