Middle East

This picture was taken by a British soldier after a firefight near Al Majaar Al Kabir in southern Iraq on 14 May 2004.

Does this picture show British soldiers broke Geneva Conventions?

Public inquiry to be launched into allegations of abuse against Iraqi civilians at UK-run detention camp

Inside Middle East

Gulf: A choice between liberalisation or recovery?

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

When video showing a UAE royal family member apparently engaged in torture emerged this year, it passed virtually unreported in the Gulf. Such an episode may point towards an encroaching problem for the region, and its potential to reclaim economic glory in a post-recession world.

Iran's plan to ditch Tehran echoed in Ancient World

Monday, 23 November 2009

Countries and empires have moved their capitals for millennia - often to gain or keep power.

Iran's opposition defiant in face of crackdown

Monday, 23 November 2009

Former vice-president sentenced to six years for his part in post-election protests

Remains found in hunt for missing journalist

Thursday, 19 November 2009

A forensics team searching for the body of a British journalist kidnapped by Palestinian militants more than 20 years ago recovered human remains in Lebanon, the Foreign Office said today.

Vice-President's veto darkens Iraq election

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Iraq's Sunni Arab Vice-President yesterday vetoed an election law over the number of parliamentary seats for refugees, prompting poll workers to halt preparations and casting fresh doubt on whether the vote can be held in January.

Iran drops in corruption list amid calls for new urgency in the West

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

The new edition of a global "corruption index" has seen Iran fall into the bottom 10, ranking it one of the world's most crookedly run countries.

Israeli minister plans to send troops into schools to boost conscription

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Soldiers would meet teachers in bid to encourage students to join up

Donald Macintyre: Palestinians throw down challenge to Obama and UN

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

As so often in the Middle East, we have been here before. The latest suggestion – that a frustrated Palestinian leadership would unilaterally declare a state and invite international recognition for it – is not new. It was made a decade ago by Yasser Arafat when Benjamin Netanyahu, then as now, was Prime Minister. It was made again after the collapse of the Camp David talks a year later, when then Prime Minister Ehud Barak, like some of Mr Netanyahu's more hawkish ministers now, threatened to annex the most populous settlements in the West Bank in retaliation. And as the second intifada – and Israel's determined military response to it – gathered momentum, nothing came of it.