Minaret of Freedom Weblog

“Throughout my 17 years as a journalist writing about Islamic societies no editor ever asked me ‘What does it say in the Qur’an about this?’ Instead I was writing about what Muslims did, Muslims as an identity issue, Muslims as a geopolitical concept. I had seen the tremendous power of the text in action but I hadn’t read the text”:

• Inside the Qur’an — an Author’s Journey to the Heart of Islam (Toronto Star)

Ali’s “derisive language makes it difficult to take her seriously as a reformer who wants peace. Instead, it only attracts other “warriors”—those who both hate Islam and those who want to fight in the name of Islam—while alienating the ‘reformers’ … who believe that shariah can be a part of our modern world, if interpreted correctly”:

• Ayaan Hirsi Ali Is Not the Reformer Islam Needs (Salon)

• On Independence Day, Moderate Syrian Rebels Send Warm Wishes (Times of Israel)

“[D]espite growing international acceptance of describing the massacres as genocide, the debate is not simply a he-said-she-said between modern Turks and Armenians. Genocide has a very specific meaning, one that Turkey argues the Armenian massacres fail to meet”:

• Was There an Armenian Genocide? It Depends on Turkish ‘Intent’ (Christian Science Monitor)

“Ban-Ki-moon condemns attacks, including strike on UN school that killed 20 people and wounded dozens, ‘as a matter of the utmost gravity’”:

• Israel Responsible for Gaza Strikes on UN Schools and Shelters, Inquiry Finds (Guardian)

“The abductors from the militant, al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front in Syria were not paid for the captives who were freed Friday, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the mission”:

• Official: Palestinian Operatives Helped Free Syria Hostages (AP / abc News)

“Last year, the magazine Zanan-e Emrouz (Today’s Women) published a special issue discussing various aspects of cohabitation, dubbed ‘white marriage’ in Iran, and the reasons behind what it said was the increasing number of unmarried Iranian couples living together”:

• Iran Bans Magazine After ‘White Marriage’ Special (Guardian)

“Militants loyal to Islamic State have exploited a security vacuum in Libya, where two governments and parliaments allied to host of armed groups are fighting each other on several fronts four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.”:

• Islamic State Kills Five Journalists Working for Libyan TV Station-Army Official (Reuters)

“The blockade by air and sea, led by the Arabian Peninsula’s richest country against its poorest, has led to a warning by the International Committee of the Red Cross that Yemen’s humanitarian situation is ‘catastrophic'” …

• As Yemen Bombing Subsides, Saudi May Struggle with Peacemaker Role (Reuters)

… “the UN’s human rights agency said Friday at least 551 of the [over 1,000] people who died were civilians” during the Saudi-led bombing campaign:

• At Least 115 Children Killed in Yemen Since March 26: UNICEF (AFP / Daily Star)

• Hamas Triumphs in Election at Flagship West Bank University (Foundation for the Defense of Democracies)

“Saudi Arabia has become known for its association for the strictest brand of Sunni Islam practiced by an existing state. However, Muslims note that the Prophet Mohammed was supportive of a healthy sexual life when it involves a husband and wife”:

• ‘Halal’ Sex Shop for Muslims to Open Doors in Mecca (Russia Today)

“Frontier will amend its employee handbook to more clearly state its zero-tolerance policy on discrimination and provide all new employees with training on that revision. The airline also will amend its customer complaint policy to ensure allegations of discrimination are given appropriate attention”:

• Jewish-Saudi Woman Strip Searched at Detroit Airport on 9/11 Anniversary Wins $40,000 Settlement for Being Ethnically rofiled (Daily Mail)

The rapid growth in the number of Muslims is mainly due to their youth and fertility, but ” religious switching, which is expected to hinder the growth of some other religious groups, is not expected to have a negative net impact on Muslims”:

• Why Muslims Are the World’s Fastest-growing Religious Group (Pew Research Center)

American style secularism is absent  in Europe. “England has a state church. France sees religion as a threat to the republic’s sacrosanct laïcité, and keeps it out of public institutions. But the German state sees religions as partners to help citizens – and democracy – remain stable, and it supports religious groups in myriad ways”:

• Islam Finds a Place in Germany’s Classrooms (Christian Science Monitor)

According to “A senior Pakistani counterterrorism official … the leader of the Weinstein kidnapping cell was a relative of Tahir Yuldashev, the former IMU [Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan] leader killed in a CIA drone strike in the Pakistani tribal regions in 2009…. Weinstein was given or, more likely, sold to al Qaeda”:

• Could Warren Weinstein Have Been Saved? (CNN)

“Convicting Mohamed Morsi, despite fundamental flaws in the legal process and what seems to be at best flimsy evidence produced in court under a gag order, utterly undermines this verdict” — Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director:

• Why Islamist President Morsi Was Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison (Christian Science Monitor)

She alleges that a corrections officer “told her that attendance at the Christian services, described by her lawyer as ‘Evangelical Protestant,’ was mandatory. Refusing to participate would result in being removed from a low-security residential area … and being put into general population”:

• Second Muslim Woman Sues Cuyahoga County, Alleging Jail Staff Forced Inmates to Participate in Christian Services (Cleveland.com)

“The Saudi declaration had created hope that a political bargain to end Yemen’s civil war might be in the offing …. on the assumption that calling off airstrikes was a quid pro quo for something. But Wednesday’s attacks indicate peace is a long way off for the Arab world’s poorest country”:

• Saudi Arabia Resumes Airstrikes in Yemen, Hours After Suspending Them (Christian Science Monitor)

“This is not a sectarian conflict. People right now are not killing each other for the sake of religion…. The current conflict is 100% related to disappointment after the revolution…. There was no justice, there was no reconciliation, there’s pure revenge now”:

• What’s the Yemen Conflict Really About? (BBC)

“Certain problematic attitudes towards science have been imported into Muslim societies as a part of rapid globalization and modernization — the rejection of the theory of evolution, for example. But this also offers an opportunity”:

• Why I Teach Evolution to Muslim Students (Nature)

Europe’s “callousness”, Libyan “gangs [that] prey on migrants, and [Libyan] racism against darker-skinned Africans” and the “migration crisis in its current iteration” are among the unintended consequences of “the fall of Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi”:

• How the Fall of Qaddafi Gave Rise to Europe’s Migrant Crisis (Christian Science Monitor)

“U.S. President Barack Obama was forced to give Congress a say in any future accord – including the right of lawmakers to veto the lifting of sanctions imposed by the United States”:

• Timing of Sanctions Relief May Be Deal Breaker as Iran Talks Resume (Reuters)

Nawaz Sahrif thinks the Saudis have “‘bitten off more than they can chew.’ The Egyptian experience in Yemen, in which Egypt had up to 20,000 casualties in the 1960s fighting the same Zaydi tribes that back the Houthis, figures prominently in Pakistani thinking, especially in the army” …

• Saudi Arabia’s Deepening Isolation in Yemen (Al-Monitor)

… and 18 “scholars concerned with Yemen [who are] residents/nationals of the United Kingdom and the United States” say, “The military attack by Saudi Arabia, backed by … [various states,] above all the US, … is illegal under international law. None of these states has a case for self-defense”:

• Open Letter from Yemen Scholars Protesting War (LobeLog)

“Documents uncovered in Aleppo show that Haji Bakr drew up the ‘blueprint for a caliphate’ after being jailed by the US authorities, according to Der Spiegel “:

• Former Saddam Spy Masterminded the Rise of Islamic State, Says Report (Guardian)

Hick’s crazed obsession with parking annoyed everyone from neighbors to towing companies, but his obsession only led to murder when it came to Muslims, Muslims who, with sad irony, reportedly sought to accommodate his unjustified demands:

• Motive Unsettled in Slayings of Muslim Students in North Carolina (LA Times)

“HRW said the prosecution had presented little evidence to show the defendants did anything other than spread news about a mass sit-in in Rabaa square in 2013 and organize peaceful protests”:

• Egypt Brotherhood Trial Relied on Single Testimony: Human Rights Watch (Reuters)

“The series centers on the ‘Qu’osby’ family, a middle-class Muslim family…. Despite their extreme efforts to fit in, they are constantly tripping up, such as when the father, played by Mandvi, overdoes his Halloween decorating and creates the impression that the family might be terrorists”:

• Using Comedy to Poke Fun at Anti-Muslim Prejudice (Christian Science Monitor)

“A Moslem who attacks smoking generally speaking would be a threat to existing government as a ‘fundamentalist’…. Our invisible defence must be the individualism which Islam allows its believers … [and] encourage governments to a point at which it is possible quietly to suggest their benefits”:

• How Tobacco Firms Tried to Undermine Muslim Countries’ Smoking Ban (Guardian)

“Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a bombing outside a bank in Jalalabad Afghanistan Saturday. The attack killed at least 33 people and wounded 105”:

• Islamic State Reportedly Behind Suicide Bombing of Afghan Bank (AP / Christian Science Monitor)

How was Congress’s compromise with the Obama administration on the Iran deal even possible? Because you-know-who gave the green light: ““This is an achievement for Israeli policy” –Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz :

• Israel Happy at Compromise Deal on Iran Between Congress-Obama: Minister (Reuters)

“[She] wears [a headscarf] … for herself … because she wants to be modest with her body okay? … [The killing in Kenya and Syria are] not her doing that, that’s a minority of people not a majority. Have some respect. What’s that got to do with her?” Stacy Eden asked the vindictive older woman”:

• Viral Video Appears To Show Sydney Train Passenger Defending Muslim Woman Against Hateful Rant (Huffington Post)

“[T]his was a student-led initiative, rather than a school-sponsored activity. We will put procedures into place in the future that ensure that any communication from a school email is for a school-sponsored event, and not merely supported by a student-run group”:

• Mason Principal Cancels Muslim Event, Apologizes (Cincinnati.com)

Judges should allow Muslim women to appear in court wearing a full-face veil, Britain’s most senior judge has suggested, saying that “those people who do cover their face for religious, cultural or any other reason, they should be allowed to do so unless the situation demands otherwise”:

• Muslim Women Should Be Allowed to Wear the Veil in Court, Top Judge Suggests (Telegraph)

“[L]ocal authorities warned [Ramadi] was in danger of falling unless reinforcements arrived soon” …

• Iraqi Forces Fight IS Militants at Gates of Anbar Provincial Capital (Reuters)

… while DAASH may have extended its reach into Pakistan: “The English version of the pamphlet [left in the victim’s car] read: “Oh crusaders, we are the lions of Dualat al Islamia, the falcons of the caliph”:

• Apparent Islamist Militant Gun Attack Wounds US Woman in Pakistan (Guardian)

“I thought … if I go out and shoot people because of this, I would probably shoot another innocent bystander. I would fuel this idiotic cycle of violence.” Instead he is now “on the Global Advisory Council of World Learning, alongside ambassadors, CEOs, and NGO presidents”:

• Why One Iraqi Youth Turned Away from Violence (Christian Science Monitor)

“Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said today perpetrators of human rights abuses among his security forces and Shi’a militia allies will be “held accountable,” but he offered no evidence that any of Baghdad’s fighters guilty of ISIS-like atrocities have yet been brought to justice”:

• Iraqi Leader Confirms Investigation Into Human Rights Abuses, Offers No Specifics (abc News)

“With the raids failing to stop the rebels, there has been speculation a ground campaign could be launched” …

• Yemen Crisis: Al-Qaeda Seizes Southern Airport (BBC)

… while  “Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Friday he would not leave the country, dismissing reports in the Gulf Arab media that he was seeking a safe exit as Saudi Arabian war planes bomb troops loyal to him and their Houthi militia allies”:

• Former President Defiant as Humanitarian Toll Mounts in Yemen War (Reuters)

“Indian police arrested a top Kashmiri separatist leader on Friday for leading an anti-India demonstration and detained two others to prevent a planned protest in the Himalayan region”:

• Indian Police Arrest Kashmir Separatist Leader (AP / abc News)

“In a rare outbreak of bipartisan compromise and a partial victory for the White House, the Senate foreign relations committee voted unanimously to amend language in legislation that once threatened to give congressional hawks a chance to derail nuclear diplomacy and risk … military strikes”:

• Iran Nuclear Deal: Senators Reach Bipartisan Compromise to Pave Way for Vote (Guardian)

With Nigerian schoolgirls now free from the clutches of Boko Haram embracing Western education with an in-your-face attitude towards their former captors, President-elect  Muhammadu Buhari cockily threatens the terrorist group …

• #BringBackOurGirls: One Year Later, Girls Who Escaped Speak Out (AP / abc News)
• Why Nigerians Who Fled from Boko Haram Aren’t Ready to Return Home (Christian Science Monitor)

… yet he admits “that he cannot promise to find the 219 [girls] who are still missing”:

• One Year Later, Nigeria’s President-elect Can’t Promise to Find Missing Schoolgirls (Christian Science Monitor)

Developments in the Yemeni conflict include a UN arms embargo, Egyptian-Saudi coordination, the death of a Saudi religious figure, and an Iranian peace proposal:

• Yemen Conflict: Houthi Rebels Condemn UN Arms Embargo (BBC)
• Egypt and Saudi Arabia Discuss Maneuvers as Yemen Battles Rage (Reuters)
• Yemen Al Qaeda Branch Says Top Cleric Killed in Drone Attack (Christian Science Monitor)
• Iran’s Four-point Peace Plan for Yemen: Will Saudis Buy In? (Christian Science Monitor)

“Sharia, she points out, is a world view, ‘the divine order of the universe’. What she is interrogating is fiqh, the Muslim legal tradition of man-made rules based on almost exclusively male interpretations of sacred texts”:

• Why Is Isis a Wake-up Call to Muslim Women? (Guardian)

Rather than “argue with those who have no desire to gain a deeper understanding of Islam, or … who lack understanding of historical context and … can’t differentiate between the literal and analogical ….[, it] would be far more powerful to embody the values for which Islam stands”:

• Muslim Women Are Treated as if They Were in ‘Jahiliyah’ [Ignorance] (The National)

“Counter-terrorism can only succeed if both civil society and the government work together to counter violent extremism” — joint statement by 15 civil society groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Kenyan Human Rights Commission:

• Activists Criticize Kenya for Putting Muslim Groups on Shabaab Supporters’ List (Reuters)

“Afkham will only be the second female ambassador Iran has had…. [President] Rouhani said this week that he saw it as his government’s duty to create equal opportunities for women”:

• Iran to Appoint First Female Ambassador Since Islamic Revolution (Guardian)

“I have not written (in party mouthpiece Saamana) that the voting rights of Muslims should be taken away. I only said that Muslims will not be used for political opportunism if they are not allowed to vote” …

• ‘Anti-Muslim Comment’: Sena Leader Makes U-turn (Times of India)

… and one way to prevent them from voting is to prevent them from reproducing–and ditto for Christians:

• Sena Stirs Pot Again, Calls for Family Planning for Muslims, Christians (Rediff)

Does the man who “tweeted a photo of the men praying and captioned it: ‘Muslims praying at half time at the match yesterday #DISGRACE'” even know what the definition of “grace” is?

• Liverpool FC ‘Will Take Action’ Against Fan Who Branded Two Muslim Men a ‘Disgrace’ for Praying at Anfield  (Liverpool Echo)

“The Fars report alleged Rezaian had obtained economic and industrial information from Iran and sold it to unnamed Americans. It also linked him to Omid Memarian, an Iranian opposition journalist based in the US”:

• US Journalist Jason Rezaian to Stand Trial in Iran, Says News Agency (Guardian)

“Bahah is popular across Yemen’s spectrum of feuding parties and may be seen as a figure who could calm tensions and bring warring parties to the negotiating table” …

• Yemen’s Exiled President Appoints Conciliatory Figure as Deputy (Reuters)

… and while “[i]n the media Yemenis are usually depicted as either pro-Saudi or pro-Iran, Sunni or Shia. People forget that Yemenis can be pro-Yemen as well”:

• Yemen’s Home Grown Anti-war Movement (BBC)

“If confirmed, the presence of two Iranian officers, whom the local militiamen said were from an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, would deepen tensions between Tehran and Riyadh, who are vying for influence in the Middle East” …

• Two Iranian Military Officers Captured in Yemen (Christian Science Monitor)

… but “[t]he so-called pan-Arab military that the House of Saud is promoting is a reincarnation of US containment policies from the Cold War…. The Israeli-Saudi alliance in Yemen is being relieved as the Kingdom and Israel have united with the US against the Houthis”:

• How Saudi Attempts to Manipulate the Houthis and the Muslim Brotherhood Backfired in Yemen (Global Research)

An Indian far right party goes Likud’s Netanyahu one better:

• Muslims Are Used as Vote Bank, Scrap Their Voting Rights, Says Shiv Sena (Indian Express)

“A UN-backed court set up to investigate the assassination 10 years ago of the Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri will finally put defendants in the dock next week. Tellingly, however, they are not suspects accused of the crime, but journalists charged with contempt of court”:

• Hezbollah Defendants at Large but Journalists in Dock at UN Tribunal (Guardian)

“Besides distributing roses, the Muslim women planned to spread messages of Islam, including from the prophet Muhammad: ‘Feed the hungry and visit the sick, and free the captive if he is unjustly confined. Assist any person oppressed, whether Muslim or non-Muslim'” …

• Southern California Muslim Women Hand Out Roses to Promote Peace, Unity (Orange County Register)

… while at the University of Buffalo, a panel participant opines that “humanity’s biggest weakness is ignorance. That is true regardless of what culture, religion or place you are”:

• UB Students ‘Ask a Muslim Woman’ (The Spectrum)

“The unraveling of Libya continues”:

• Islamic State Militants Claim Attacks on Embassies in Libya  (Guardian)

Obama told “reporters at the Americas summit in Panama that Khamenei and others in Iran were addressing their own internal politics. ‘Even a guy with the title ‘Supreme Leader’ has to be concerned about his own constituencies,’ Obama said”:

• Obama Optimistic About Iran Nuclear Deal Despite Khamenei’s Comments (Reuters)

“Jamaat-e-Islami party denounces the execution of Muhammad Kamaruzzaman on charges of crimes against humanity as ‘revenge and pre-planned murder’”:

• Bangladesh Braced for Protests After Islamist Leader’s Execution (Guardian)

“The men were among thousands detained after the ousting of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013. Egypt’s mass trials of Brotherhood supporters have drawn international criticism of the country’s judicial system” …

• Egypt Sentences Muslim Brotherhood Leader, Others to Death (Reuters)

… and an American who “been on a hunger strike over his detention for more than 14 months” has been sentenced to life imprisonment:

• Report: Court Sentences US-Egypt Citizen to Life in Prison (AP /abc News)

“The Islamic extremist group has claimed complex hackings before, but experts and a French official said the ability to black out a global television network represented a new level of sophistication for the group”:

• French Television Network Hacked by IS-linked Group (Christian Science Monitor)

Muslims served in the U.S. military under the command of General George Washington, … the Civil War, [and] Muslim Americans fought and died in World War II and Vietnam” holding “military grades from private first class to sergeant”:

• Saluting Muslim American Patriots (Huffington Post)

Imam “Hazim … said the FBI told him they were undercover FBI agents and that the sting was arranged to get Booker ‘off the streets….  think the two FBI agents set him up, because they felt at that point someone else might have done the same thing and put a real bomb in his hands'”:

• Cleric: Man Charged in Kansas Bomb Plot Is Mentally Ill (AP / St. Joseph News-Press)

“Leaders of the UM Muslim community tried to mediate, but the women [who vandalized Mahmood’s apartment] were unwilling to meet…. Derek Draplin, a UM student, editor of The Michigan Review, and friend of Mahmood’s called his treatment ‘completely hypocritical'”:

• At U of Michigan, a Muslim Student Unmasks the Hypocrite He Says Vandalized His Apartment (Reason)

Cenk Uygur tells New Atheists who “support  profiling and ‘want [authorities] to go into [Muslims’] mosques, universities, college groups, and if need be urge first [nuclear] strikes against them” they are “foaming at the mouth neoconservative”[s who should] … stop pretending you’re liberals”:

• Is New Atheism an Anti-Muslim, White Supremacy Movement? (Middle East Eye)

“What you’re dealing with is this religious imperative to be one community. Faith is supposed to tie us together with this sacred bond, and in some ways it does. But making that bond something that shows up in all times and circumstances is something that takes work”:

• Black Muslim Leaders Aim to Unite Their Faith Community to Fight Racism (Huffington Post)

“The demonstration came after two male Iranian pilgrims alleged abuse after Saudi officers at Jeddah’s international airport searched them. Details of the abuse have not been made public though Iran formally has called for the Saudi officers to be punished”

• Hundreds Defy Ban to Protest Saudi Arabia in Iran’s Capital (AP / abc News)

“The Yarmouk camp in Damascus is home to factions that support Syrian President Bashar Assad and groups that oppose him, and it was unclear whether Palestinians from both sides of the divide had indeed agreed to join forces”:

• Palestinians Agree to Military Force Against IS Fighters in Syrian Refugee Camp (Christian Science Monitor)

“Shaimaa al-Sabbagh’s shooting death … has laid bare deep flaws within the country’s security and justice system … [and] left the state scrambling for cover … amid signs Mr. Sisi’s rule is growing more authoritarian. The policeman suspected of causing her death is facing trial, but so are the witnesses”:

• Egyptian Protester’s Public Killing Brings Surge of Anger over Police Brutality (Christian Science Monitor)

“Turkey has become one of the most aggressive censors of the Internet in the world under President Recap Tayyip Erdogan. Lucy Kafanov reported … that his administration’s suppression of information has seen 68,000 websites made inaccessible to average Turkish users”:

• Turkey Turns Off Twitter and Facebook as Censorship Grows (Christian Science Monitor)

The handout does not list any sources, but … talks about Sharia Law, terrorism, jihad, even beheadings and ‘If taken hostage by radical Islamists, what to do'”:

• Teacher Accused of Giving Students Anti-Muslim Handouts (KHOU)

Neighbors “started holding Ram Darbars, gatherings at which they would play Hanuman Chalisa and bhajans on a music system, outside the bungalow every evening”, inviting a Hindu nationalist leader who “asked residents to attack Zaveri’s office … if he did not give up the bungalow within 48 hours”:

• VHP, RSS Force Muslim to Sell Home in Hindu Locality (Indian Express)

“Many who were involved in the US war effort in Iraq continue to insist that the country fell apart because of Obama’s failings. There is little evidence to support them”:

• The ‘Seeds of Iraq’s Unraveling’ Were Sown in 2003, Not 2010 (Christian Science Monitor)

“In her closing argument, [the defendant’s own attorney, Judy] Clarke said that there was ‘no excuse’ for her client’s actions, calling them ‘senseless'”:

• Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Faces Death Penalty After Jury Finds Him Guilty of Boston Bombing (Guardian)

“Houthi forces fought street-by-street battles with local militia in the old center of Aden on Wednesday, as the first boatloads of emergency medical aid reached the south Yemeni port city”…

• Yemen’s Houthis Battle in Central Aden, First Medical Aid Arrives (Reuters)

… “Fighting in Yemen has displaced more than 100,000 people and killed at least 74 children over the past two weeks, and the UN warns the humanitarian situation is set to get a lot worse…. Yemen’s civil war has disrupted water supplies and overburdened the country’s poorly equipped hospital”:

• Warnings of Humanitarian Crisis as Yemen’s Civil War Rolls On (Christian Science Monitor)

“There is no food for the civilians who are stuck in the camp and still under siege. Also the medical situation is very bad, as most of the doctors fled the camp at the beginning of the fighting between Islamic State and the Palestinian group that was controlling most of Yarmouk before”:

• Syria Conflict: Huge Suffering in Yarmouk, Activist Says (BBC)

“[A]bout 40 children are among those released, while the rest were elderly”:

• Isis Releases over 200 Iraqi Yazidis After Eight Months in Captivity (Guardian)

Saddam’s revenge? Each time the U.S. knocks out a leader of the anti-American extremists in the region now encroached upon by ISIS, not only is he replaced by an even more extreme militant, but the Baathist influence in the emergent replacement group becomes stronger:

• The Hidden Hand Behind the Islamic State Militants? Saddam Hussein’s (Washington Post)

With Yemen on the brink of civil war and aid groups are calling for a ceasefire, the rebel Houthis pushing “back President Hadi’s loyalists in port city despite 11-day bombing campaign by Saudi-led coalition” …

• Yemen’s Houthi Militia Gains Ground in Aden (Guardian)

… “Yemen’s Houthis are ready to sit down for peace talks as long as a Saudi-led air campaign is halted and the negotiations are overseen by ‘non-aggressive parties'” …

• Are Yemen’s Houthis Ready for Peace Talks? (Christian Science Monitor)

In 2003 Rouhani “convinced Khamenei to stop the clandestine military nuclear programme” and in 2006 wrote, “A nuclear weaponised Iran destabilises the region, prompts a regional arms race, and wastes the scarce resources in the region. An Iranian bomb will accord Iran no security dividends” …

• Hassan Rouhani: Reformist Insider Who Has Ended Iran’s Isolation (Guardian)

… and now “the message from Friday prayer pulpits … indicated that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supported Zarif and his team, even though many hardliners – and at times, apparently Mr. Khamenei himself – have been critical of the nuclear talks”:

• Nuclear Deal: From Iran’s Pulpits, a Sign Rouhani Has Support from on High (Christian Science Monitor)

Critics warn that the proposed resurrection of security laws repealed three years ago “could severely curtail civil liberties[,] … be misused against political opponents[, and that it] … will allow authorities to detain suspects indefinitely without trial and the decision cannot be challenged in court”:

• Malaysia Arrests 17 for Alleged Terrorist Attack Plot in Kuala Lumpur (Guardian)

“The United Nations says around 18,000 civilians, including a large number of children, are trapped in Yarmouk. The camp has been under government siege for nearly two years, leading to starvation and illnesses caused by lack of medical aid”:

• Civilians Flee as Militants Seize Most of Damascus Refugee Camp (Christian Science Monitor)

“Across the Middle East, sectarianism has always been linked to the battle for power, resources and territory”:

• Sunni v Shia: Why the Conflict Is More Political than Religious (Guardian)

“[T]he deliberate destruction and desecration in war of cultural property has a long history … [from] Greek and Roman times … [to] the willful ruin of … mosques and churches, … monasteries, archives, libraries, and museums” in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Taliban’s destruction of Buddhist statues“:

• Video Shows Islamic State Smashing Ancient Iraq City. Real or Fake? (Christian Science Monitor)

“Rights groups say … Israel is out of bounds with its large-scale use of” administrative detention, and “Palestinian prisoners’ advocate, Qadoura Fares, said the arrest is an Israeli punitive political act. He said Israel is holding 16 Palestinian lawmakers in jails, most of them … members of … Hamas”:

• Israel to Detain Female Palestinian Lawmaker for 6 Months (AP / abc News)

“One of the gunmen who slaughtered 148 people at a Kenyan university was identified Sunday as the law-school-educated son of a Kenyan government official, highlighting the inroads Islamic extremists have made in recruiting young people to carry out violent attacks in the country”:

• One Kenyan Gunman, a “Brilliant Upcoming Lawyer,” Highlights Challenge of Domestic threats (Christian Science Monitor)