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Tunisian leaders yesterday agreed on a road map aimed at resolving the country's political crisis. The plan, which requires the Islamist-led government to hand over power to a technocratic caretaker administration, has been widely hailed as a preferable alternative to the military…
On August 14, hundreds of Egyptians died when security forces
violently dispersed sit-in protests against the military takeover that ousted President Morsi. One week later, hundreds of Syrians died in the chemical attacks near Damascus. Both these massacres were on a similar scale, and…
Star Trekker: Abdullah before he became king of Jordan
Mohamed Morsi, the ousted Egyptian president, admires Planet of the Apes. King Abdullah of Jordan is a Star Trek enthusiast who even made a brief appearance in one of its episodes. These were a couple of obscure facts that I learned…
There's yet another twist in the story of Yahya Ababneh, the mystery journalist who reported claims that Saudi Arabia supplied chemical weapons to Syrian rebels. After more than a month's silence since the claims were published on an American "advocacy journalism" website, Ababneh has now…
For the first time since the Syrian conflict erupted, a political solution under UN auspices is beginning to look like a real possibility. There's still a long way to go, of course, but the Security Council's unanimous adoption of a binding resolution on dismantling Syria's chemical…
In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov continues to claim that Syrian rebels were responsible for the chemical attacks in Damascus on August 21.
Lavrov "recently presented his US counterpart John Kerry with the latest compilation of evidence,…
I have spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks looking into the story that Saudi Arabia provided rebel fighters in Syria with chemical weapons. More specifically, I have been looking at the story of how it became a story – along with the questions this raises about the boundaries between…
New questions have arisen about Yahya Ababneh, the alleged author of an article claiming that the chemical deaths in Damascus last month were caused by rebel fighters mishandling weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia.
The story, originally published by an American website, Mint Press…
The story behind the story about Saudi Arabia supposedly providing Syrian rebels with chemical weapons gets weirder and weirder, though perhaps also a little clearer.
For readers who haven't been following the tale, I'll start with a quick catch-up. Last month an American website, Mint Press News,…
The mystery surrounding an internet article cited by Russia to cast doubt on the findings of UN weapons inspectors in Syria took a new twist yesterday when one of the alleged authors denied having written the article.
The article, headed "Syrians in Ghouta claim Saudi-supplied rebels behind…
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
