Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Iraqi troops raise up their weapons as they arrive to support the Sunni anti-Al-Qaeda militia Awakening Movement in its fight against anti-government militants, including from the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Anbar province, Iraq, on June 21, 2014. (AFP PHOTO/STR)

Opinion: A Century of Sykes–Picot

by Ali Ibrahim | Jun 25, 2014 | Opinion

Is this the end of the Sykes–Picot plan for the Middle East? This has become a regular question among Western commentators these days as the world prepares to commemorate 100 years since the start of World War I, a conflict which serves as a historic lesson on how...

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Protesters wave national flags as they chant slogans against the Iraqi parliament in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

Editorial: The future of Iraq is the future of the region

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Jun 17, 2014 | Opinion

Iraq is witnessing a period of disorder and confusion similar to the state of chaos that prevailed over the country following the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. Mystery continues to surround the situation, particularly regarding the Iraqi Army’s...

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FILE – This Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a general view of Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria. Syrian government troops seized two villages, one of them an ancient Christian hamlet, north of Damascus on Monday, April 14, 2014 as part of the […]

Opinion: Profuse Apologies to Sykes and Picot

by Eyad Abu Shakra | Apr 17, 2014 | Opinion

Conflicting field reports emerged earlier this week about the Syrian town of Maaloula falling into the hands of the regime’s army, Hezbollah and other allies of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, as well as leaks about the imminent withdrawal of rebels from the...

Opinion: Sunnistan and Shi’itestan

by Ali Ibrahim | Oct 2, 2013 | Opinion

Some of the articles and analyses of Western experts urge one—although I disagree with them—to reconsider firm convictions or ideas that have been consolidated by virtue of geography or history. Among these ideas and theories which have been proposed amid the storms...