Middle East

Photo: "The Guardian of Time", a sculpture by Lebanese artist Tony Farah outside the lower cave at Jeita. CC BY-SA 3.0

Embedded in Beirut: A Communion with Ancestors

Recollections by a Nigerian journalist who toured Lebanon two years ago

By Louis Odion

*The writer, Fellow of Nigerian Guild of Editors, is the Senior Technical Assistant on Media to President Muhammadu Buhari.

ABUJA (IDN) – Many wished they were allowed to capture the moment with the camera, but the literary amazon from Borno beheld a different picture in the officially restricted space. She saw politics in the classification of the Jeita Grotto as the "world's 15th wonder" and not within the first 10.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Middle East; 06 August 2020

Photo: Protests in Tripoli, opposing foreign support of General Haftar. (Photo: YouTube Screenshot)

Time Is Not on Our Side in Libya

A "Demilitarization Zone" Would Divide the War-Torn Country into Two Parts

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad*

This article was originally produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) – Ahmed, who lives in Tripoli, Libya, texts me that the city is quieter than before. The army of General Khalifa Haftar—who controls large parts of eastern Libya—has withdrawn from the southern part of the capital and is now holding fast in the city of Sirte and at the airbase of Jufra. Most of Libya’s population lives along the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, which is where the cities of Tripoli, Sirte, Benghazi, and Tobruk are located.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 22 July 2020

Photo: The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is providing services to displaced women and girls across northeast Syria. Credit: UNFPA Syria.

Put Women at The Centre of Syria Crisis Response

Viewpoint by Dr Natalia Kanem and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Dr Natalia Kanem is the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Executive Director of UN Women.

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the Syria crisis enters its 10th year, the situation is especially dire for women and girls, with the effects of COVID-19 compounding the risks and hardships for millions of people inside the country and for refugees around the region.

Today nearly 12 million people in Syria require urgent humanitarian assistance and around 4 million depend on cross-border aid. Some 5.7 million Syrians have fled and are now residing in countries throughout the region.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 01 July 2020

The Middle East Reeling Under COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Food Security

By Bernhard Schell

AMMAN (IDN) – Highlighting the increasingly dire situation in countries across the Middle East, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that "deep humanitarian needs will worsen and new ones will emerge if the international community doesn't factor socio-economic aftershocks into our response and protect livelihoods and food security".

: Bernhard Schell; THE WORLD; Middle East; 28 June 2020

Why Global Arms Embargo Against Iran Must Remain in Place

Viewpoint by Hassan Mahmoudi

The writer is a social analyst, researcher, an independent observer and commentator of Middle Eastern and Iran. The article reflects his personal perspectives and opinions, which are not necessarily shared by the International Press Syndicate Group and its flagship IDN-DepthNews.

STOCKHOLM (IDN) – The global arms embargo against Iran, imposed by UN in the Security Council Resolution 2231, will, shockingly enough, be lifted in five months.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 21 June 2020

Photo: Images of former South African President F.W. de Klerk (left) and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

In Quest of The Israeli De Klerk

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has announced that in a month's time he will start to annex the large-scale Jewish settlements inside Palestinian territory, a step as provocative as one can imagine. Not even President Donald Trump's Administration which has supported Israel with many measures has not gone along with such thinking.

Supporting the creation of settlements, Trump appears to think, is one thing, annexing a step too far. On the other hand, he has made it clear how close to Netanyahu he feels. He may well end up supporting the prime minister.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 02 June 2020

Photo: The foreign ministers from Iran and the countries of the P5+1, as well as the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, after agreeing the Iran Nuclear deal, 14 July 2015. Courtesy of Dragan Tatic/Wikimedia.

US Seeks Iran Arms Embargo Extension Riling Europe

By Kelsey Davenport and Julia Masterson

While Julia Masterson is research assistant, Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy at Arms Control Association. The Association's website published this analysis on May 15.

WASHINGTON (IDN) – The United States is considering a range of options to prevent the October 2020 expiration of a UN embargo that restricts arms sales to and from Iran. Those options include making a legal case that the United States remains a bona fide participant of the nuclear deal with Iran that it withdrew from in May 2018 in order to use a Security Council provision to block the embargo's expiration.

: Arms Control Association; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 16 May 2020

Photo: President Richard Nixon met with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on October 8, 1973, in Washington in the Oval Office of the White House and said that the U.S. intended to make every effort to bring an end to the fighting in the Middle East. Nixon did not detail the Administration’s position to be put forward in the UN Security Council on that day but said that the US would not make a grandstand play. (UPI Photo/Files)

Tale of a Machiavellian US in the Middle East

The US Has to Work with Russia, Not Against It

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The war in Syria has dropped out of the news, like almost everything else, in a time when the Coronavirus seems to dominate all discourse and reporting. But the regime of Bashar al-Assad continues to strangle its own country. The Russians continue to bomb on his behalf, terrifying civilians and hospitals. The Americans work semi-clandestinely to undermine both the regime and its Russian backers.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 12 May 2020

Photo: A wide view of the Security Council meeting as Nickolay Mladenov (on screen), UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefs the Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. (18 October 2018 - UN Photo/Rick Bajornas)

UN Concerned About the 'Growing Threat' of Annexation of Palestine

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the world's attention is turned to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, a special Committee of the UN General Assembly has alerted about "the threat of annexation" of the Palestinian territory by Israel. "Annexation is a threat to the two-state solution," the Committee accentuated.

Earlier, on April 23, UN Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov warned the Security Council of "the dangerous prospect of annexation by Israel of parts of the occupied West Bank is a growing threat".

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 09 May 2020

Photo: ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, presents her Office’s 19th report on the Situation in Libya remotely. © ICC-CPI

ICC Prosecutor Reminds the Security Council of a Special Responsibility for Libya

By Fatou Bensouda

The following are extensive excerpts from the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Ms Fatou Bensouda's statement by video to the UN Security Council on May 5.

NEW YORK | THE HAGUE (IDN) – Despite some inevitable limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, my Office's Libya team is forging ahead with its judicial work and investigations, managing to remain active and productive in these exceptional times. The Libya situation remains a priority for my Office, and I seize the opportunity in this forum to announce that my team is working on applications for new warrants of arrest.