April 21, 2020 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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...
January 13, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed 'Kids in Palestine are fearless' and SkatePal is helping them find a way to harness this strength
January 7, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed As far as modern American military blunders go, the assassination of Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani, along with the deputy commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), Abu...
January 3, 2020 |
Omar Ahmed The US carried out an air strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in the Iraqi capital Baghdad
Lauded as the Middle East's biggest music event, the so-called MDL Beast Festival ran from 19-21 December in the Saudi capital Riyadh promising to offer a "multi-sensory, multi-stage experience,...
December 23, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed When it comes to commercially-controlled media coverage of the conflict in Syria, there has always been scepticism expressed by those who refused to wholly buy into the propaganda against...
December 14, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed In spite of having no substantial physical political presence in Yemen, and no formal armed forces on the ground, the media is insistent on running with the same, tired...
December 2, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed Although launched by the UN, the idea of the Syrian Constitutional Committee was originally put forward by Russia which, along with Turkey and Iran, is part of the Astana...
November 27, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed The Arab-British Chamber of Commerce was the venue for yesterday's workshop organised by the Academic Forum Muhammad Ali Luqman and supported by Independent Diplomat focussing on civil society, women's...
November 23, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed Speakers at MEMO’s latest conference ‘The Palestine Question in Europe’ discuss Hamas, anti-Semitism and how Israel has become an example of how the West should live
November 22, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed The recent protests in Iran and neighbouring Iraq are based on legitimate grievances. However, as has also happened in Iraq, there have been elements in Iran carrying out arson...
November 8, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed This week saw the signing of the much-delayed Riyadh Agreement between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government of exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and the UAE-supported Southern Transitional Council (STC). The...
November 5, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed The crocodile tears have stopped now that the world has yet again forgotten about the Kurds following the deals between Russia, Turkey, Iran, Syria and, to some extent, US...
Published in:
Article,
Asia & Americas,
Europe & Russia,
Iran,
Israel,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Saudi Arabia,
Syria,
Turkey,
US November 4, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed After another successful MEMO-hosted Palestine Book Awards ceremony, in which literature on subjects related to Palestine was honoured. I wanted to shed light on MEMO's willingness to be a...
The winners of this year’s Palestine Book Awards (PBA) were announced on November 1st in London, in recognition of authors and their contribution to the literature on the subject of Palestine.
Middle East Monitor will be hosting the 8th annual Palestine Book Awards in London on Friday evening to honour and celebrate the best newly published books relating to any...
October 30, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed Exactly two years ago, Saudi Arabia's firebrand State Minister for Gulf Affairs, Thamer Al-Sabhan, called for "toppling Hezbollah", promising "astonishing" developments in "the coming days", whilst maintaining that the...
October 28, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed The tiny Gulf nation of the United Arab Emirates has long been known to punch above its weight internationally. With a native population of about one million and in...
October 21, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed There is an old saying that "the Kurds have no friends but the mountains". Poetic, poignant and tragic; but not quite true. Despite the mainstream Western media lamenting the...
October 16, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed The way that history has a tendency to repeat itself is intriguing. In Alfred Lilienthal's The Other Side of the Coin, published in 1965, he said that the "Soviet...
October 10, 2019 |
Omar Ahmed Having failed to dislodge Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad after eight years of conflict and with the twin political processes of the UN and the Astana initiatives moving a step...
![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....![A picture taken during a guided tour organised by the Egyptian State Information Service on November 20, 2019, shows inmates receiving medical treatment at the clinic of Borg el-Arab prison near the Egyptian city of Alexandria [MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GettyImages-1183695660.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
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...![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...
'Kids in Palestine are fearless' and SkatePal is helping them find a way to harness this strength![A demonstrator carries an image of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a US airstrike in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, during an anti-US rally to protest the killing at Palestine Square in the capital Tehran, Iran on January 4, 2020 [Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200104_2_40163753_50920486.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
As far as modern American military blunders go, the assassination of Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani, along with the deputy commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), Abu...![Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei And Qasem Soleimani on 27 March 2015 [Wikipedia]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Ayatollah_Sayyed_Ali_Khamenei_And_Qasem_Soleimani-e1578045856505.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The US carried out an air strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in the Iraqi capital Baghdad
Lauded as the Middle East's biggest music event, the so-called MDL Beast Festival ran from 19-21 December in the Saudi capital Riyadh promising to offer a "multi-sensory, multi-stage experience,...![Civil defence crews and locals conduct search and rescue operations around wreckage of buildings after airstrikes carried out by Assad Regime over Saraqib district in the de-escalation zone of Idlib, Syria on 21 December 2019 [Hüseyin Fazıl / Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/20191221_2_39954354_50552264.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
When it comes to commercially-controlled media coverage of the conflict in Syria, there has always been scepticism expressed by those who refused to wholly buy into the propaganda against...![Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, President of Yemen [z_sattam/Twitter]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2018_2-2-Abd-Rabbuh-Mansur-HadiC6yzxdVWsAEYWzY.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
In spite of having no substantial physical political presence in Yemen, and no formal armed forces on the ground, the media is insistent on running with the same, tired...![Kurdish official Îlham Ehmed [Wikipedia]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Îlham-Ehmed.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Although launched by the UN, the idea of the Syrian Constitutional Committee was originally put forward by Russia which, along with Turkey and Iran, is part of the Astana...![South Yemen civil society event in London, on 26 November 2019 [Twitter]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/EKTKL9NWoAAAe9X-e1574868993906.jpeg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The Arab-British Chamber of Commerce was the venue for yesterday's workshop organised by the Academic Forum Muhammad Ali Luqman and supported by Independent Diplomat focussing on civil society, women's...
Speakers at MEMO’s latest conference ‘The Palestine Question in Europe’ discuss Hamas, anti-Semitism and how Israel has become an example of how the West should live![A damaged branch bank is seen after petrol price hike protests in Karaj district's Pardis town in Tehran, Iran on 20 November 2019. [Fatemeh Bahrami - Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/20191120_2_39424773_49625810.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The recent protests in Iran and neighbouring Iraq are based on legitimate grievances. However, as has also happened in Iraq, there have been elements in Iran carrying out arson...
This week saw the signing of the much-delayed Riyadh Agreement between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government of exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and the UAE-supported Southern Transitional Council (STC). The...![US troops gathered at the scene of a suicide attack in Syria [AFP/Getty Images]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GettyImages-1083223072-e1571641462706.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The crocodile tears have stopped now that the world has yet again forgotten about the Kurds following the deals between Russia, Turkey, Iran, Syria and, to some extent, US...![Audience member at MEMO's ‘Crisis in Saudi Arabia: War, Succession and the Future’ conference on 18 November 2017 [Middle East Monitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/IMG_3136.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
After another successful MEMO-hosted Palestine Book Awards ceremony, in which literature on subjects related to Palestine was honoured. I wanted to shed light on MEMO's willingness to be a...![Awards seen at the 8th annual Palestinian Book Awards in London, UK, on 1 November 2019 [Middle East Monitor]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/SRV_3061.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The winners of this year’s Palestine Book Awards (PBA) were announced on November 1st in London, in recognition of authors and their contribution to the literature on the subject of Palestine.![Palestine Book Awards [Middle East Monitor]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/20161121_Palestine-book-awards-1.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Middle East Monitor will be hosting the 8th annual Palestine Book Awards in London on Friday evening to honour and celebrate the best newly published books relating to any...![Lebanese demonstrators gather at Martyrs' Square for an anti-government protest against dire economic conditions and new tax regulations on communication on October 18, 2019 in Beirut, Lebanon [Mahmut Geldi / Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/20191018_2_38822070_48603474.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Exactly two years ago, Saudi Arabia's firebrand State Minister for Gulf Affairs, Thamer Al-Sabhan, called for "toppling Hezbollah", promising "astonishing" developments in "the coming days", whilst maintaining that the...![Mohammed Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu-Dhabi [En.kremlin.ru]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2013_9_12-Mohamed-bin-Zayed-Al-NahyanecA9nXADugjW5xqtf4lwAD925Aa9ol6S.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The tiny Gulf nation of the United Arab Emirates has long been known to punch above its weight internationally. With a native population of about one million and in...
There is an old saying that "the Kurds have no friends but the mountains". Poetic, poignant and tragic; but not quite true. Despite the mainstream Western media lamenting the...![Syrian National Army members patrol within Turkey's Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria, in on 15 October 2019 [Omer Alven /Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019_10-15-Operation-Peace-Spring-in-northern-Syria20191015_2_38760494_48509466.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The way that history has a tendency to repeat itself is intriguing. In Alfred Lilienthal's The Other Side of the Coin, published in 1965, he said that the "Soviet...![Iraqi demonstrators try to enter Green Zone as they gather for a demonstration against Iraqi government in Baghdad, Iraq on October 01, 2019 [Murtadha Sudani / Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/20191001_2_38504750_48077590.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Having failed to dislodge Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad after eight years of conflict and with the twin political processes of the UN and the Astana initiatives moving a step...