Dec 14 2017
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have effectively split the GCC in two By Abdel Bari Atwan The division within the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was put on clear display at Wednesday’s Islamic summit in Istanbul. It was reflected in the member-states’ level of representation at the conference, the political stands they took, and their […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Dec 14 2017
The Russian president is entitled to celebrate his success in the Middle East By Abdel Bari Atwan Russian President Vladimir Putin’s lightning Middle East tour which took in three major stops – Syria, Egypt, and Turkey – reflects not only Russia’s rapidly expanding influence at the expense of the US, but also the rise of […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria •
Dec 14 2017
Arab leaders shot themselves in the foot by boycotting the Islamic summit on Jersualem By Abdel Bari Atwan It was shameful and disgraceful for most Arab leaders to stay away from the Islamic summit held in Istanbul to discuss the US’ support for Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem its and erasure of the city’s Arab and […]
By mahaburbar1 • Islam •
Dec 12 2017
Trump’s Jerusalem move has brought Palestine back to the Arab and Islamic centre-stage By Abdel Bari Atwan With his recognition of occupied Jerusalem as the capital of the Israeli occupation state, US President Donald Trump has shot his ‘Sunni Arab’ allies in the Arab Gulf – primarily Saudi Arabia – and Egypt in the foot. […]
By mahaburbar1 • Palestine •
Dec 11 2017
Jerusalem – and not Abu Dis – will remain the capital of Palestine, the whole of Palestine By Abdel Bari Atwan “From the heart of besieged and liberated Gaza, Hamas’ Politburo’s head Ismail Haniyeh has sounded the call to launch an intifada in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to Judaize Jerusalem, thereby endorsing the Israeli narrative that […]
By mahaburbar1 • Palestine •
Dec 5 2017
The former Yemeni leader’s fatal mistake was to cut a deal with the Saudis By Abdel Bari Atwan For nearly three years, the United Arab Emirates tried to persuade its ally Saudi Arabia that the shortest route to winning the war in Yemen would be to co-opt Ali Abdallah Saleh and unravel his alliance with […]
By mahaburbar1 • Yemen •
Dec 4 2017
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have long tried to unravel the Houthi-Saleh alliance. Now they’ve succeeded. By Abdel Bari Atwan Until last week, the Saudi-led Arab military coalition was in serious trouble in Yemen. It had spent almost three years relentlessly bombarding and blockading the country and its impoverished and defenceless people, targeting their schools, […]
By mahaburbar1 • The Gulf, Yemen •
Dec 3 2017
The Kuwait summit could have a defining influence on the bloc’s future By Abdel Bari Atwan Even if the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s forthcoming summit, which is supposed to convene in Kuwait on Wednesday, does not prove to be its last, it is certainly set to be the most bizarre and contentious of the 37 […]
By mahaburbar1 • The Gulf •
Dec 3 2017
The army seems poised for a major offensive to retake Eastern Ghouta By Abdel Bari Atwan The holding of the eighth round of talks in Geneva between Syrian government and opposition delegations is not the most important development in the Syrian crisis this week. Far more significant is what is happening in the Eastern Ghouta […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria •
Nov 23 2017
Hariri has played his cards right so far, but can he stay the course? By Abdel Bari Atwan Saad al-Hariri never really resigned as Lebanon’s prime minister. Otherwise, he would not have retracted or suspended his resignation at the request to President Michel Aoun as soon as he returned to Lebanon. If he had seriously […]
By mahaburbar1 • Lebanon •
Nov 19 2017
Israel’s leaders won’t go war on Riyadh’s behalf but are quite happy to lure it into a series of self-destructive conflicts By Abdel Bari Atwan Saudi Arabia continues to spring surprises and fan the flames of conflict in the region, as though the wars in Syria, Yemen, Libya and (partially) Iraq are not enough. After […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Nov 16 2017
The Saudis are mistaken if they think they can turn Palestinians in Lebanon against Hezbollah By Abdel Bari Atwan Although Saudi Arabia and its regional machinations have been very much in the news in the past few weeks, one recent visitor to Riyadh attracted relatively little media attention. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas remained tight-lipped […]
By mahaburbar1 • Palestine, Saudi Arabia •
Nov 16 2017
Which side will prevail when (and if) Riyadh’s captive finally returns to Beirut? By Abdel Bari Atwan The big predicament that has always faced Saad al-Hariri – who is hopefully due to be released soon from two weeks of apparent captivity in Saudi Arabia — is his dual identity. His father and predecessor as […]
By mahaburbar1 • Lebanon •
Nov 10 2017
Muhammd Bin-Salman’s purge in Saudi Arabia is the prelude to something bigger By Abdel Bari Atwan Our region stands on the brink of war. We should not let small details — such as the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s resignation or the detention of princes and former ministers in Saudi Arabia — divert […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Nov 6 2017
The Saudis seem to have given the Lebanese premier a stark choice: resignation or imprisonment By Abdel Bari Atwan The questions which all Lebanese have been asking for the past couple of days, since Saturday’s surprise resignation of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, are about whether a war is about to be waged on their […]
By mahaburbar1 • Lebanon •
Nov 2 2017
As Trump escalates against Iran, the Saudis up the ante against Hezbollah By Abdel Bari Atwan It is becoming clearly apparent that a new chapter in Saudi Arabia’s vendetta with Iran is about to begin unfolding in Lebanon, and that it will take many forms: involving the political, economic and media spheres. This was made […]
By mahaburbar1 • Hezbollah, Saudi Arabia •
Nov 2 2017
The Balfour Declaration laid the foundations for one of the grossest injustices in modern history By Abdel Bari Atwan Nothing could make a bigger mockery of Britain’s and the West’s claims to be champions of justice and human rights than Prime Minister Theresa May’s insistence on officially celebrating the centenary of the Balfour […]
By mahaburbar1 • Palestine •
Nov 1 2017
With his new initiative to end the Syrian crisis, the Russian president is emerging as the region’s principal decision-maker By Abdel Bari Atwan Russian President Vladimir Putin regularly surprises us with political, diplomatic, and military achievements in the Middle East which affirm his leadership qualities and demonstrate that he has a clear strategy for addressing […]
By mahaburbar1 • Syria •
Nov 1 2017
The Iraqi Kurdish leader’s big mistake was to bank on US and Israeli support for his ill-judged independence bid By Abdel Bari Atwan Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, did not step down voluntarily. He was forced to resign by a democratically-elected parliament once he realised he could […]
By mahaburbar1 • Iraq •
Dec 19 2017
Abbas in Riyadh
What deal will the Saudis be offering the Palestinian leader this time? By Abdel Bari Atwan It was no surprise that the US used its veto to abort the draft resolution submitted by Egypt at the UN Security Council – in response to President Donald Trump’s recognition of occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel […]
By mahaburbar1 • Palestine •