Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Swiss man Lorenzo Vinciguerra is carried by soldiers, following his rescue, to a military hospital on the southern island of Jolo, Philippines, on December 6, 2014. (AFP Photo/Wesmincom)

Swiss hostage escapes from Filipino extremists

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 6, 2014 | World

Manila, AP—A Swiss hostage made a dramatic escape Saturday from Abu Sayyaf extremists when he hacked a rebel commander then got shot as he dashed to freedom amid a military artillery assault, ending more than two years of jungle captivity in the southern Philippines,...

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Members of Kurdish Peshmerga forces stand atop a hill during clashes with ISIS militants in Jalawla, Iraq, on June 14, 2014.
(AFP Photo/Rick Findler)

Peshmerga defused 3,000 ISIS bombs: official

by Dalshad Abdullah | Dec 6, 2014 | Middle East

Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—Kurdish Peshmerga forces have cleared as many as 3,000 bombs in the areas they liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a military official told Asharq Al-Awsat. “[The Peshmerga] have disabled more than 3,000 bombs on...

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A Palestinian book seller stands by his stall selling copies of the Qur’an as well as other books, in Rafah, southern Gaza.
(Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images)

The Troubled Journey of the Palestinian Novel

by Raba'i Al-Madhoun | Dec 6, 2014 | Lifestyle & Culture

London, Asharq Al-Awsat—If you attempt to search for Gazan fiction, you may get lost in a maze of answers, some of which are clear and precise, while others are like the statements issued by Palestinian factions—ambiguous. Gaza has been under siege for seven years and...

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Syrian women stand in line to receive their families’ share of winter aid kits at Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan last winter. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

Opinion: Perpetuating Syrian Suffering

by Osman Mirghani | Dec 6, 2014 | Opinion

The situation in Syria is going from bad to worse. The major strategy shift the US administration announced months ago to primarily focus on defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and postpone addressing the other complex aspects of the crisis has not...

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (LtoR) pose for photographers before a meeting in Vienna November 24, 2014. Iran, the United States and other world powers are all but certain to miss Monday’s deadline […]

Opinion: A Cage of Iran’s Own Making

by Abdulrahman Al-Rashed | Dec 6, 2014 | Opinion

There is a prevailing belief that Iran wants someone to save it from itself, not from Arabs or the West. Iran’s problem comes from within Iran itself and not from outside its borders. This seems to have been signaled by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said:...