News and analysis

An extended excerpts video with English subtitles of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent speech on Martyr’s Day (16/02/2014). In this video, Sayyed Nasrallah puts forward several arguments that demonstrate the necessity of his party’s military involvement in the Syrian war.  

Bulldozers are set to knock down a building in the holy city of Mecca, where Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) is believed to have been born. The demolition of the House of Mawlid is part of a multi-billion-dollar project to build a modern complex near the Masjid al-Haram (Grand …

Iran plans to build 200,000 houses in Iraq, a senior adviser to the Iranian vice-president announced on Sunday. “Iraq is planning to build 2mln houses for the poor people,” Rostam Qassemi, a former oil minister under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who is now an advisor to the first vice-president, said. “And …

A Syrian opposition leader has praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for expressing support for militants wounded during the conflict in Syria. Muhammad Badie told Israel Radio Friday that the Syrian opposition is grateful to Netanyahu for his February 18 tour to a field hospital in the (occupied) Golan Heights. …

The leadership of some al-Qaeda affiliates is witnessing a generational shift from older men to men in their 30s and 40s, a UN report says. According to BBC, the study also found some cells were now recruiting members as young as 12. It warned of new international networks emerging from …

Below is a translation of the speech of Sayyid Muqtada Al-Sadr, dated 18th February 2014: I am not of those who turn a blind eye and keep their mouths shut in the face of corruption and wrongdoing. It has been decreed upon us, the Sadrs, to be those who call …

The twin suicide bombings yesterday in Bir Hassan, south of Beirut, were rightfully described as “an attack on the Islamic orphanage.” In fact, the two blasts shook the neighborhood surrounding al-Majad Center, part of the Social Welfare Institutions, where about 100 children were playing outside and 150 others were attending …

Boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) are big news in 2014. If Scarlett Johansson’s Sodastream fiasco didn’t grab your attention, perhaps the American Studies Association’s boycott of Israeli universities did, or Netanyahu’s increasing talk of million-dollar PR campaigns, legal offensives and diplomacy efforts to counter the BDS threat. Opinion pages are filled with debate, John Kerry has warned …

Updated at 3:40 pm: The Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for a twin suicide car bomb attack near an Iranian cultural center in a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday morning. The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the 9:20 am explosion appeared to have been caused by …

The ninth meeting of the Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union (IIPU) has opened in the Iranian capital, Tehran, with representatives from nearly 50 countries in attendance. The IIPU meeting kicked off in Tehran on Tuesday with a speech by Sudanese National Assembly Speaker Al-Fateh Ezzedin, whose country holds the rotating presidency of …