Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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An Iraqi man crosses a street past security forces during clashes in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, on October 10, 2015 (AFP)

Autumn of the Iraqi Map

by Ghassan Charbel | Sep 4, 2017 | Opinion

On the way from Erbil to Kirkuk, strange feelings haunted me. For the first time in my life, I wish I were a foreign correspondent, who writes with neutrality and sangfroid and looks for a stark title for his article. When he leaves the country, he turns the page and...

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ISIS militants (Photo: AFP)

ISIS Members from Iraq, Syria Tell their Stories

by Ghassan Charbel | Aug 31, 2017 | Middle East

Erbil- I had a strange sensation while I was sitting in the counter-terrorism headquarters in Erbil, amidst hundreds of ISIS men distributed in the prison chambers and cells. In the morning I discussed with Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masoud Barzani the future...

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Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani. (Reuters)

Barzani: Maliki’s Crime against Kurdish Region Worse than Saddam’s Anfal Operation

by Ghassan Charbel | Aug 30, 2017 | Interviews

Irbil – President of the Kurdish Iraqi Region Masoud Barzani expressed his disappointment and “bitterness” towards former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Baghdad’s treatment of Kurds during his time in office. Barzani told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday that...

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Iraqi forces make a “V” sign and display an Iraqi flag as part of a victory celebration after defeating ISIS militants and retaking the Grand al-Nuri Mosque in the Old City in Mosul. Thomson Reuters

Victory and Questions on the ISIS Hurricane

by Ghassan Charbel | Aug 28, 2017 | Opinion

Anyone who defeats ISIS has the right to celebrate. This dangerous organization is an existential threat that can’t be tamed or lived with. The choice is clear: you either eradicate it or it eradicates you. ISIS surfaced with a hurricane of blood, mud, and darkness....

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People gather around an impromptu memorial two days after a van crashed into pedestrians at Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2017 (Reuters)

Why do We Attack the World?

by Ghassan Charbel | Aug 21, 2017 | Opinion

Whenever an explosion shakes a city, the same scene is repeated. I see eyes fastened to the breaking news on the screens. I hear the whispers of my colleagues: let’s hope the perpetrator is not an Arab; let’s hope he’s not a Muslim; we don’t need more… I hear them and...