MARIB, YEMEN — Overcoming a rugged and Sahara-like desert climate and under the constant fire of Saudi warplanes, Tawfiq Hassan, a third-term Sufi law school student, along with a cadre of other young Yemeni fighters, partook in the recent liberation of the Nakhla Valley near the western gate of the city of Marib. “To recapture…

The war-torn country of Yemen is in the midst of the largest humanitarian crisis in the world thanks in large part to a Saudi-led war fueled by American weapons. Now, as the war nears its six-year anniversary in March, any hopes for a diplomatic resolution have faded faster than the presidency of Donald Trump, whose…

AL-BAYDA,YEMEN– Yemen may be set to repeat the horrific events of 2014, when fighters with the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) swept across Iraq and Syria, holding an area extending from western Iraq to eastern Syria and carrying out mass executions, kidnapping, and torture. Today, the same scenario is taking shape in…

The journey from Sana’a to the far northeastern stretches of al-Jawf through the Empty Quarter is an arduous affair. A veritable no man’s land, the region has long-enjoyed the dubious distinction of hosting strongholds of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a group that evolved and blossomed under the sponsorship of nearby Saudi Arabia. The…

DAMASCUS, SYRIA — If you’ve read the headlines about the death of “Syrian activist” Abdel Basset al-Sarout, you probably think he was a pretty cool guy. Headlines referring to him as a “Syrian footballer, singer and rebel” make him seem like he could have been the love child of Pelé and Freddie Mercury with the…

Recent storylines from the Western press on the “Idlib” narrative, particularly the extraordinary spate of “on-the-ground” reports from Sky News reporter Alex Crawford, have failed to paint an accurate picture of the reality faced by Syrian civilians. Brett McGurk – the U.S. government’s Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL — described…

DJIBOUTI — During the four years of war against it, Yemen has been subjected to numerous flagrant violations of its sovereignty by the Saudi-led Coalition, ranging from the occupation of its southern districts to a devastating blockade, not to mention the deliberate targeting and murder of thousands of civilians. Yet often overlooked is the Coalition’s…

Observers of developments in the Middle East have long taken it as a given that the United States and Israel are seeking for an excuse to attack Iran. The recently terminated conference in Warsaw had that objective, which was clearly expressed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but it failed to rally European and Middle…

The Saudi-led coalition provided US-made weapons to al-Qaeda-linked fighters, Salafi militias and other factions taking part in the intervention in Yemen, in violation with their agreements with the US, according to a CNN investigation. The weapons have also made their way into the hands of Iranian-backed rebels battling the coalition for control of the country, exposing…

In my lifetime, there has never been a greater force of evil than the terror rained down on Syria by foreign nations. Its cruelty and savagery have had no bounds. Nonetheless, Syria has defended itself against the economic might of 2/3 of the world’s great powers and has beaten them all. As a career military…

ALEPPO, SYRIA — On Saturday evening, a barrage of mortars filled with chemical weapons was launched into Syrian government-controlled territory in the Aleppo province by “rebels” linked to al Qaeda in the nearby Idlib province. The attack – which was confirmed by both pro-government and pro-opposition sources – left over 100 civilians hospitalized after the…

SANA’A, YEMEN — At least one third of those killed by U.S. drone strikes in the war-torn country of Yemen over the past year have been civilians, according to a recent Associated Press investigation. The troubling statistic comes amid a three-year-long bombing campaign of Western Yemen led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,…