Arab World

Robert Fisk: John Kerry wants the Gulf to support the Syrian rebels. But which rebels? The soft, safe ones? Or those horrible, ‘terrorist’ – Why wouldn’t the Saudi royal family arm their favourite anti-Shiite militia?

Kerry has had a miserable time of it in the Gulf. He has to love them all – the kings and princes and emirs – and he needs their support against Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Because, of course, they are sending cash and weapons to the rebels. But which rebels? […]

Robert Fisk: Alawite history reveals the complexities of Syria that West does not understand – The maps long favoured in the West partition off Arab countries into ethnic divisions, but all these make clear is our own ignorance

In Syria these days, we are resorting to our racist little maps. The Alawite mountains and the town of Qardaha, home of the Assad family – colour it dark red. Will this be the last redoubt of the 12 per cent Alawite minority, to which the President belongs, when the […]