New developments are taking us into some uncharted territories in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Yet the familiar cycles of violence and patterns of control prevail. The plight of Middle Eastern Christians has been highlighted this month by an interim report commissioned by the UK government, which warned that they face being “wiped out” from parts of […]
New complications in the region’s conflicts are threatening to divide powerful allies. At the end of last year, there was an emerging view that the Syrian war had reached its peak and was starting to de-escalate. The last few weeks, however, have pointed in the opposite direction, with some of the fiercest aerial bombing campaigns by forces loyal to Assad […]
While 2017 saw military power finally overwhelm the territorial ambitions of so-called Islamic State, the lasting effects of conflict, continuing struggles between regional powers, and increasingly forceful policies being pursued by some mean that this is set to be another challenging year for the region. Iran made headlines at the turn of the year in a way that no-one had […]
SAT-7 airs prayers for peace in city that became synonymous with cruelty and death In early December, Middle East Christian broadcaster SAT-7 and associate ministry Light for All Nations (LFAN) Ministries filmed the first on-the-ground footage in Raqqa, Syria since so-called Islamic State militants left. The two networks co-produced the documentary, Al Raqqa: between Yesterday and Today, presenting a message […]
A controversial referendum for Kurdish independence in Northern Iraq dominated the region’s headlines and triggered the rapid deployment of Iraqi forces to Kirkuk. As expected, on 25 September Kurds in Northern Iraq held a referendum for independence from Iraq. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Kurds have enjoyed a de-facto regional governance and since then have aspired to create an […]
Supporting women survivors Modern wars, like those in Syria and Iraq, take place, not on battlefields, but in narrow streets and densely populated cities. Airstrikes on buildings, car bombs in markets, snipers on rooftops – these don’t discriminate between fighter and civilian. Over the 20th century the proportion of civilian casualties in war climbed from 5 per cent to 90 […]
Modern wars, like those in Syria and Iraq, take place, not on battlefields, but in narrow streets and densely populated cities. Airstrikes on buildings, car bombs in markets, snipers on rooftops – these don’t discriminate between fighter and civilian. Over the 20th century the proportion of civilian casualties in war climbed from 5 per cent to 90 per cent, according […]
The deep conflicts and crises of the region continue, even as the region is poised for an historic new development in northern Iraq. In Syria, so-called Islamic State (IS) continued to relinquish control of more of its territory, including parts of its self-declared capital of Raqqa. IS forces in Deir El-Zour are now under severe pressure from two sides, from […]
Simmering tensions and long-held mistrust have come to the surface this month in mass protests in Israel and continuing deadlock in the Gulf. After two months of sanctions on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, there has been no sign of a resolution. Despite previous tensions with Qatar, the current rift is the deepest ever. Diplomatic relations have […]
Founder and CEO of Christian satellite TV broadcaster SAT-7, Dr Terence Ascott, painted a gloomy picture of the Middle East in its 2016 Annual Report. Warning that the entire region was “going backwards in development terms”, he pointed to a series of grim statistics that underline the crisis across the Middle East right now. The Arab World comprises just 5% […]
