May 18 2018
The Hezbollah leader will not lose sleep over the latest US/Gulf move against him By Abdel Bari Atwan The US State Department’s decision to impose sanctions on Hezbollah Secetary-General Hassan Nasrallah, his deputy Naim Qasem and other members of the party’s leadership did not come as a surprise – especially after the big political victory […]
By mahaburbar1 • Lebanon •
May 14 2018
Will Trump move to the military option in his quest for regime-change in Tehran? By Abdel Bari Atwan The current state of calm on the Syrian front following Thursday’s exchange of missile fire between Iran and Israel may prove to be temporary. It is part of a bigger and more complex picture, and the product […]
By mahaburbar1 • Iran •
May 11 2018
Israel, the US and their Arab allies are reacting to the defeat of their clients in Syria By Abdel Bari Atwan There is nothing new about Israeli missiles striking military targets deep inside Syria. There have been more than 100 such raids in recent years. What is new, and unprecedented, is for missiles fired from […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria •
May 8 2018
How serious are Israel’s repeated threats to assassinate the Syrian president? By Abdel Bari Atwan The Israeli media have recently been filled with statements attributed to ministers, parliamentarians and hawks from the ruling Likud party openly threatening to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Asad if he allows Syrian territory to be used by Iran to retaliate […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria •
May 7 2018
Damascus cannot allow the creation of a US-backed ‘emirate’ on its border with Jordan By Abdel Bari Atwan Reports of a major Syrian military build-up along the international highway linking Damascus to Deraa indicate that the next big battle in Syria will be on the southern front, aimed at restoring control over the entirety of […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria •
Apr 30 2018
Arab states may offer to send troops to Syria, but will they actually do it? By Abdel Bari Atwan The fact that the Middle Eastern leg of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s first foreign tour since his confirmation by Congress is confined to three states – Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan – means that […]
By mahaburbar1 • Israel, Jordan, Palestine, United States of America •
Apr 29 2018
There seems to no limit to Trump’s anti-Arabism and Islamophobia. By Abdel Bari Atwan Donald Trump will surely go down in history as the most anti-Arab and anti-Muslim American president ever, perhaps more than any Western political figure. It does not matter whether the Arabs/Muslims concerned are rich or poor, or if they are loyal […]
By mahaburbar1 • Morocco •
Apr 25 2018
The Saudis may yet come to regret assassinating Saleh al-Sammad By Abdel Bari Atwan The areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthi Ansarallah movement, especially the group’s northern stronghold of Saada and the capital Sanaa, have been in mourning for Saleh al-Sammad — president of the Supreme Political Council (SPC), an eloquent speaker, and close […]
By mahaburbar1 • Yemen •
Apr 23 2018
The question is not whether Israel and Iran will come to blows, but when, where and how By Abdel Bari Atwan The common theme in the statements being made these days by Iranian and Israeli leaders is that their fingers are on the trigger, amid mounting predictions of an imminent outbreak of war between the […]
By mahaburbar1 • Iran, Israel •
Apr 16 2018
Why have plans to pull US troops out of Syria been shelved? By Abdel Bari Atwan Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations and one of the Trump administrations hawks, announced on Sunday that it had decided to shelve plans to pull US troops out of Syria. This means that it is changing […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria •
Apr 11 2018
Why has Turkey suddenly turned on Russia just as the US is preparing to attack Syria? By Abdel Bari Atwan Many observers, ourselves included, were puzzled by the verbal hostilities that broke out between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the future of the Syrian town of Afrin. This […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria, Turkey •
Apr 8 2018
The Russians warned weeks ago that a chemical incident would be staged to justify a US attack on Syria By Abdel Bari Atwan Is an American missile strike on Syria imminent — possibly targeting the capital Damascus this time? That was certainly the impression given by US President Donald Trump when he blamed Russian President […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria •
Apr 4 2018
The bloodily suppressed Land Day marches were a wake-up call By Abdel Bari Atwan The Palestinian cause has been put back where it belongs at the heart of international attention, and the credit for that goes to the innocent people who were killed or injured while taking part in the March of Return demonstrations held […]
By mahaburbar1 • Palestine •
Apr 3 2018
The young Saudi crown prince seeks US approval by sucking up to Israel By Abdel Bari Atwan A close reading of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman’s lengthy interview with The Atlanticleaves the impression that it is the most important and significant he has yet given — not just because of the new attitudes and information it revealed, […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Mar 23 2018
The curse of the colonel comes back to haunt the man who wrecked his country and had him killed By Abdel Bari Atwan Millions of Libyans, and many more Arabs and Muslims, will have felt pleased by the news that former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was held for questioning, and later released on bail, on […]
By mahaburbar1 • Libya •
Mar 16 2018
Secret Saudi-Houthi talks improve the prospects for peace By Abdel Bari Atwan The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seems to have come to the conclusion that it can never win the war in Yemen. It has begun to seek a political solution that can extricate it from an imbroglio that has cost it dearly while damaging […]
By mahaburbar1 • Yemen •
Mar 16 2018
Is Trump planning an imminent attack Syria? By Abdel Bari Atwan Syrian President Bashar al-Asad’s statements over the past few days, combined with Russia’s escalating warnings against any US attempt to exploit allegations that the Syrian army is using chemical weapons in the Eastern Ghouta, leave the strong impression that a serious military development in […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria •
Mar 8 2018
An extraordinary welcome is laid on for Muhammad Bin-Salman in London By Abdel Bari Atwan London these days is hosting a political circus without precedent, featuring a variety of performers and impresarios and a clash of political colours, due to the three-day visit of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia which began on Wednesday. Days […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Mar 3 2018
Putin’s warning reflects worries that Trump is about to commit a military folly By Abdel Bari Atwan In his speech on Thursday at a Moscow conference hall attended by the Russian political and military elite, President Vladimir Putin unveiled a selection of newly-developed nuclear-capable ballistic weapons which he said could reach any part of the […]
May 21 2018
Preparing for the ‘Deal’
Trump’s Arabs allies are doing their best to force the Palestinians to capitulate By Abdel Bari Atwan Last week’s celebrations of the transfer of the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem, upholding Israel’s claim to it as its eternal capital on the seventieth anniversary of its takeover of Palestine, were a crucial first step in implementing the […]
By mahaburbar1 • Palestine, United States of America •