September 30, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Although the Arabic phrase literally means “God willing” it is also popularly used in an informal way across the Middle East to denote something that is unlikely to happen.
September 28, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Whilst literature on Israel’s state violence against Palestinian children is nothing new, there are apparent limitations on the current discourse which tends not to extend beyond theories of childhood...
September 16, 2020
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Omar Ahmed The world’s largest population of Shia Muslims outside Iran is found in neighbouring Pakistan where they account for an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the population. Although...
September 14, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Most people would agree that it is important for parents to instil a sense of national and cultural identity in their children in order to preserve their heritage for...
September 10, 2020
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Omar Ahmed The recent meeting in Beirut between Hamas and Hezbollah leadership where the threats to the Palestinian cause and normalisation between Israel and Arab states were discussed is the latest...
Published in:
Africa,
Article,
Bahrain,
Europe & Russia,
Iran,
Iraq,
Israel,
Lebanon,
Libya,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Palestine,
Syria,
Turkey,
UAE August 24, 2020
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Omar Ahmed The agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to establish full diplomatic relations in exchange for the suspension (or from Israel’s point of view, merely the postponement) of...
August 16, 2020
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Omar Ahmed When one thinks of contemporary political Shia Islam the Islamic Republic of Iran tends to spring to mind, a theocracy which those familiar with the subject know is based...
July 30, 2020
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Omar Ahmed The Hagia Sofia Grand Mosque was opened for public worship last Friday for the first time in 86 years following a top court’s ruling that the historic building, originally...
July 20, 2020
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Omar Ahmed In the year 751 CE, the largely Arab-Persian army of the Abbasid Caliphate met the Chinese imperial forces of the Tang Dynasty on the banks of the River Talas...
July 10, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Turkey’s top administrative court, the Council of State is likely to announce today the restoration of the Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque reversing an 86-year-old decree...
June 29, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Israel’s involvement in the Yemen war throughout its five year duration is an open secret. In 2015, when the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the capital Sanaa was seized by...
June 19, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Turkey achieved a strategic success in breaking the year-long siege on the Libyan capital, Tripoli. With Turkish support, the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) pushed back the forces...
June 8, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Sectarianism is a salient feature of contemporary warfare in the Middle East, especially in multi-religious societies. The ongoing conflict in Syria is no exception. The rapid online spread of...
A prominent Saudi cleric, Shaikh Assim Al-Hakeem, has come under fire on Twitter over his response to a question posed to him by a user regarding the permissibility of...
June 1, 2020
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Omar Ahmed The scenario is all too familiar: the almost casual murder in Minneapolis of an unarmed African American citizen — say his name: George Floyd —by police officers has sparked...
May 29, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Last Friday, 22 May, was Unity Day in Yemen, a national holiday marking the unification of the North and South which took place on that date in 1990. The...
May 18, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Much has been written about the growing rifts between the Shia seminary cities of Najaf in Iraq and Qom in Iran, centred on the role of politics and religion....
Last week, Germany finally caved in to US and Israeli pressure to ban Hezbollah outright by outlawing the Lebanese movement’s political wing. Berlin declared the group to be a...
April 30, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Nizar Qabbani is arguably the most popular and widely read poet in the Arab world, renowned particularly for his poems on themes such as religion, love and femininity, which...
Published in:
Africa,
Asia & Americas,
China,
Egypt,
Europe & Russia,
France,
Iraq,
Lebanon,
Middle East,
Profiles,
Spain,
Syria,
Turkey,
UK April 23, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Sheikh Mahmud Shaltut was a renowned Muslim scholar, reformer and rector of the esteemed Al-Azhar University in Cairo who was notable for seeking to bridge the gap in the...
April 21, 2020
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Omar Ahmed The combined impact of the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the fall in demand for crude oil during the coronavirus pandemic has led to the collapse...
April 8, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Israel’s first confirmed case of the Covid-19 virus was on 21 February, after a citizen returned from Japan, since then the number has increased steadily, standing currently at 9,248...
March 26, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Exactly five years ago, the US-backed, Saudi-led Arab coalition carried out its first air strikes on Yemen in an effort to reinstate the disgraced, exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi....
Last month, courts in Egypt ruled in favour of closing down local Shia TV channels and websites. Despite a previous decision to annul the verdict, it was overturned by...
March 6, 2020
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Omar Ahmed Social media continues to influence our perception of conflicts around the world, though rapid updates around the clock on developments on the battlefield often hours before mainstream news picks...
March 2, 2020
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Omar Ahmed As the fifth-year anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen approaches this month, the allied forces of the Yemeni army and Ansar Allah – known as the Houthis...
February 22, 2020
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Omar Ahmed There are early signs that another uprising, or Intifada, will erupt in occupied Palestine. A couple of weeks ago, a spokesperson of the Gaza-based Al-Quds Brigades, an armed wing...
February 11, 2020
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Omar Ahmed With the constant, basic framing of the nine-year conflict in Syria as being one between the “Assad regime” and “rebels” coupled with viewing it from an understandable humanitarian perspective,...
Syrian filmmaker and journalist Waad Al-Kateab accepted the award with her 4-year-old daughter Sama for whom the film was made
February 1, 2020
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Omar Ahmed The opening month of 2020 launched with a significant strategic blow to Iran and its regional allies, with the assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic...
January 24, 2020
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Omar Ahmed We may never know the full extent of US casualties from Iran’s retaliatory missile attack on 8 January against two Iraqi air bases hosting US troops but for now...
January 15, 2020
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Omar Ahmed The unlawful killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi deputy commander of the Hashd Al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces – PMF), Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis earlier this month, was...
Although the Arabic phrase literally means “God willing” it is also popularly used in an informal way across the Middle East to denote something that is unlikely to happen.
Whilst literature on Israel’s state violence against Palestinian children is nothing new, there are apparent limitations on the current discourse which tends not to extend beyond theories of childhood...![Pakistani Shiite women mourn after an attack on a shia mosque in Karachi, Pakistan on 17 October 2016 [ASIF HASSAN/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Pakistani-Shiite-Muslim.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The world’s largest population of Shia Muslims outside Iran is found in neighbouring Pakistan where they account for an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the population. Although...
Most people would agree that it is important for parents to instil a sense of national and cultural identity in their children in order to preserve their heritage for...![Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh (3rd L) and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah (4th R) meet in Beirut, Lebanon on 6 September 2020. [Hezbollah Press Office / Handout - Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/20200906_2_44221822_57940394.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The recent meeting in Beirut between Hamas and Hezbollah leadership where the threats to the Palestinian cause and normalisation between Israel and Arab states were discussed is the latest...![Iranian students gather outside the United Arab Emirates' embassy in Tehran, Iran to protest a deal between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel to normalize ties, on 15 August 2020. [Fatemeh Bahrami - Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200816_2_43913893_57459704.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to establish full diplomatic relations in exchange for the suspension (or from Israel’s point of view, merely the postponement) of...
When one thinks of contemporary political Shia Islam the Islamic Republic of Iran tends to spring to mind, a theocracy which those familiar with the subject know is based...![President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) salutes public after a visit to inspect Hagia Sophia Mosque which will be opened on 24th of July for worship after 86 years with Friday prayer, in Istanbul, Turkey on 19 July 2020. [TUR Presidency Murat Cetinmuhurdar - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20200719_2_43516532_56821790.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The Hagia Sofia Grand Mosque was opened for public worship last Friday for the first time in 86 years following a top court’s ruling that the historic building, originally...![Demonstrators hold Uyghur flags as they take part in a demonstration in support of Uyghur Turks against human rights violations of China, in Berlin, Germany on 27 December 2019. [Abdulhamid Hoşbaş - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/20191227_2_40054487_50735152.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
In the year 751 CE, the largely Arab-Persian army of the Abbasid Caliphate met the Chinese imperial forces of the Tang Dynasty on the banks of the River Talas...![A general view of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey on 2 July 2020 [Onur Çoban/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hagia-Sophia-.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Turkey’s top administrative court, the Council of State is likely to announce today the restoration of the Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque reversing an 86-year-old decree...![Houthi fighters in Yemen [The Baghdad Post/Twitter]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2017_9_12-Saleh-Houthi-allianceDKE4M_9XoAA4jKu.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Israel’s involvement in the Yemen war throughout its five year duration is an open secret. In 2015, when the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the capital Sanaa was seized by...![An old man holds flags of Turkey and Libya during a demonstration against eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, who is based in the east of the country, and in support of the UN-recognised government of national accord (GNA) at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli on 10 January 2020. [Hazem Turkia - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200110_2_40267074_51088394.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Turkey achieved a strategic success in breaking the year-long siege on the Libyan capital, Tripoli. With Turkish support, the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) pushed back the forces...![The tomb of Umayyad Caliph Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz was burnt and destroyed by militias in Syria 28 May 2020 [Sa'na Agency/Twitter]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Caliph-Tomb-destroyed.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Sectarianism is a salient feature of contemporary warfare in the Middle East, especially in multi-religious societies. The ongoing conflict in Syria is no exception. The rapid online spread of...![Saudi cleric, Shaikh Assim Al-Hakeem [Youtube]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Assim-Al-Hakeem-e1591011698656.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
A prominent Saudi cleric, Shaikh Assim Al-Hakeem, has come under fire on Twitter over his response to a question posed to him by a user regarding the permissibility of...![People gather during a protest held against police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in New York, United States on 1 June 2020. [Mostafa Bassim - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20200601_2_42731287_55513811.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The scenario is all too familiar: the almost casual murder in Minneapolis of an unarmed African American citizen — say his name: George Floyd —by police officers has sparked...![MA'RIB, YEMEN - 3 NOVEMBER: Supporters of Legal Government hold the portraits of Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi during a protest against the Yemen peace plan proposed by the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in Ma'rib, Yemen on 3 November, 2016. [Ali Owidha/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/20161103_2_19929938_15675839.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Last Friday, 22 May, was Unity Day in Yemen, a national holiday marking the unification of the North and South which took place on that date in 1990. The...![An undated file photo shows Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, in Iraq [-/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GettyImages-2471975.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Much has been written about the growing rifts between the Shia seminary cities of Najaf in Iraq and Qom in Iran, centred on the role of politics and religion....![German Police during a raid on associations linked to Hezbollah following the country's on Hezbollah on 30 April 2020 in Berlin, Germany [ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/GettyImages-1211366206.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Last week, Germany finally caved in to US and Israeli pressure to ban Hezbollah outright by outlawing the Lebanese movement’s political wing. Berlin declared the group to be a...![Nizar Qabbani in Baghdad, Iraq in 1985 [Gorgeous Old/Twitter]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Nizar-Qabbani-.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Nizar Qabbani is arguably the most popular and widely read poet in the Arab world, renowned particularly for his poems on themes such as religion, love and femininity, which...![Sheikh Mahmud Shaltut, the reformist head of Al-Azhar University [Wikipedia]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/محمود-شلتوت.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Sheikh Mahmud Shaltut was a renowned Muslim scholar, reformer and rector of the esteemed Al-Azhar University in Cairo who was notable for seeking to bridge the gap in the...![An oil derrick pumps crude from the ground near on April 20, 2020 [Dave Creaney/Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/20200421_2_42008628_54112850.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The combined impact of the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the fall in demand for crude oil during the coronavirus pandemic has led to the collapse...![Israeli police officer speaks to a Strictly Orthodox student in Bnei Brak on Thursday afternoon [JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Bnei-Brak.png?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Israel’s first confirmed case of the Covid-19 virus was on 21 February, after a citizen returned from Japan, since then the number has increased steadily, standing currently at 9,248...![Supporters of Houthis participate in march on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Houthis' control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, on 21, 2019. [Mohammed Hamoud - Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/20190922_2_38336427_47805216.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Exactly five years ago, the US-backed, Saudi-led Arab coalition carried out its first air strikes on Yemen in an effort to reinstate the disgraced, exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi....
Last month, courts in Egypt ruled in favour of closing down local Shia TV channels and websites. Despite a previous decision to annul the verdict, it was overturned by...![New weapons of wars [Twitter]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/war-memes.png?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Social media continues to influence our perception of conflicts around the world, though rapid updates around the clock on developments on the battlefield often hours before mainstream news picks...![Palestinian protesters at the Israel-Gaza border during the Great March of Return on 12 October 2018 [Ashraf Amra/Apaimages]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018_10-12-Palestinian-protesters-gaza-border121018_ASH_00-49.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
There are early signs that another uprising, or Intifada, will erupt in occupied Palestine. A couple of weeks ago, a spokesperson of the Gaza-based Al-Quds Brigades, an armed wing...![Free Syrian Army members seen on the back of a truck, patroling an area after Turkish Armed Forces and FSA members cleared Kafr Rum village in the northeastern Sharan district from Daesh, as part of "Operation Olive Branch" in Afrin, Syria on March 10, 2018 [Huseyin Nasir / Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180310_2_29161466_31532242.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
With the constant, basic framing of the nine-year conflict in Syria as being one between the “Assad regime” and “rebels” coupled with viewing it from an understandable humanitarian perspective,...
Syrian filmmaker and journalist Waad Al-Kateab accepted the award with her 4-year-old daughter Sama for whom the film was made![Iranian members of the Basij militia take part in an anti-US rally to protest the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani by a US airstrike in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, at Palestine Square in the capital Tehran, Iran on January 4, 2020 [Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200104_2_40163753_50920469.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The opening month of 2020 launched with a significant strategic blow to Iran and its regional allies, with the assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic...![Iraqi sites published photos that they said were leaked from inside the Al-Asad base, in Anbar Province, after the Iranian missile strike, in retaliation for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad [Arabi21]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Image2_12020107545.png?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
We may never know the full extent of US casualties from Iran’s retaliatory missile attack on 8 January against two Iraqi air bases hosting US troops but for now...![US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the 'Evangelicals for Trump' Coalition event at the King Jesus Church in Miami, Florida, United States on 3 January, 2019 [Stringer/Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200104_2_40153386_50901556.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The unlawful killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi deputy commander of the Hashd Al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces – PMF), Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis earlier this month, was...