Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Media ID: 55297451
Caption:

A U.S. soldier aims his weapon at a man who a soldier had just shot in the neck as he attempted to flee down a narrow alley in a van, across the street from the scene of Tuesday’s intense shootout on a house in Mosul, Iraq on Wednesday, July 23, 2003. (AP)

Ten Years On: The Iraq War Was Not Justified

by Gerard Russel | Mar 31, 2013 | Debate

The first Westerner to invade and occupy Iraq has been respected and admired by its people ever since. I refer, of course, to Alexander the Great, known in Arabic as Dhu Al–Qurnain. Even the British, when they took over the administration of the country a hundred...

Media ID: 55296132
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A resident inspects the damages at an ancient Souk caused by what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Deir Ezzor. (R)

Deir Ezzor: The Syrian Conflict’s Forgotten City

by Hannah Lucinda Smith | Mar 18, 2013 | Features

Deir Ezzor, Asharq Al-Awsat—In the flickering light of the spartan room, Kaser Abu Ayyub strips off his jeans and Adidas jacket and pulls on his military fatigues and pistol. Shadows of a former family life surround him; delicate coffee cups plated with gold on a...

Media ID: 55294311
Caption:

An Iraqi demonstrator flies an old Iraqi flag used between 1991-2004 as others shout slogans during a demonstration on January 18, 2013, in Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk, criticising Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and demanding the release of prisoners they say are wrongfully held. (AFP PHOTO / MARWAN IBRAHIM)

Old Elites Fighting Old Wars in Old Ways in Iraq

by Amir Taheri | Mar 1, 2013 | Opinion

In an address at the University of Basra last week, Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki warned against “the threat of sectarianism.” Events in the past weeks give some credence to the warning. We have witnessed mass demonstrations in such Sunni-majority provinces as...