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May 16, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
On Wednesday the Iraqi Council of Representatives approved, in the first reading, a draft bill banning normalisation of ties with Israel. If passed, it will make Iraq the first...
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Following Thursday's axe and knife attack in the illegal Israeli settlement of Elad which killed three settlers, there have been calls from Israel's security establishment and media for a...
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After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI Yemen was divided with the north and south forming separate countries
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April 20, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
Yemen's newly-formed Presidential Leadership Council was sworn in on Tuesday before parliament in Aden. The southern port city has served as the internationally-recognised government's interim capital since March 2015,...
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April 14, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
The US and British governments denied their roles in the 1953 coup against Iran's democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, for decades. Although western complicity in the toppling of...
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April 6, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
Pakistan is going through a constitutional crisis after Prime Minister Imran Khan avoided a no-confidence vote on Sunday which was initiated by opposition legislators late last month in an...
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April 1, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
The conflict in the Ukraine has become the latest crisis that has exposed Europe's dependency on Russian gas, which accounts for some 40 per cent of the EU's natural...
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March 25, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
As the first conflict to take place in the era of popular cancel culture, the widespread social media backlash against Russia's invasion of Ukraine last month and ongoing military...
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March 2, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
The announcement this week of the constitutional amendment enabling Belarus to host Russian nuclear weapons following a disputed referendum, could see the country having weapons of mass destruction on...
Published in:
Afghanistan,
Article,
Asia & Americas,
Belarus,
EU,
Europe & Russia,
International Organisations,
Iraq,
Middle East,
NATO,
Opinion,
Russia,
Syria,
Ukraine,
US
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February 24, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
Having spent at least $1.5 billion on major international sporting events in order to bolster its reputation, Saudi Arabia has been accused by human rights groups of "sportswashing" which...
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February 15, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
Yesterday's historic first visit by an Israeli Prime Minister to Bahrain was the highest-profile visit yet since the normalisation of relations between the countries in the US-sponsored agreement, which...
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February 4, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
The Sultanate of Oman is a rather unique country in the Arab world. Not only is it is the oldest independent state having been ruled by the Busaid dynasty...
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January 28, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
After several years in being at the forefront of Western mainstream media's coverage of the war on Yemen, describing it as being between the Saudi-led coalition and the "Iranian-backed...
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January 20, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
World leaders and diplomats were quick to condemn the missile and drone attack carried out by the Houthi-allied Yemeni armed forces ("the Houthis") in Abu Dhabi earlier this week...
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January 19, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
On this day in 1981 agreements were signed between the United States and the nascent Islamic Republic of Iran in order to bring an end to the embassy hostage...
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January 7, 2022
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Omar Ahmed
A common trope over the past decade has been the notion that Lebanon has been "held hostage" by the Hezbollah movement and its chief backer, Iran. This is based...
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Yemen's under-15 football team won the West Asian Junior Championship on Monday by beating hosts Saudi Arabia 4-3 on penalties. Back home in the war-torn country, thousands poured onto...
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December 14, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
There are just four remaining countries in this year's FIFA Arab Cup held in Qatar ahead of tomorrow's semi-final fixtures (15 December, 2021): Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and the host...
Published in:
Africa,
Algeria,
Article,
FIFA,
International Organisations,
Middle East,
Morocco,
Opinion,
Qatar,
Syria,
Tunisia
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December 3, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
It is perfectly reasonable for Iraqi nationalists and patriots to demand that their country be free of foreign interference and patronage. This has been most vocalised in relation to...
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November 23, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
Bilateral relations between Algeria and Iran have grown ever since ties were restored 21 years ago. They were initially severed in 1993 after the North African country accused Tehran...
Published in:
Africa,
Algeria,
Article,
Egypt,
Europe & Russia,
Iran,
Israel,
Middle East,
Morocco,
Opinion,
Palestine,
Spain,
Sudan,
UAE
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November 13, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
Before the existence of modern-day Lebanon, a devastating famine wiped out a third of the population of the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate
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November 12, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
A revolution may be defined as "a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system." With this in mind, it becomes clear that...
Published in:
Africa,
Article,
Bahrain,
Libya,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Saudi Arabia,
Syria,
Tunisia,
UAE,
Yemen
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Newcastle United has reversed a decision requesting that fans refrain from wearing traditional Arab attire at games over concerns that it could be seen as "culturally inappropriate". A statement...
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October 23, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
The latest UN Security Council's (UNSC) statement on the situation in Yemen was released on Wednesday amid continued fighting between the Houthi-allied army and the Saudi-backed militia fighting on...
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October 9, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
The distinctive symbol of the clenched fist has become synonymous with various revolutionary, social and political movements across the world. The imagery of a fist clutching an assault rifle...
Published in:
Afghanistan,
Article,
Asia & Americas,
Azerbaijan,
Europe & Russia,
Iran,
Israel,
Lebanon,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Pakistan,
Syria,
Turkey,
Yemen
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September 27, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is often described as the most militant of the main Palestinian resistance factions yet, when compared with the likes of Hamas and Fatah, little is...
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September 16, 2021
|
Omar Ahmed
An Islamic scholar turned freedom fighter, Omar Al-Mukhtar is best known for leading an armed revolution and guerrilla campaign against Italian colonisers for the last two decades of his...
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August 31, 2021
|
Omar Ahmed
Before the emergence of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement in 1982, the country's most charismatic and prominent Shia Muslim leader during the preceding two decades was arguably Sayyid Musa Al-Sadr. He...
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August 26, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
When the bubble that was Kabul finally burst a few days before Afghanistan's Independence Day this month, it also put an end to mounting speculation throughout the course of...
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August 12, 2021
|
Omar Ahmed
Iran's outgoing Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, yesterday expressed sentiments shared by many of his compatriots following an "inappropriate" post on social media by the Russian Embassy in Tehran. The...
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August 3, 2021
|
Omar Ahmed
The sheer speed and scale of the early Islamic conquests following the death of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in 632 CE has captivated the imaginations of historians...
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July 26, 2021
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Omar Ahmed
It is safe to say that Ali Ibn Abi Talib is one of the most important figures in early Islamic history, recognised as the fourth Rightly Guided Caliph by...
![Protesters in support of Palestine in Baghdad, Iraq on 15 May 2021 [AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Protesters-in-support-of-Palestine-in-Iraq.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
On Wednesday the Iraqi Council of Representatives approved, in the first reading, a draft bill banning normalisation of ties with Israel. If passed, it will make Iraq the first...![Palestinians burn tires to block the road as Israeli security forces enter in the village of Silat al-Harithiya, near the town of Jenin, in occupied West Bank on 7 May 2022. [Nedal Eshtayah - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AA-20220507-27786703-27786702-ISRAELI_FORCES_ENTER_THE_VILLAGE_OF_SILAT_ALHARITHIYA.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Following Thursday's axe and knife attack in the illegal Israeli settlement of Elad which killed three settlers, there have been calls from Israel's security establishment and media for a...
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI Yemen was divided with the north and south forming separate countries![This image grab taken from Yemen TV early on April 7, 2022 shows Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi during a televised speech [YEMEN TV/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239799279-e1650444833317.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Yemen's newly-formed Presidential Leadership Council was sworn in on Tuesday before parliament in Aden. The southern port city has served as the internationally-recognised government's interim capital since March 2015,...![Ousted Pakistan's prime minister Imran Khan delivers a speech to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party's supporters during a public rally in Peshawar on 13 April 2022. [ABDUL MAJEED/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239962834.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The US and British governments denied their roles in the 1953 coup against Iran's democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, for decades. Although western complicity in the toppling of...![Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan in Kabul on November 19, 2020 [WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-1229680133.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Pakistan is going through a constitutional crisis after Prime Minister Imran Khan avoided a no-confidence vote on Sunday which was initiated by opposition legislators late last month in an...![US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Algeria's President Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on March 30, 2022, at El Mouradia Palace, the president's official residence in the capital Algiers. [JACQUELYN MARTIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239621340.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The conflict in the Ukraine has become the latest crisis that has exposed Europe's dependency on Russian gas, which accounts for some 40 per cent of the EU's natural...
As the first conflict to take place in the era of popular cancel culture, the widespread social media backlash against Russia's invasion of Ukraine last month and ongoing military...![Demonstrators during a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York, US, on February 27, 2022 [Ismail Ferdous/Bloomberg via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GettyImages-1238821481-scaled-e1646212632371.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The announcement this week of the constitutional amendment enabling Belarus to host Russian nuclear weapons following a disputed referendum, could see the country having weapons of mass destruction on...![Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, MBS, Saudi Arabian politician who is the crown prince, deputy prime minister, and minister of defense of Saudi Arabia seen during the Grand Prix Formula One of Saudi Arabia on 5 December 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. [Cristiano Barni ATPImages/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1357697348.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Having spent at least $1.5 billion on major international sporting events in order to bolster its reputation, Saudi Arabia has been accused by human rights groups of "sportswashing" which...![Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett delivers a speech during a visit to the Bahraini capital Manama, on February 15, 2022 [GUILLAUME LAVALLEE/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1238503171-scaled-e1644951796267.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Yesterday's historic first visit by an Israeli Prime Minister to Bahrain was the highest-profile visit yet since the normalisation of relations between the countries in the US-sponsored agreement, which...![The Omani national flag waving in the wind in the capital Muscat on 18 September 2020 [HAITHAM AL-SHUKAIRI/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Oman-flag.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The Sultanate of Oman is a rather unique country in the Arab world. Not only is it is the oldest independent state having been ruled by the Busaid dynasty...![Houthi supporters take to the streets of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, during a demonstration following a reported air attack by the Saudi-led coalition on a prison in the country's rebel-held north, on 21 January 2022. [MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GettyImages-1237896953.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
After several years in being at the forefront of Western mainstream media's coverage of the war on Yemen, describing it as being between the Saudi-led coalition and the "Iranian-backed...![Yemenis inspect the damage after The Saudi-led coalition forces announced on Tuesday that they are carrying out airstrikes on Sanaa in response to the latest attacks on Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), by the Houthis in capital Sanaa, Yemen on 18 January 2022. [Mohammed Hamoud - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20220118_2_51774960_72650258.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
World leaders and diplomats were quick to condemn the missile and drone attack carried out by the Houthi-allied Yemeni armed forces ("the Houthis") in Abu Dhabi earlier this week...![The first released group of US Embassy staffers in Tehran hold a press conference 18 November 1979, the day after Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of all women and black U.S. hostages. [H. KOTILAINEN/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GettyImages-51952046.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
On this day in 1981 agreements were signed between the United States and the nascent Islamic Republic of Iran in order to bring an end to the embassy hostage...![This picture taken on January 3, 2022 shows a view of a screen displaying a televised speech by the head of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, airing during a memorial service marking the second anniversary of a US drone strike that killed the top commander of the Iranian revolutionary guard corps (IRGC) Qasem Soleimani alongside Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, at a hall in a school in the southern suburb of Lebanon's capital Beirut. [ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GettyImages-1237519782.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
A common trope over the past decade has been the notion that Lebanon has been "held hostage" by the Hezbollah movement and its chief backer, Iran. This is based...![Yemeni fans gather at a stadium to watch on a screen the West Asian Junior Championships Cup football match between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, in the Huthi-held Yemeni capital Sanaa on December 13, 2021 [MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GettyImages-1237224001-scaled-e1639572342461.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Yemen's under-15 football team won the West Asian Junior Championship on Monday by beating hosts Saudi Arabia 4-3 on penalties. Back home in the war-torn country, thousands poured onto...![Players line up for national anthems ahead of the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 quarter final football match between Morocco and Algeria at the Al-Thumama Stadium in the Qatari capital Doha on December 11, 2021 [KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GettyImages-1237169918-scaled-e1639515868645.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
There are just four remaining countries in this year's FIFA Arab Cup held in Qatar ahead of tomorrow's semi-final fixtures (15 December, 2021): Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and the host...![Iraqis waving the Iraqi flag in Al Tahrir Square on May 25, 2021 in Baghdad, Iraq [Taha Hussein Ali/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1233106793.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
It is perfectly reasonable for Iraqi nationalists and patriots to demand that their country be free of foreign interference and patronage. This has been most vocalised in relation to...
Bilateral relations between Algeria and Iran have grown ever since ties were restored 21 years ago. They were initially severed in 1993 after the North African country accused Tehran...
Before the existence of modern-day Lebanon, a devastating famine wiped out a third of the population of the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate![Yemeni people gather to celebrate the 6th anniversary of the Yemeni Revolution in Taiz, Yemen on 11 February 2017. [Abdulnasser Alseddik - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/20170211_Yemen_revolution_6yearson-6.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
A revolution may be defined as "a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system." With this in mind, it becomes clear that...
Newcastle United has reversed a decision requesting that fans refrain from wearing traditional Arab attire at games over concerns that it could be seen as "culturally inappropriate". A statement...![A smoke plume rises following an explosion as forces loyal to Yemen's Saudi-backed government clash with Houthi fighters around the strategic government-held "Mas Camp" military base, in al-Jadaan, Yemen, on November 22, 2020 [-/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1229750051-1.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The latest UN Security Council's (UNSC) statement on the situation in Yemen was released on Wednesday amid continued fighting between the Houthi-allied army and the Saudi-backed militia fighting on...![Pro-IRGC channels circulating pictures allegedly showing a new Shia militia being formed in Azerbaijan, called Huseynyun [Twitter]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FAkjPzSXEAMoXWe-e1633769155295.jpeg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The distinctive symbol of the clenched fist has become synonymous with various revolutionary, social and political movements across the world. The imagery of a fist clutching an assault rifle...
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is often described as the most militant of the main Palestinian resistance factions yet, when compared with the likes of Hamas and Fatah, little is...![Omar Al-Mukhtar [Wikipedia]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Omar-Mukhtar.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
An Islamic scholar turned freedom fighter, Omar Al-Mukhtar is best known for leading an armed revolution and guerrilla campaign against Italian colonisers for the last two decades of his...![Amal movement supporters hold up pictures of Imam Musa al-Sadr in Beirut on August 31, 2018 [STR/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1025546752-e1630401263737.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Before the emergence of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement in 1982, the country's most charismatic and prominent Shia Muslim leader during the preceding two decades was arguably Sayyid Musa Al-Sadr. He...![Soldiers of Turkish Task Force in Afghanistan are on duty in and around Hamid Karzai International Airport to help people who are waiting for evacuation, in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 23, 2021 [Aykut Karadağ - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20210823_2_49725058_68131063.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
When the bubble that was Kabul finally burst a few days before Afghanistan's Independence Day this month, it also put an end to mounting speculation throughout the course of...![Russian envoy Levan Dzhagaryan with the recently appointed British ambassador, Simon Shercliff, outside Russia’s diplomatic mission in Tehran, Iran on 11 August 2021 [Russian Embassy, IRI /Twitter]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-08-11-Ambassador-Levan-Dzhagaryans-meeting-with-the-new-head-of-the-British-diplomatic-mission-in-Iran-Simon-Shercliff.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Iran's outgoing Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, yesterday expressed sentiments shared by many of his compatriots following an "inappropriate" post on social media by the Russian Embassy in Tehran. The...
The sheer speed and scale of the early Islamic conquests following the death of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in 632 CE has captivated the imaginations of historians...
It is safe to say that Ali Ibn Abi Talib is one of the most important figures in early Islamic history, recognised as the fourth Rightly Guided Caliph by...