
Omar Ahmed
Omar has an MSc International Security and Global Governance from Birkbeck, University of London. He has travelled throughout the Middle East, including studying Arabic in Egypt as part of his undergraduate degree. His interests include the politics, history and religion of the MENA region.
Items by Omar Ahmed
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- February 22, 2020 Omar Ahmed
The next Palestinian Intifada will involve more support from Iran
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 of the resistance faction Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), called on Palestinians to take up arms and attack military checkpoints and...
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- February 11, 2020 Omar Ahmed
Turkey is starting to pay the price for undermining Syria’s sovereignty
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, it is easy to forget that above all, under international law, Syria is a nation-state. One whose territorial integrity has...
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- February 3, 2020 Omar Ahmed
Syria film 'For Sama' wins BAFTA award
Syrian filmmaker and journalist Waad Al-Kateab accepted the award with her 4-year-old daughter Sama for whom the film was made...
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- February 1, 2020 Omar Ahmed
2020 so far: Iran and allies push forward despite losing Soleimani
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 Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) Quds Force, on 3 January. This act was primarily aimed at baiting Iran into war, based...
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- January 24, 2020 Omar Ahmed
The truth about US casualties in the Iran attack is slowly coming out
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 at least, more information is gradually starting to surface, contradicting statements by President Donald Trump that “No Americans were harmed...
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- January 15, 2020 Omar Ahmed
Iran, US conflict shrouded in the fog of war
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 based on allegations of “imminent threats.” US President Donald Trump stated that the elite Qud’s Force head, Soleimani, was planning...
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- January 13, 2020 Omar Ahmed
‘Radical’ in Ramallah, the Palestinian skateboard scene
'Kids in Palestine are fearless' and SkatePal is helping them find a way to harness this strength...
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- January 7, 2020 Omar Ahmed
Trump has no idea what he has done by killing Soleimani
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 Mahdi Al-Muhandis, near Baghdad Airport last week is up there with the worst. This includes the fateful invasion of Iraq...
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- January 3, 2020 Omar Ahmed
Soleimani’s assassination: America’s declaration of war on Iran
The US carried out an air strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in the Iraqi capital Baghdad...
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- December 24, 2019 Omar Ahmed
Saudi music concert slammed for being ‘mass sexual assault festival’
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, showcasing both local and international talent, representing all spheres of the cultural landscape across multiple districts. A feast for the...
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- December 23, 2019 Omar Ahmed
Syria, where chemical weapons watchdogs become weaponised
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 the government in Damascus, it has been all too common to dismiss those holding such views as being conspiracy theorists...
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- December 14, 2019 Omar Ahmed
It’s time for the international community to stop ‘recognising’ Hadi’s ‘government’
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 expression of “the internationally recognised legitimate government” of the fugitive president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has apparently been running...
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- December 2, 2019 Omar Ahmed
We were deliberately left out of Syria’s constitutional process, Kurdish official tells MEMO
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 trio, an alternative peace process to that of the international organisation. Yet the second round of constitutional talks ended on...
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- November 27, 2019 Omar Ahmed
Past and present perspectives on civil society in South Yemen
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 activism and the role of local and international media in current developments in South Yemen, in particular from a historical...
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- November 23, 2019 Omar Ahmed
‘The EU knows Hamas isn’t a terrorist group, but is working to delegitimise it’
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...
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- November 22, 2019 Omar Ahmed
Arson attacks are the latest escalation in America’s shadowy war against Iran
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 attacks against state and public institutions. Whilst recognising the right to protest peacefully, both governments have made it clear that...
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- November 8, 2019 Omar Ahmed
Riyadh delays the inevitable; the Houthis have the power in Yemen, Hadi has no authority
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 Saudis hope that this power-sharing initiative will quell the dispute between the rival factions so that their coalition can focus...
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- November 5, 2019 Omar Ahmed
America’s ‘deep state’ and Israel won’t allow Trump’s troop withdrawal from Syria
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 President Donald Trump. It’s a win-win situation for everyone: Turkey gets its safe zone allowing it to resettle Syrian refugees;...
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- November 4, 2019 Omar Ahmed
Why MEMO matters
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 platform for opposing opinions on the wider regional discourse, covering issues which have divided communities – who are often of...
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- November 1, 2019 Omar Ahmed
Winners of 8th Palestine Book Awards announced
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....
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- October 30, 2019 Omar Ahmed
MEMO to host 8th Palestine Book Awards in London
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 subject on Palestine. More than 40 English language books were entered in this year’s competition with seven having been shortlisted by...
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- October 30, 2019 Omar Ahmed
Lebanon’s protests look like destabilisation by proxy
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 issue was not about bringing down the Lebanese government, despite the fact that Hezbollah forms part of it. Five days...
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- October 28, 2019 Omar Ahmed
The UAE lobby in America lacks legitimacy
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 possession of the world’s seventh largest oil reserves, this is certainly achievable. Ever ambitious and forward-thinking, the Emirates also serves...
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- October 21, 2019 Omar Ahmed
The Kurds may well have ‘no friends but the mountains’, but they do have Israel
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 latest “betrayal” of Kurdish allies by the US government, there has been one ally who has had a consistent relationship...