Middle East Near You

Between May 2011 and today the United Nations has appointed six special representatives to Libya, from five different nationalities, each serving less than two years. The present envoy, Ghassan...

Donald Rumsfeld, the notorious former United States defence secretary, in describing his endless war on terror, once said: “We need a new vocabulary.” How would Rumsfeld, an advocate of...

At least 44 migrants were killed in Tajoura’s detention centre and more than 140 others were wounded when a rocket hit it in the early hours yesterday. The Tajoura...

In 1970, a few months after he took power, the late Muammar Gaddafi expelled all foreign military bases from the country. Between the end of World War II and...

When commander Khalifa Haftar ordered forces loyal to him, known as the Libyan National Army (LNA), to march on the capital Tripoli on 4 April, he did not set...

For the past eight years, almost every regional and international power, as well as the UN, has been agreed that the solution for Libya is not military but political....

It is now 62 days since the Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, begin its march on the capital Tripoli. During that time Daesh has...

Is Saudi Arabia losing its military campaign in Yemen despite being the stronger party enjoying the support of its many allies? The Saudi-led coalition includes countries like Egypt, Bahrain,...

Today marks 16 years since Paul Bremer, the former American diplomat, made history three times in the space of one month. First he was appointed head of the Coalition...

Ever since late 2017 there have been behind-the-scenes discussions in the White House about designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist organisation”. On 30 April, administration officials confirmed that...

Are there any countries that are meddling in the internal affairs of Libya making its internal conflicts more of a proxy war rather than domestic internal conflict? Do those...

Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), has long claimed that terrorists and rogue militias are controlling the capital Tripoli, placing his campaign as part...

When the Libyan National Army (LNA) launched its current offensive on Tripoli on the orders of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, his regional backers as well as international sympathisers were...

Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), surprised everyone by launching his “Flood of Dignity” military offensive to take the capital Tripoli. While the operation...

The Arab League has just concluded its thirtieth summit in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, where leaders of Arab countries gathered for one day of discussions aimed at finding...

Finally, the United Nations’ special envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame announced the dates and venue for his long-awaited Libyan National Conference (LNC). It is now scheduled to take place...

US President Donald Trump had to sneak in to Iraq, a supposed US ally, arriving at the Ein Al-Assad airbase for an unannounced visit on 26 December. Not a...

What transpired in Algeria over the last three weeks can hardly be seen as another episode of the peoples’ awakening that swept through North Africa in 2011 as part...

Between January and February this year Libyan Armed Forces (LNA) led by Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar have captured almost the entire southern region, known as Fezzan, including all its...

February 17 this year marks 30 years since the Arab Maghreb Union, better known by its French acronym UMA, was founded as an economic and political union bringing together...

Libya’s revolution started on 17 February 2011 in the eastern city of Benghazi and went on to end the rule of the late Muammar Gaddafi. On this, the eighth...

What started as series of public demonstrations and strikes across Iran nearly two years earlier peaked on 11 February, 1979, with the Islamic Revolution of Iran ending decades of...

For the last eight years, my home town of Bani Walid, 180 kilometres southwest of Tripoli, has become one of the favourite route for people traffickers and illegal migrants...

In his last report to the UN Security Council, the United Nations’ special envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, sounded both optimistic and pessimistic. He tried to paint a realistic...

The town of Harawah lies around 80 kilometres east of Sirte and nearly 550 kilometres east of Tripoli. I drove there earlier this month to see the most westerly...

On 16 December, just a few days after Libya’s long-awaited referendum law was passed by the Houses of Representatives, it faced its first legal hurdle. Veteran lawyer and member...

Between May and December last year Daesh attacked three sensitive government sites in the Libyan capital Tripoli causing deaths, injuries and extensive damages. All three sites symbolise state sovereignty...

On 5 January it will be 33 years since the end of Operation Moses, the secret operation to smuggle thousands of Ethiopian Jews, known as Falashas, out of Sudan...

If you did not know much about Chad, a country in the middle of Africa, it most likely it caught your eye on 26 November when its President, Idriss...

December 17 marks the eighth anniversary of what is called the “Arab Spring”, which started in Tunisia before spreading to the rest of the Middle East and North Africa...

A couple of years before the first Palestinian Intifada against the brutal Israeli occupation in 1987, Naji Al-Ali, a famous Palestinian cartoonist, produced one of his finest cartoons motivating...

The Palermo conference on Libya went ahead as scheduled — 12/13 November — with all of the local protagonists present, along with many regional and international players. Italy finally...