Abdul Qadir al-Djezairi’s palace is on the right, noble in spirit as well as architecture. He is the one who brought the Christians and Jews of Damascus to his home […]
by Robert Fisk, The Independent Syria’s special forces troops are strung out across a pinnacle of hills here just north east of Lattakia on one of the country’s most dangerous […]
Summar As the Middle East and North Africa implode, perhaps focus should be directed on the end of World War I – and specifically the settlement fashioned by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and French Prime Minister George Clemenceau at Versailles in 1919 . The […]
David Ignatius| The Daily Star A glimpse of the anxiety sweeping the Arab world surfaced last week when an Arab woman complained during a talk in Amman at the Columbia Global Center for the Middle East. She said my speech’s title about the “crisis” in the region wasn’t accurate. The […]
What on earth has descended upon the Middle East? BY ROBERT FISK, THE INDEPENDENT Why such an epic explosion of violence? It feels strange to ask these questions of Dr Bouthaina Shaaban, one of President Bashar al-Assad’s close advisers and former translator to his father, Hafez. Her office is spotless, […]
A senior officer of Bashar al-Assad’s regime talks to Robert Fisk about his army’s brutal struggle with Isis, in a dirty war whose challenges include widespread atrocities ROBERT FISK DAMASCUS Wednesday 29 October 2014 Phones were ringing through the army headquarters in central Damascus and a veteran of Syria’s 1982 […]
The government has pledged an additional CHF40 million ($42.2 million) for the victims of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq as well as for efforts to contain the spread of […]
by Robert Fisk, The Independent Syria almost lost its second city to the jihadists of Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra last night when hundreds of fighters stormed into the provincial capital, Idlib, captured the newly installed governor’s office and began beheading Syrian army officers. By the time government troops recaptured the […]
DAMASCUS, Syria — The middle-aged salesman sat glumly among an array of shorts, khaki leisure suits bedecked with gold belts and dresses with plunging necklines in the ancient Damascus bazaar […]
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon said in updated figures on Monday the average daily cost of the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants has risen to $8.3 million, or a total of $580 million between Aug. 8 and Oct. 16. The new average reflects an increase in the intensity of US operations […]
While the world obsesses over the atrocities committed by Isis, the plight of those forced to flee the country has been largely forgotten. Robert Fisk takes a heartbreaking tour of […]
WASHINGTON: The Islamic State has become the world’s wealthiest terror group, generating tens of millions of dollars a month from black market oil sales, ransoms and extortion, officials said Thursday. […]
‘We want everyone to know that a woman is no different to a man when it comes to defending her country.’ That is the message from a group of incredibly brave women who have signed up to fight for the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Unit (YPG) against the self-proclaimed Islamic State […]
BEIRUT: For decades, aid groups have assumed they know what’s best for refugees and the poor; a growing body of evidence suggests they’re wrong. Both academic research and practical experience, […]
US military aircraft have dropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State (IS) militants in the key Syrian town of Kobane. US Central Command said C-130 transport aircraft had made “multiple” drops of supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq. US air strikes have helped push […]
by Robert Fisk, The Independent So who is winning the war? Isis? Us? The Kurds (remember them?) The Syrians? The Iraqis? Do we even remember the war? Not at all. […]
By Arie W. Kruglanski October 16, 2014 REUTERS It is easy to look to religion for an explanation of why young men — and some women — become radicalized. But it is psychology, not theology, that offers the best tools for understanding radicalization — and how best to undo it. […]
It is not only Western agendas that benefit by groups like the Islamic State; Arab and regional agendas are equally served, writes Ramzy Baroud What if the so-called Islamic State (IS) didn’t exist? In order to answer this question, one has to liberate the argument from its geopolitical and ideological […]
by Rula Samain | Oct 15, 2014 | JORDAN TIMES AMMAN — The military intervention against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, although lawful and necessary, will not stem the extremism phenomenon at its roots, Catholic leaders have agreed. They called on Muslim religious leaders to fight radicalism more actively […]
The international coalition that was assembled to confront ISIS has certainly made its mark, but as an example of tragi-comedy. Following weeks of airstrikes and related anti-jihadist efforts in Iraq and Syria, ISIS militants are moving steadily closer to Baghdad, and to the Syrian-Turkish border in Ain al-Arab. Nearly 200,000 […]