Tag: Greater Middle East

Greater Middle East
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The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic stressed the need for greater information and accountability to be provided to the families of missing persons and detainees. The report charges that the Syrian regime is still carrying out mass public arrests and detentions, many leading to torture and eventual death, while families are induced to pay bribes to learn the whereabouts of their loved ones. Many families did not learn of their relatives' whereabouts at all until May, when information was provided in bulk by the Interior Ministry. The Commission notes that even after this information was disclosed it was obfuscated, with causes of death being listed as "heart attack" or "stroke"—while many individuals died on the same day. The Commission infers that mass executions may have occurred in some of these facilities, many of them on military bases. (Photo of hunger strikers at Syrian prison via Foreign Policy. Credit: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images)

Greater Middle East
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West Bank bedouin under siege

French prosecutors issued international arrest warrants for three prominent Syrian officials charged with collusion in crimes against humanity, in what human rights lawyers are calling a major victory in the pursuit of those believed responsible for mass torture, abuse and summary executions in the regime's detention facilities. The warrants name three leading security officials—including Ali Mamlouk, a former intelligence chief and senior adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, as well as head of the Air Force Intelligence security branch, Jamil Hassan. A third, Abdel Salam Mahmoud—an Air Force Intelligence officer who reportedly runs a detention facility at al-Mezzeh military base near Damascus—was also named. Hassan and Mamlouk are the most senior Syrian officials to receive an international arrest warrant throughout the course of the conflict. (Photo of hunger strikers at Syrian prison via Foreign Policy. Credit: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images)

Greater Middle East

Ex-Gitmo detainee surrenders in Yemen

Yemeni authorities announced that a former Guantánamo Bay detainee who apparently rejoined “al-Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula” has turned himself in to the authorities.

Greater Middle East

Sufis on the NYT op-ed page —again

Author William Dalrymple weighs in with a defense of Sufism and the “Ground Zero Mosque” on the Times op-ed page—but in terms that smack of a neocon strategy to groom domesticated “good” Muslims.

Greater Middle East
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GOR

The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that they have temporarily halted their campaign against ISIS after they were bombarded for the second time in four days by Turkish forces. With Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an promising to "wipe out" the Kurdish YPG militia, calling them "terrorists," his forces in northern Syria attacked YPG positions east of the Euphrates River. The YPG, or People's Protection Units, constitute the central pillar of the US-backed SDF, which Washington continues to support with some 2,000 embedded troops. At least 10 YPG fighters were reported killed in the Turkish shelling of territory in the Kurdish autonomous canton of Kobani. The SDF said in a statement: "Turkish attacks in the north and ISIS attacks in the south against our troops had forced us to stop our current operation temporarily against ISIS in its last pocket… We call upon the international community to condemn the Turkish provocations." The statement claimed that YPG fighters responded to the shelling with artillery and machine-gun fire, destroying a Turkish military vehicle and border post. (Image of SDF fighters via Rudaw)

Greater Middle East

Yemen: al-Qaeda, Shi’ite rebels attack

Five Yemeni soldiers were killed in in a suspected al-Qaeda ambush in the south, while in the north dozens of pro-government tribesmen were killed in clashes with Shi’ite Houthi rebels.

Greater Middle East

Yemen: al-Qaeda, southern separatists attack

Separatists launched a deadly attack on a military convoy in South Yemen one day after “al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” killed 11 in an assault on the intelligence headquarters in Aden.

Greater Middle East

PKK score hits against Turkish military

Violence is rising in eastern Turkey since imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan decided to abandon peace efforts and leave local commanders in charge of the conflict.

Greater Middle East

Yemen: tribal militants, southern separatists attack

Yemen now faces multiple converging crises—with al-Qaeda and allied tribal militants in the Hadramout, with Shi’ite Houthi rebels in the north, and with armed separatists in the south.