Mosul, in the Kurdistan province in northern Iraq, has suffered a bomb blast that came almost immediately after police arrived to act on a tip that the building contained explosives. According to Brigadier General Abdul Karim Al-Jubouri, it occurred at 1630 local time, and witnesses said it was the loudest blast they had ever heard […]
A security wall on the border between Gaza and Egypt was destroyed today, freeing the people of the trapped and desperate Strip to…shop. Though this seems prosaic, it is vitally important to the people of Gaza, suffering under Israeli blockades (themselves a response to constant rocket attacks). The border has turned into a bizarre bazaar, […]
BBC does these pieces sometimes where they will interview and tell the story of someone who is living the headlines. In a piece dated January 19 they tell the story of Noor who is an Iraqi refugee living in Syria. It's quite searing, and gives a human perspective to the media headlines. In today's Washington […]
The clashes between the Shi’ite sect Soldiers of Heaven and the local Iraqi security forces have occurred almost exactly a year after the previous clashes that killed over 25o people in Najaf, although this time, the violence is farther south, in Nasiriyah and Basra. They are targeting Shi’ite observers of Ashura, a major Shi’ite holiday […]
A New York Times article today portrays the United Nations as being upset at Algeria for not providing enough security in the run-up to last month's bombing of the body's Algerian offices. A senior United Nations official said Wednesday that the Algerian government had ignored repeated requests to close off the streets outside the organization's […]
Woman bomber kills 11 in Iraq in Baquba, capital of the Diyala province. Incidentally, this is the province where a major operation to clean out insurgents is underway. Unfortunately, this has been the third female bomber in three months in Baquba. With the upsurge in booby-trapped houses killing coalition and local security forces, the insurgents […]
Be sure to check out this article by Claude Salhani in the Middle East Times. Relevant to Bush's Middle East trip, a large part of which was dedicated to shoring Gulf states’ support for solidarity against Iran, it is titled “What Does Iran Want?” That's a damn good question, and Salhani addresses it in his […]
In the current Yemen Times, Hassan al-Haifi has a short editorial on the need for change in the Arab World. I link to it for a couple of reasons. One, basically, is that it is always interesting to read critical articles in the mainstream Arab press. We tend to think that no one is allowed […]
Unfortunately, Judge Amir Jawdat Naeib was assassinated in Baghdad on his way to work today. According to the linked BBC article, assassinations have gone down since the ‘surge’, but this is another example of how far Iraq is from true stability. Despite this, the Coalition has announced that over 60 militants have been killed in […]
The President is concluding the Israel/Palestinian portion of his Middle East trip, before moving on the Gulf to deal with Iran. Bush feels confident that there will be a Palestinian state and a peace treaty before he leaves office in slightly more than a year, saying “'there's going to be a signed peace treaty by […]
The Institute of War and Peace Reporting has a new series called Iraqi Women's Voices. The first one, also printed in the Middle East Times, is called “Life After the Islamic State,” about a woman whose Baghdad neighborhood, once secular and free of the Sunni-Shi’ite divide, fell under the sway of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. My […]
An editorial in today's Middle East Times nails it: And if indeed the president's concern is the Arab-Israeli dispute, then why the stops in four Gulf countries? Why the visits to Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia? It is interesting to note that those four countries share the same concerns over Iran's rising influence […]
Interested in knowing why Lebanon frequently has the difficulties it does? Pay attention to the last sentence excerpted here. From The Daily Star Iranian official to meet Assad to discuss Lebanon Saturday, January 05, 2008 ROME: Ali Larijani, member of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council and adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will visit Damascus […]
Clearly, not everything in the Middle East centers around terrorism, despite the impression one might get from the news or even at times this blog. However, it obviously is a very real phenomenon, and understanding it is key. In light of that, I’m linking today to a fairly new publication called Perspectives on Terrorism, the […]