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Later this week prime minister David Cameron will set out a new British strategy for Syria which is expected to include airstrikes on Syrian territory. Although Britain, as a member of the anti-ISIS coalition, is currently bombing in Iraq it is prevented from bombing in Syria because of a… Read more
'Sooni' versus Sunni
A case of linguistic power politics?
Does it matter if foreigners mis-pronounce Arabic names? The question was raised in a post on Facebook yesterday by Jonathan Wright, who spent many years working as a journalist in the Middle East and who has… Read more
Ashraf Fayyad (left): his ideas "do not suit Saudi society"
Ashraf Fayyad, a Palestinian poet and artist incarcerated in Saudi Arabia for the last two years, has now been sentenced to death for "questioning the Divine Self" (i.e. God), according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights… Read more
The Islamic State has issued a photograph showing parts of what it says was an explosive device that brought down the Russian airliner over Sinai on October 31 with the loss of 224 lives. IS also claims to have exploited a loophole at Sharm el-Sheikh airport to smuggle a bomb on board the plane… Read more
The cockpit voice recorder of the Russian airliner that crashed in Sinai is unlikely to settle the question of what caused the disaster that killed 224 people.
According to Ayman al-Muqaddam, the chief Egyptian investigator, a "noise" can be heard in the final second of the recording. Muqaddam… Read more
Female recruits welcome, up to a point
In 2009, Fatima Zohra Ardjoune became the Algerian army's first female general, and since then four more women have risen to the same rank.
These appointments followed a presidential decree in 2006 which, as part of a modernisation plan, established the… Read more
Marks on the Airbus door. Do they show shrapnel damage?
President Sisi of Egypt arrived in London yesterday – just in time for the 409th anniversary of Britain's most famous bomb plot. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn denounced his visit and demonstrators angered at… Read more
A brief update on the Sinai air disaster. A statement by the head of Russia's Air Transport Agency that the Airbus which crashed on Saturday "disintegrated in the air at a high altitude" has renewed media speculation about a jihadist attack.
An editorial in today's Daily Mirror, for… Read more
Initial reports of the Russian airliner crash over Sinai yesterday were quick to point out that the disaster occurred in an area where Egyptian security forces are fighting an Islamist insurgency. Several hours later a statement ostensibly issued by the Islamic State claimed to have shot the… Read more
The Saudi-led aerial bombardment of Yemen entered its eighth month on Monday – an occasion marked by a series of strikes that almost completely destroyed a hospital in Saada province supported by Médecins Sans Frontières.
Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini troops are also known to be fighting on the… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
