Tag Archives: military

US President Barack Obama’s call for an “immediate, unconditional” humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza has strained Israeli-US ties and put Israeli Prime Minister in a spot of bother among hardliners in his government. According to analysts, Obama’s call for a ceasefire on Sunday was seen as an ultimatum to Netanyahu, as the death toll due to the Israeli violence in Gaza …

Another Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip; it’s not the first and won’t be the last if the political equation in the region does not change. With the previous offensives launched by Israel on Gaza, several military goals were declared. This time, “Operation Protective Edge” comes within a different context, with new domestic, regional and international factors at play. …

(Gaza) – Israeli air attacks in Gaza investigated by Human Rights Watch have been targeting apparent civilian structures and killing civilians in violation of the laws of war. Israel should end unlawful attacks that do not target military objectives and may be intended as collective punishment or broadly to destroy civilian property. Deliberate or reckless attacks violating the laws of …

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky, Ken Loach, Brian Eno, many more call for comprehensive military embargo on Israel, like that imposed on Apartheid South Africa. Israel has once again unleashed the full force of its military against the captive Palestinian population, particularly in the besieged Gaza Strip, in an inhumane and illegal act of military aggression. Israel’s ability to launch …

The Islamic State’s stunning advances in Syria over the past month defy basic military instincts. Consider, for example, the group’s remarkable turn of fortunes in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor in recent months, where ISIS—as the group was formerly known—all but vanished in February after local rebels joined forces to batter the remaining ISIS strongholds in the province. Rebel …

Research group Orb International’s new survey suggests that 60% of the Syrian population would support “international military involvement in Syria”. However, the percentage drops significantly in regime-held areas – 11% in Tartus, 36% in Damascus – and rises sharply in rebel-controlled areas – 82% in Al Raqqah, 61% in Aleppo and 88% in Idlib. It also found out that only …

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s decreed amnesty last month seems nothing more than a false promise of freedom, analysts say. On June 9th, after winning a controversial Presidential election held in only regime-controlled areas, Assad issued the amnesty which should have freed the near 100,000 prisoners human rights groups say have been detained since the rebellion against the Assad regime began …

The startling developments in northern Iraq, where the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has taken control of Mosul and other cities, highlights several troubling trends that have been evident across much of the Arab World for years. ISIS moved into Mosul and other cities swiftly and without any real combat because these underlying trends …

How it happened and why? The sudden collapse of military units defending Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, the late Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit and the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk is reminiscent of the swift disintegration of Saddam’s army at the gates of Baghdad in 2003. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s sectarian policies backfired dramatically last week when his army quickly …

The announcement on 13 May by the International Criminal Court prosecutor that she is reopening a ‘preliminary examination’ into alleged British war crimes in Iraq seems to have taken many in the UK by surprise. But it’s less surprising to anyone who has followed the obstructive way UK authorities have handled numerous allegations of detainee abuse in Iraq. The UK …