Middle East

President Obama has asked Congress to delay its vote on authorizing military force in “Syria”http://www.democracynow.org/topics/syria while the United States weighs a potential diplomatic breakthrough with Russia. In a national address from the White House Tuesday night, Obama said the United…

Democracy Now! As President Obama prepares to address the nation on his push for congressional backing of a military strike on Syria, the Assad regime has accepted a Russian initiative to put its chemical weapons under international control. Could the…

From Occupy London “Marking almost two years since Occupy took on London Stock Exchange, this mass mobilisation will challenge another pillar of global injustice: the arms industry which dominates public spending priorities, and profits from conflict and repression. The action…

“Never has the use of violence brought peace in its wake. War begets war, violence begets violence.” So said Pope Francis, addressing the crowd on Sunday in the Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square. He was speaking about the crisis in…

By Thalif Deen | UNITED NATIONS, Sep 4 2013 (IPS) – The United States, which is preparing to launch a military strike on Syria, is being cautioned by several former world leaders and Nobel Peace laureates to seek a political…

The Obama administration is gaining ground in its bid to win congressional approval before launching a military strike on Syria. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain met with Obama on Monday, along with fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.…

By Jayantha Dhanapal and Paolo Cotta-Ramusino for IDN-InDepth News As an emotional and political roller-coaster about Syria continues, some of the crucial facts and background are being ignored. So that these do not disappear completely from the radar, IDN is…

We started to cover Syria, it was February 2012, because we believed a red line had been crossed: demonstrations against Assad were being swept away by bullets and mortar fire. But confrontation between the regime and the newborn Free Army,…

British involvement in any military action against Syria has been ruled out after the government lost the vote in Parliament, with a number of the MPs of the Lib-Con coalition in government joining forces with the Labour party. Ed Miliband,…

The recent acts of political violence in the Middle East’s Levant are not unrelated. Car bombings in the predominantly Shia southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh; twin bombings targeting Sunni mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli; an alleged chemical…