Dahr Jamail

DAMASCUS – Syrian capital Damascus is being flooded with refugees. The devastation in Beirut is beginning to show in another capital. The disaster response director at the Damascus headquarters of the Red Crescent, Raed al-Tollin, told IPS that while he does not have exact figures, their shelter has been deluged with refugees since the crisis … Continue reading “Lebanese Refugees Crowd Damascus”

LATAKIA, Syria – Hezbollah, a group often misunderstood by Westerners, is a militant as well as political group. The Arabic name means “Party of God.” Led by the charismatic Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Islamist Shi’ite group was set up in 1982 to resist Israeli occupation of Lebanon during the brutal civil war. The group … Continue reading “Hezbollah an Emerging Political Force”

LEBANON-SYRIA BORDER – Refugees fleeing Beirut in the face of Israeli air attacks are speaking of "haphazard bombings" and a crisis situation developing in the city. Israeli warplanes bombed the suburbs of Beirut overnight, killing three people and wounding 55, according to Lebanese police. Residents reported at least four Israeli missile strikes early Friday morning. … Continue reading “Lebanon Refugees Speak of Catastrophic Bombing”

DAMASCUS – Syrians are outraged over Israeli air strikes in Lebanon that have killed scores of civilians and closed down Beirut’s international airport. Early Thursday morning, Israeli air strikes targeted the new Rafiq al-Hariri international airport. Israeli naval vessels entered Lebanon’s territorial waters and blocked access to ports while its forces launched an offensive in … Continue reading “Lebanese Tremors Rock Syria”

With Ali Fadhil FALLUJAH – It could be called perhaps just another raid. Early in the morning on Sunday, June 18, U.S. military helicopters landed near the home of Sinan Abdul-Ilah al-Mashadani in the al-Jughaifi district of Fallujah. Within two minutes the doors of his home were blasted open and "a strange looking group of … Continue reading “Iraq: Another Face, Another Raid”

Surprise, surprise. In an interview with John King from CNN last Thursday, Dick Cheney said that withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq would be the “worst possible thing we could do.” Doing his best to stoke the always simmering fears of so many U.S. residents (let us be careful how we use the word “citizen”), Cheney … Continue reading “‘Packing It In’”

“My personal opinion is that the only way we will lose this war is if we pull out prematurely,” said Col. Jeffrey Snow, who commands a brigade of soldiers in Iraq. Snow, as reported by AFP on June 30, fears losing public support in the U.S. for the ongoing occupation of Iraq because of “negative … Continue reading “Snow Jobs, Zarqawi, and
Bogus Peace Plans”

with Ali Fadhil One and a half years after the November 2004 U.S. military assault on Fallujah, residents tell of ongoing suffering, lack of jobs, little reconstruction and continuing violence. The US military launched Operation Phantom Fury against the city of Fallujah-destroying an estimated 70 percent of the buildings, homes and shops, and killing between … Continue reading “Rebuilding? Not for Fallujah”

On Tuesday, June 13, while Mr. Bush spent a brave five hours in the “green zone” of Baghdad with puppet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, at least 36 people were killed across Iraq amid a wave of bombings. Eighteen of those died in a spasm of bombings in the oil city of Kirkuk in the … Continue reading “‘Operation Forward Together’: Deeper Into the Quagmire”

With Ali Fadhil RAMADI – As the threat of a giant U.S. military operation in Ramadi lingers and sporadic clashes plague the city daily, residents struggle to cope, both inside and outside the sealed city. A week spent in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province west of Baghdad, reveals that residents are suffering from lack … Continue reading “Ramadi Residents Struggle to Survive”