Reassessing the U.S. invasion of Iraq 20 years later: “A big strategic error”
March 23rd, 20230 From an empowered Iran and eroded U.S. influence to the cost of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria to combat ISIS fighters, the United States still contends with the consequences of invading Iraq 20 years ago, current and former officials say. Then-President George W. Bush's 2003 decision to oust Saddam Hussein by force, the way...
Middle East flashpoints that could be affected by Saudi-Iran deal
March 17th, 20230 Here is a summary of the situation in parts of the Middle East where Iran and Saudi Arabia have been involved in proxy conflicts and which could be affected by a Beijing-brokered deal to re-establish relations between the two regional powers. Yemen In 2015, Riyadh intervened in Yemen at the head of a Western-backed coalition...
China’s role in Saudi, Iran deal a tricky test for the U.S.
March 17th, 20230 The surprise deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties offers much for the United States to be intrigued about, including a possible path to rein in Tehran's nuclear program and a chance to cement a ceasefire in Yemen. It also contains an element sure to make officials in Washington deeply uneasy — the role of...
Mass protests and false hope: Israel’s supreme court is no friend of the Palestinian people
March 16th, 20230 As hundreds of thousands, throughout Israel, joined anti-government protests, questions began to arise regarding how this movement would affect, or possibly merge, into the wider struggle against the Israeli military occupation and apartheid in Palestine. Pro-Palestine media outlets shared, with obvious excitement, news about...
Scientists find “missing link” in search for where our water came from
March 12th, 20231 Scientists have found what they say is the “missing link” in the search for where the water in our solar system came from. Gaseous water was seen around a distant star, in the planet-forming disc that surrounds it. That observation helps explain how water came from star-forming gas clouds onto planets like Earth – and...
House hawks kill bipartisan effort to end the war in Syria
March 12th, 20230 Ahead of a vote on his resolution to force congressional oversight on the continuation of U.S. military operations in Syria, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was feeling bullish. “Hope springs eternal,” he told The Intercept when asked whether the measure would pass. The resolution was ultimately voted down on Wednesday night, March 8, with 47...
U.S. rights groups call on the Biden administration to ban Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country
March 10th, 20230 Several advocacy and rights groups throughout the United States are calling for the U.S. government to issue an entry ban on Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, after Smotrich called for Huwwara to be “wiped out” earlier this week. Through multiple statements, several groups, including rabbinical groups and...
Syria condemns U.S. top general’s “illegal” visit to American army base
March 10th, 20230 Syria’s foreign ministry has condemned a surprise visit by the United States’ top military officer to an army base in the Kurdish-held northeast, dubbing it “illegal,” state media reported. In his snap visit last Saturday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley met U.S. troops stationed in areas of war-torn Syria...Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to resume ties after years of hostility
March 10th, 20230 Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to resume ties after years of hostility which had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria. The deal was announced after four days of previously undisclosed talks in Beijing between top security officials from the two rival...
Israeli minister’s call to “erase” Palestinian village an incitement to violence, U.S. says
March 4th, 20230 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's call for a Palestinian village to be "erased" amounted to incitement to violence and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must publicly disavow it, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday. An ultranationalist in Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, Smotrich made the comments...
New Israeli law allows stripping residency of Palestinians convicted of “terrorism”
February 27th, 20230 Israel passed a law on Wednesday that would allow authorities to strip people who have been jailed of citizenship or residency if they receive Palestinian funds for actions deemed as "terrorism", as rising Palestinian resistance has stoked fears of escalation. Israel calls stipends for Palestinians resisting Israeli occupation and their...
Father and son charged for kidnapping, attempting to force daughter/sister to marry in Yemen
February 27th, 20230 BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced on Feb. 16 that Khaled Abughanem, 50, and Waleed Abughanem, 32, both of Lackawanna, NY, were arrested and charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to kidnap persons in a foreign country. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles...
Here are the top scams of 2022, totaling $8.8 billion in losses
February 24th, 20230 What are scammers up to these days? Every day, people just like you tell the FTC what they’ve spotted, and maybe even lost money to. Then, every year, the FTC rolls up all those millions of reports about fraud, scams and bad business practices to tell the story: what ARE scammers up to these days? The 2022 headline is this: scammers...
True champions of humanity in Türkiye and Syria: We thank you
February 22nd, 20230 On February 7, a funeral was held in the northern Syrian town of Jinderis. It was one of numerous such funerals to be held on that day across Syria and Türkiye, following a devastating earthquake that killed and injured thousands. Each one of these funerals represented two seemingly opposite notions: Collective grief and collective...
U.N. Security Council denounces Israel in statement to avoid U.S. veto on resolution
February 22nd, 20230 UNITED NATIONS – On Monday, the U.N. Security Council issued a formal statement denouncing Israel's plan to expand settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, the first action the United States has allowed the body to take against its ally Israel in six years. Washington's support for the presidential statement — action the......
Lebanon’s central bank chief says he will not renew his term
February 21st, 20230 Lebanon's embattled central bank chief Riad Salameh said on Sunday he would leave his post once his latest term ends in July even if he is asked to stay longer. "No one has asked me to continue , but even if they do, I think this is enough," he said in a televised interview with Egypt's AlQahera News on Sunday. Salameh, who became the...
Opinion: Syria held hostage by the U.S. and its allies
February 17th, 20230 By Nimri Aziz Perhaps the most agonizing experience for a family, for any bystander, even for humanitarian professionals, is a double tragedy —a death or calamity where they are refused access, where they are forced to helplessly witness suffering, unable to offer succor. This is surely what faces millions of able-bodied Syrians......
Biden withdraws candidate’s nomination to human rights post for criticizing Israel
February 17th, 20230 The Biden administration has withdrawn the nomination of a leading law professor to an international human rights post, for describing Israel as an “apartheid state” and accusing the top Democrat in Congress of being “bought” by pro-Israel groups. James Cavallaro, of Wesleyan and Yale universities, said he was told by the...
Nasrallah warns U.S.: If you push Lebanon into chaos, we will retaliate against your “protégé” Israel
February 17th, 20231 BEIRUT – Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is threatening the Israeli Karish gas field with warnings that if there is “procrastination” with gas extraction from Lebanese waters for Lebanon, operations will be stopped at the Israeli Karish field. “If there is an intentional procrastination regarding the issue...Two cheers for Matt Gaetz’s Ukraine war resolution
February 16th, 20230 By Thomas L. Knapp On February 9, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and 10 Republican co-sponsors introduced a resolution "expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine, and urges all combatants to reach a peace agreement." When Matt Gaetz is...
In Syria a child is saved, but loses his family
February 11th, 20231 Rescuers working by torchlight pulled 3-year-old Tariq Haidar from the rubble some 42 hours after a devastating earthquake destroyed his family home in the Syrian town of Jandaris. His family couldn't be saved. Orphaned by the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in the dead of night on Monday, Haidar was brought to a hospital where......
A picture and its story: The man who survived the Turkey earthquake, and his family who didn’t
February 10th, 20230 Peering out from under a large slab of concrete and brick, Abdulalim Muaini gestures weakly at his rescuers. It has been more than two days since a massive earthquake brought his home in Hatay, Turkey, tumbling down upon him. Close beside him lies his wife, Esra. The rescue has come too late for her. Reuters photographer Umit Bektas...
Hope fades for survivors as Turkey-Syria earthquake toll passes 20,000
February 10th, 20230 Cold, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria three days ago as the death toll passed 20,000 on Thursday. The rescue of a 2-year-old boy after 79 hours trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, and several other people raised......
Syria stands alone in healing its wounds from devastating earthquake
February 10th, 20230 The dawn of February 6, 2023 will be recorded as a typical tragedy that befell the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean, or to be precise, part of their peoples. The fear and panic, despite their magnitude, can’t be compared to the horror and devastation of being buried under the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings. It is an...
In Syria’s quake-hit Aleppo, survivors try to reach the missing
February 10th, 20230 ALEPPO, Syria – After Monday's earthquake brought down his family's building in Syria's battle-scarred second city of Aleppo, Youssef managed to reach one of his trapped relatives by phone, hearing voices despite a bad line. Since then the 25-year-old has been standing in near-freezing weather by the rubble, unable to get through......
