Arab World

Syria intervention: Would Operation Biffing Arabs be the best name for it? America in Lebanon’s civil war in the 1980s, just as it is poised to do in Syria

by Robert Fisk, The Independent Almost exactly 30 years ago today, I was having breakfast with my landlord below my home on the Beirut Corniche. The date was 19 September 1983, but nothing has changed – neither Mustapha’s little garden with its yellow and red flowers, my balcony two storeys […]

Al-Ahsa’s good Samaritan

AL-AHSA: ARAB NEWS Published — Sunday 8 September 2013 A number of poor families in Al-Ahsa received a welcome surprise recently when they discovered that an anonymous do-gooder had paid their grocery debts at their local stores. “I could not believe it when the owner of the baqala where I […]

Vladimir Putin will happily let Obama sweat it out alone in Syria There is many a cautionary tale for Arab leaders – and for arrogant Western ones – about Moscow’s dealings with the Middle East

by Robert Fisk, The Independent Not many years ago, a Russian President held a late-night meeting with his special representative and asked him to fly at once to meet with an Arab dictator – to give him a personal warning on an impending American attack. If the Arab autocrat would […]