Middle East News Thread

6 comments to Middle East News Thread

• adrena

  January 20, 2013 at 3:22 pm Log in to Reply

  Re: 2nd image – They rape women because of religion. Religion demonizes female sexuality and puts women at the mercy of men.

• adrena

  January 21, 2013 at 9:48 am Log in to Reply

  JANUARY 21

  *Algeria crisis: Hostage death toll ‘rises to 48′
  *Toll in Saharan refinery siege climbs past 80; bomb squads resume search for explosive traps
  *Algeria finds dead Canadian militants as siege toll rises
  *No start-up date for Algeria hostage gas plant-operators
  *Qaeda Islamists behind Algeria attack vow more attacks
  *Power outage in Damascus as Syria war nears capital’s center
  *Syria Warplanes Raid Damascus Province, Blackout Eases
  *Syrian regime recruits female soldiers to check veiled women
  *Syrian opposition suspend meeting targeting a transitional government
  *Syrian government-in-exile: Not without Qatar’s money
  *Syrian Crisis Threatens To Draw in Lebanon
  *Smell of old revenge rises from Qaeda assassination of Essawi

  BAGHDAD – Al-Qaeda’s front group in Iraq has claimed a wave of violence in the past week that killed at least 88 people, including a Sunni MP who was assassinated by a suicide bomber, a statement said.

  The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) described lawmaker Ayfan al-Essawi as an “arrogant criminal” and said the spate of violence last week was carried out as revenge for Iraq’s government holding Sunni female detainees.

  *US-born Israeli parliamentary candidate in trouble
  *Would Obama Ever Tell Netanyahu ‘You’re on Your Own’?
  *Egypt Opposition Calls for Protests on Revolt Anniversary
  *Interior Ministry to secure Tahrir, but not from within
  *FJP: New evidence could mean death penalty for Mubarak
  *Ten Things Libya Can Learn From Egypt’s Constitution
  *Five Thugs Wounded in Rare Shootout in Tehran
  *NATO: German, Dutch Patriot Missiles Arrive in Turkey
  *Report: Secretary of state nominee Kerry to visit Turkey next month
  *Ahead of elections: Brotherhood campaigns to dash hopes of reform in Jordan
  *Arab economic summit opens in Riyadh with aims to meet peoples’ aspirations

• Steve Hynd

  January 21, 2013 at 1:14 pm Log in to Reply

  French prosecutor names PKK member as chief suspect in executions of three female PKK activists.

  A French prosecutor released the name of the prime suspect in the killings of three female Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in Paris earlier this month.
  Delivering the first official statement about the case, French prosecutor François Molins said Ömer Güney, born in 1982, is the prime suspect in the killings. The prosecutor went on to say that Güney had been a member of the terrorist organization for two years and faces charges of leading and organizing an assassination on behalf of a terrorist organization.

  Molins told the press that the suspect rejects the allegations leveled against him and claims that he is the victim of a conspiracy.

• adrena

  January 22, 2013 at 10:11 am Log in to Reply

  JANUARY 22

  *30 pro-regime forces killed in Syria blast
  *Syrians run gauntlet of gunfire to bring back bread
  *On Location Video: The Battle for Idlib, Syria
  *Russians leaving Syria cross into Lebanon
  *Moscow Sends 2 Planes to Evacuate Russians from Syria
  *Assad: ‘I will win, even if Damascus is destroyed’
  *Saudi says negotiated Syria settlement ‘inconceivable’
  *Iraq sees a wave of bomb attacks
  *Iraqi Government Seeks Control Over Central Bank
  *Algeria: 5 missing foreigners maybe in the desert
  *Israel goes to polls, set to re-elect Netanyahu
  *Avast! Israel’s Pirate Party angles for 2 percent of electoral booty
  *Almost half of eligible Israelis cast ballots
  *Ultra-Orthodox complain of ‘immodest’ poll worker
  *Protest in Ankara against Patriot Missile Deployment
  *Turkey Angered by Petition On White House Website
  *Iran Stengthens Ties to Palestinian Islamic Jihad
  *Iranian artists hit by sanctions
  *Medvedev Meets Suleiman: Russia is Determined to Develop its Ties with Lebanon
  *Saudi Arabia’s most wanted Qaeda man killed in Yemen: Correspondent
  *King seeks to break chronic political deadlock in Bahrain
  *Morocco moves to scrap law that favors rapists
  *US Spared Hard Choices in Egypt
  
  Analysis/Opinion

  International Crisis Group – *Syria’s Kurds: A Struggle Within a Struggle

  UPI.com – *After Amenas, risk of energy raids grow

• adrena

  January 22, 2013 at 11:56 am Log in to Reply

  Turkey: Nine Human Rights Lawyers Imprisoned

• adrena

  January 22, 2013 at 2:59 pm Log in to Reply

  Video appears to show Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiites fighting in Syria

  Hezbollah’s leadership has played down persistent reports that its fighters are helping defend the beleaguered regime of President Bashar al-Assad. But the video, which was clearly made with the consent of the combatants, appears to reflect the growing conviction within Shiite circles in Lebanon that the war in Syria is no longer one between an embattled autocratic regime and a grassroots opposition but a sectarian confrontation against the emerging and increasingly influential Salafi Jihadist groups that view Shiites as heretics and Hezbollah as an enemy.