index middle east
[Link] Maya Assad's family has been stateless for generations, but that could soon change
Read: 10/4/2022 www.abc.net.au
For more than a year the engineer and her businessman husband had been jobless, as the economy in the country in which she was born and raised, Lebanon, imploded.
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[Link] Archeologists Discover Two Huge Sphinxes in Egyptian Ruins
Read: 23/1/2022 www.vice.com
Amenhotep III’s temple is packed with artifacts and was once a resplendent feature of Luxor. However, it has been eroded by thousands of years of floods and at least one ancient earthquake.
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[Link] Shooting at holy site in Jerusalem kills one and injures four
Read: 21/11/2021 www.abc.net.au
Israel says the shooting at a holy site for Jews and Muslims by a Palestinian gunman has left one dead and four injured. The attack took place near an entrance to a contested flashpoint shrine known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, police said.
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[Link] Sally Rooney novels pulled from Israeli bookstores after translation boycott
Read: 6/11/2021 www.theguardian.com
Books by will no longer be sold in two Israeli bookshop chains, after the acclaimed writer’s decision not to sell translation rights for her most recent novel to an Israeli publisher.
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[Link] US Department of State stresses support of SDF
Read: 4/11/2021 npasyria.com
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Sunday, the US Department of State stressed that they will continue to support the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against ISIS and support stability in the region.
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[Link] ‘The court of God will be waiting for him’: Iraqis react to Colin Powell’s death
Read: 19/10/2021 www.theguardian.com
For many Iraqis, Colin Powell was the face of the US invasion which caused an estimated 200,000 deaths, unleashing nearly two decades of domestic chaos and precipitating chaos throughout the region.
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[Link] Colin Powell’s UN speech: a decisive moment in undermining US credibility
Read: 19/10/2021 www.theguardian.com
Colin Powell will be most remembered for the act he most regretted, his 2003 presentation to the UN security council laying out US evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which turned out not to exist.
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[Link] Australia expresses ‘sorrow’ after Afghan army deserter Hekmatullah, who killed three ADF soldiers, set free
Read: 11/10/2021 www.theguardian.com
The Australian government has expressed “sorrow” after a former Afghan soldier convicted of murdering three Australian soldiers in Afghanistan was released from custody in Qatar.
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[Link] Taliban have captured more than 100 military helicopters, Russia says
Read: 26/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
The Taliban have captured more than 100 Russian-made helicopters in various states of operability, the head of a Russian state arms exporter has said, but will be largely unable to use them with little access to maintenance crews and spare parts.
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[Link] One of the World's Most Wanted Terrorists is Strolling Freely Through Kabul
Read: 23/8/2021 www.vice.com
One of the United States’ most wanted terrorists and a senior member of a group with strong ties to al-Qaida appeared in the Afghan capital of Kabul late last week.
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[Link] Nosedive in UK-US relations is another casualty of Afghanistan’s fall
Read: 23/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
So much for the special relationship. As the Afghanistan crisis has unfolded, it has precipitated a high-speed deterioration in Anglo-American relations.
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[Link] Monsters, Inc: The Taliban as Empire’s bogeyman
Read: 22/8/2021 www.aljazeera.com
The dominant narrative on the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan erases the decades of imperial violence Afghans suffered.
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[Link] Biden Assured Allies in June U.S. Would Ensure Kabul’s Stability
Read: 22/8/2021 www.bloomberg.com
President Joe Biden told key allies in June that he would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan to ensure they could continue to operate in the capital following the main U.S.
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[Link] Australian military rescue mission to Afghanistan launched
Read: 18/8/2021 www.abc.net.au
An urgent and dangerous Defence Force mission to evacuate Australians and Afghans from Kabul’s besieged international airport has begun, with an RAAF transport aircraft flying out of the capital this morning.
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[Link] Afghanistan will be Asia's first narco-state
Read: 18/8/2021 thehill.com
The Taliban once again control Afghanistan, which means they also control the world’s premier source of opium.
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[Link] A Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 was able to land in and take off from Kabul on Monday despite chaos at the airport
Read: 18/8/2021 www.businessinsider.com
While military and civilian aircraft were scrambling to get out of Kabul, Afghanistan, one Turkish Airlines plane was trying to get in. Turkish Airlines flew what is likely its last flight to Kabul on Monday amid an exodus of civilians following the Taliban's rapid advance through the capital.
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[Link] British Student ‘Lord Miles’ Evacuated from Afghanistan
Read: 18/8/2021 www.vice.com
Miles Routledge, the 21 year old university student who traveled to Kabul on Friday just before the Taliban overthrew Afghanistan's government, has been evacuated to Dubai, according to updates and video he posted to his Facebook page.
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[Link] Human Remains Found in Landing Gear of Kabul Evacuation Plane
Read: 17/8/2021 www.vice.com
Human remains have been found in the landing gear of a U.S. Air Force plane that took off from the Kabul airport, after Afghans were seen clambering onto evacuating aircraft in a desperate attempt to flee the country.
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[Link] Swift Taliban takeover proves US and UK analysis badly wrong
Read: 17/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
Joe Biden could not have been clearer: a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was “not inevitable”, the US president said on 8 July.
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[Link] Expected Afghan influx reopens divisions over refugees in Europe
Read: 17/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
The fall of Kabul has reopened divisions over immigration in European countries as government leaders brace themselves for an inevitable surge in refugees.
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[Link] Coalition accused of being too slow to organise evacuation mission to Afghanistan
Read: 17/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
The Australian government has been accused of waiting far too long to organise a military evacuation mission to Afghanistan, as it sends 250 defence force personnel to the region in a last-ditch bid to help people flee the Taliban.
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[Link] The Panjshir Valley: what is the main bastion of resistance against the Taliban advance in Afghanistan
Read: 17/8/2021 marketresearchtelecast.com
Panjshir province and its valley, a hundred kilometers north of Kabul, once again became the main stronghold against the Taliban, after the rest of the 34 Afghan provinces, including the capital, fell into insurgent hands. on a quick offensive.
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[Link] Joe Biden says he stands by US withdrawal from Afghanistan
Read: 17/8/2021 www.abc.net.au
US President Joe Biden says he stands squarely behind his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, after the Taliban seized power in just over a week. Mr Biden said the collapse of the Afghan armed forces was quicker than anticipated, but insisted contingency plans were in place.
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[Link] This Taliban directive is a stark warning of what lies ahead for Afghan women and girls
Read: 16/8/2021 www.abc.net.au
Since the withdrawal of American and NATO forces from Afghanistan in July, the Taliban have swiftly taken control of large parts of the country. The president has fled and the government has fallen.
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[Link] How These Young Activists Are Uniting Middle Easterners
Read: 15/8/2021 www.vice.com
The youth-run organization is based in the US but has created an international community that lives online with the sole purpose of bringing to light human right violations and current events happening in the Middle East.
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[Link] Taliban seize symbolic victory with capture of Kunduz
Read: 9/8/2021 www.theguardian.com
The Taliban have claimed a huge symbolic victory after their fighters seized a large city for the first time in northern Afghanistan as part of a seemingly unstoppable offensive in which they have captured four provincial capitals in just three days.
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[Link] Taliban assassinates Afghan government's top media officer in Kabul
Read: 8/8/2021 www.abc.net.au
The Taliban shot dead the head of the Afghan government's media information centre at a mosque in the capital, the ministry said, days after warning they would target senior administration officials in retaliation for increased air strikes.
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[Link] Federation of Anarchism Era on Iran and Afghanistan
Read: 8/8/2021 thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org
The collective we spoke to for this episode began as a series of remotely-hosted blogs and communication methods among Iranian anarchists at home and abroad.
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[Link] Afghan Interpreters Escaping the Taliban Are Being Flown to Canada
Read: 5/8/2021 www.vice.com
Flights carrying Afghani interpreters and support staff who helped the U.S. and Canadian militaries during the Afghanistan War touched down in North America over the past week, as a new Taliban offensive surges across the country.
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[Link] Israeli authorities investigate NSO Group over Pegasus spyware abuse claims
Read: 30/7/2021 www.theregister.com
Israel's Ministry of Defense says the nation's government has visited spyware-for-governments developer NSO Group to investigate allegations its wares have been widely – and perhaps willingly – misused.
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[Link] Afghanistan stunned by scale and speed of security forces’ collapse
Read: 14/7/2021 www.theguardian.com
Last autumn, with the departure of American troops from Afghanistan looming after the US signed a withdrawal deal with the Taliban, several of the most senior security officials in Kabul urged President Ashraf Ghani to make some hard choices.
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[Link] US strikes hit Iran-backed militia facilities in Iraq and Syria
Read: 28/6/2021 www.theguardian.com
The US has carried out air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, in response to drone attacks by the militia against US personnel and facilities in Iraq.