Month: May 2015

Hamas struggling with emerging Islamist parties

Author: Hana Salah - Translator: Pascale el-Khoury for AL-MONITOR -- Gaza Strip — Tensions are ongoing between the Hamas movement and the Salafist Ansar al-Dawla movement, which in February publicly declared its support for the Islamic State (IS), to which Hamas is opposed and which in turn does not look favorably upon Hamas. Meanwhile, on […]

ISIS claims Damam mosque bombing

Source: Reuters-- ISIS militants claimed responsibility for an attack Friday on a Shiite mosque in Saudi Arabia's Dammam in which four people were killed. A statement by ISIS posted on Twitter named the suicide bomber who carried out the attack as Abu Jandal al-Jizrawi, saying he had managed to reach his target despite heightened security. […]

Any Iran-US Rapprochement Will Weaken Israel’s Influence: Jim Lobe

By: Kourosh Ziabari -- Iran Review’s Interview -- Iran and the group of six world powers have about one month to make history and reach a comprehensive agreement to end the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program. Officials in Tehran have already indicated that they would be open to the possibility of extending the talks for […]

Iraq rebrands military campaign against Islamic State over fears of sectarianism

Source: Reuters -- A campaign led by Shi'ite paramilitaries to drive Islamic State militants from Iraq's Sunni heartland was rebranded on Wednesday after criticism that the name chosen for the push was overtly sectarian. The move was a response to fears that Iraq's reliance on Shi'ite paramilitaries to defeat Islamic State fighters, instead of the […]

France warns Iran over nuclear deal as deadline nears

Source: Reuters -- France warned on Wednesday it was ready to block a final deal between Iran and the six major powers unless Tehran provided inspectors access to all installations, including military sites. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last week ruled out international inspection of Iran's military sites or access to nuclear scientists under […]

Saudi Air strikes kill at least 80 in deadliest bombings of Yemen

Source: Reuters -- Saudi-led air strikes killed at least 80 people near Yemen's border with Saudi Arabia and in the capital Sanaa on Wednesday, residents said, the deadliest day of bombing in over two months of war in Yemen. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized Sanaa last September and then thrust into central and south Yemen. Seeing […]

Iraqi Forces Start Anbar Operation

Agence France Presse-- The operation by Iraqi government and allied forces to liberate Anbar and its capital Ramadi from ISIS was launched too soon, Parliament Speaker Salim al-Juburi said Wednesday. "Zero hour was announced but this important battle should have been better prepared, especially because Anbar is a bastion," he told AFP in an interview. […]

ISIS shoots dead 20 at Palmyra amphitheater

Reuters -- ISIS militants shot dead around 20 men inside an ancient amphitheater in the Syrian city of Palmyra Wednesday, accusing them of being government supporters, an activist group monitoring the conflict said. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the report from the Britain-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The hardline Sunni […]

Hezbollah strike Qalamoun jihadis with help of drone

The Daily Star-- A Hezbollah missile annihilated a group of at least three Islamist militants in Syria's Qalamoun region along the border with Lebanon Wednesday after being spotted by a drone, Al-Manar reported. “All members of a group of Nusra takfiri [militants] were killed in an ambush by the resistance" between the outskirts of the […]

Senior Hezbollah official speaks out

Al-Monitor interviewed Mohammad Raad, one of the founders of Hezbollah and the leader of the group's parliamentary bloc in Lebanon. Raad, who has a degree in philosophy from the Lebanese University, played a role in developing Hezbollah's internal constitution as well as its 1985 "Open Letter to the World," a document that expressed the party's […]

Iran and al Qaeda: More Enemies Than Allies

BY Barbara Slavin FOR AL-MONITOR -- Newly released correspondence from Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan contradicts U.S. assertions that al-Qaeda has a close relationship with Iran. According to a U.S. analysis of letters found in the Abbottabad compound when U.S. Special Forces killed bin Laden a year ago, “the relationship is not one of […]

Syrian rebels 'seize hospital holding 150 soldiers'

Source: AFP-- Islamist rebels on Friday overran a hospital in northwest Syria where at least 150 regime forces and dozens of civilians were trapped for nearly a month, a monitor said. The monitoring group's head said "dozens" of people had managed to flee but others were killed, wounded or taken hostage, without giving exact figures. […]

Seymour Hersh: "I Am Not Backing Off Anything I Said"

By Isaac Chotiner - Source: http://readersupportednews.org/-- In a blockbuster 10,000-word story for the London Review of Books this week, longtime New Yorker investigative journalist Seymour Hersh called into question the official account of the American raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, and argued that what is arguably seen as the apex of Barack Obama’s presidency […]

Takfiri Terrorists Implement the US-Israeli Plan of New Mideast

Source: http://www.17000.ir/-- The following is our interview with Dr. Mouzahem about development of Takfiri terrorism in the region as well as the issue of "Iran, victim of terrorism". Dr. Haytham Mouzahem is a Lebanese analyst and researcher specializing in Middle Eastern and Islamic affairs. He is a regular contributor to Al Hayat, Albalad and the […]

Iran’s new strategy in Syria

By Ali Hashem for Al-MONITOR -- For the past four years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been involved thoroughly in the developments taking place in Syria. The Iranian role reached its peak with the decision to defend the Syrian regime with all possible means, defining the war taking place in Syria as a battle […]

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