(Middle East Eye) – Teacher Khasem Abdali stands in front of a group of Iraqis, leading a self-improvement class in downtown Fallujah. “Why did Daesh kill barbers, musicians and singers?” he asks, refering to Islamic State. “Because Daesh’s version of Islam means killing, hatred and scorn for others, but our true Islam calls for peace, […]
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(HWR) – Saudi Arabia today attempted to sell its changes to the full blockade on all Yemen land, air, and sea ports as concrete humanitarian progress today. They aren’t. Link
(The Globe Post) – As Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it would begin reopening ports and allowing flights to land in Yemen, aid agencies working in the country warned that millions of lives are at risk from the blockade. The Saudi mission to the United Nations said on Sunday that the coalition fighting Houthi rebels […]
(Middle East Eye) – At least 61 Syrian civilians have been killed after air strikes, believed to be Russian, hit a popular market in the Aleppo countryside on Monday, activists reported. Several missiles hit the town of Atarib, despite it falling within a “de-escalation” zone. Link
(The New York Times) – The quality of mercy is strained in the Middle East. Last week, Saudi Arabia closed off the highways, sea routes and airports in war-torn Yemen, forbidding humanitarian groups from even shipping chlorine tablets for the Yemenis suffering from a cholera epidemic. More than 500,000 Yemenis have been infected with cholera this year and […]
(Reuters) – Rohingya refugee children from Myanmar are working punishing hours for paltry pay in Bangladesh, with some suffering beatings and sexual assault, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has found. Independent reporting by Reuters corroborated some of the findings. Link
(The Guardian) – Last June, in the intense heat of a Ukrainian summer, four of Ludmila Brozhyk’s neighbours were sitting chatting in the sunshine. The children had stayed indoors, in the relative cool, to watch cartoons. When the mortar bomb dropped it came out of a clear blue sky. Link
(The Guardian) – Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad in Syria have committed crimes against humanity through their “starve or surrender” strategy and sieges that have devastated areas controlled by the opposition, a report by human rights watchdog Amnesty International has concluded. The report, to be released on Monday, examines four “reconciliation” deals between the Assad regime and the […]
(Reuters) – A senior United Nations official said on Sunday she would raise the issue of persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, especially sexual violence and torture, with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary- General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, also said around $10 million is needed immediately to deliver specialist services […]
(ECHO) – On 6 November the Saudi led military coalition closed air, sea and land entry points to Yemen. This decision has caused major disruptions in the urgent delivery of life-saving activities and a sharp rise in the price of basic commodities, as confirmed by EU partners on the ground. Link
