Saudi intellectual Dr. Turki Al-Hamad ( Majalla magazine) To write anything about Saudi Arabia is to invite controversy. The country has been both an incubator and a victim of terrorism for years. It has been a strong American ally on a range of regional and international issues. The Saudi Kingdom's support of Salafism worldwide for decades - scaled back in recent years - has also promoted an extremely intolerant form of Islam, often at the expense of more local, sometimes more tolerant, forms ...
Introduction In recent months, Saudi-Iraqi relations have become extremely strained, as a result of activities by Saudi Ambassador to Iraq Thamer Al-Sabhan. The Iraqi authorities disapprove of Al-Sabhan's diplomatic activities in the country, which include meetings with Iraqi politicians and clerics, particularly Shi'ites; his provision of Saudi humanitarian aid to Iraqis who have suffered as a result of Islamic State (ISIS) activity in their area, and visits made by Saudi Embassy ...
On September 13, 2016, The New York Times published an op-ed by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif titled "Let Us Rid the World of Wahhabism." 1 In it, Zarif harshly attacked Wahhabism, the branch of Sunni Islam espoused by the Saudi regime, calling it a "death cult" and a "theological perversion" of Islam that is the origin of all terrorist organizations including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Boko Haram, Jabhat Al-Nusra (formerly Al-Qaeda's Syria branch, now called Jabhat Fath Al-Sham), ...
Following the September 17, 2016 U.S. airstrike on Syrian forces in Deir Al-Zor, several pro-regime Syrian Facebook pages called to attack U.S. forces and "those who collaborate with them" in the Al-Jazirah region (i.e., northern Syria, where Deir Al-Zor is located) and claimed that "popular committees" are already being formed to carry out such attacks. The following are excerpts from the posts on these pages: Pro-Regime Facebook Pages: Attack U.S. Troops, Commanders, Interests On September 18 ...
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's September 5, 2016 message for the annual Hajj pilgrimage was particularly anti-Saudi in tone; in it, he called on the countries in the region, and on all Muslim countries, to recognize the true nature of the Saudi rulers, and described them idolaters, infidels, criminals, and servants of the American Satan and the Zionists, and saying that they act in this Satan's name, murder Muslims in the region, and deliberately caused the deaths over the years of ...
On April 23, 2015, the White House announced that Adam Gadahn, known as Al-Qaeda's American spokesman and a major figure in the organization's media apparatus, including its media wing Al-Sahab, had been unintentionally killed in a January 2015 U.S. drone attack in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. 1 Gadahn had been charged with treason in October 2006 - the first U.S. citizen to be so charged since World War II. In 2004, at age 26, Gadahn made it to the FBI's most wanted list. He trained ...
In a July 30, 2016 column, Bassil Al-'Awdat, a journalist and columnist for the Syrian opposition website Orient News, leveled harsh criticism at the various bodies of the Syrian political opposition, saying that they do little except issue communiques and make noise in the media, instead of taking practical measures to achieve the goals of the Syrian revolution. According to him, these opposition bodies do nothing, but rather expect other countries to fight their battle and even accuse these ...
Russia This Week is a weekly review by the MEMRI Russian Media Studies Project, covering the latest Russia-related news and analysis from media in Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. Cartoon Of The Week Pravdareport.com, September 1, 2016. German Chancellor Angela Merkel portrayed as the Fuhrer of the EU, the new Nazi regime. Zakharova Dixit Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova is one of the most-quoted Russian officials. She is known for using colorful ...
Russia This Week is a weekly review by the MEMRI Russian Media Studies Project, covering the latest Russia-related news and analysis from media in Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. Cartoon- Of The Week Vk.com/13studiya, August 25, 2016. Zakharova Dixit Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova is one of the most-quoted Russian officials. She is known for using colorful language when describing Russian foreign policy in her weekly press briefings. The following ...
The Russian Ministry of Defense today, August 16, 2016, 1 announced that Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers and Su-34 fighter bombers had taken off from Iran's Hamadan airbase in order to strike the Islamic State (ISIS) and Jabhat Fath Al-Sham (formerly Jabhat Al-Nusra) in Syria. 2 This is the first time Russia openly acknowledges it has deployed strategic bombers in Iran. 3 According to Russia 24, the aim of deploying the bombers in Iran is to shorten the flight time to targets by 60%. The ...