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While there is a broad range of Arabic language media outlets reporting stories from and about the Middle East, there is currently no affordable and reliable means for English speakers to gain access to this content. As a result, many English speaking businesspersons, students, journalists and others who have an interest in the affairs of the region are largely unaware of what the Middle East media is covering and how they are covering these stories.

Mideastwire.com aims to close this gap by offering a daily menu of translations covering some of the key political, cultural, economic and opinion pieces appearing in the media of the 22 Arab countries and the Arab Diaspora. Through this effort, we hope to address at least one aspect of a global disconnect that continues to threaten a wide spectrum of socio-political and economic relationships, both here in the region and beyond.

It is also important to note that, since our founding in 2005, Mideastwire.com is wholly funded by the content license fees paid by individuals and organizations. As such, there is no government, commercial or non-profit support, an aspect that we believe provides a relatively independent platform for better understanding.

Our Corrections Policy: We adhere to an honest and open corrections policy. Please email info@mideastwire.com if you notice any typo or if you disagree with our translation choices. Since we do not produce our own content, we only will consider corrections that highlight typos or dispute our translations, not the veracity or accuracy of the original content. Accepted corrections are applied directly to the relevant translations as soon as they are approved by the editor and our database is updated accordingly for all subscribers.

TODAY’S DAILY BRIEFING

10-Feb-2016

Algeria

Politics

“Algeria: Talk about changing parties’ leaders to complete Bouteflika’s “plan”...” (Al-Quds al-Arabi, United Kingdom)

On February 9, the Qatari-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the following report by its correspondent in Algiers: “Right after the ratification of the new constitution in Algeria, which did not come as a surprise, talk emerged about the changes that will ensue, especially since some observers pointed to the existence of a “plan” being implemented by President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika to produce a new political scene, which will feature the changing of the political parties’ leaders, including those who widely supported him... Hence, with the end of this battle, whose results were known in advance, everyone is anticipating the upcoming changes, with some talking about the continuation of the series of alterations introduced to the army, which will require the changing of Chief of Staff General Ahmed Gaid Salah… (Read More)

Lebanon

Politics

"Will Ersal and its barren areas catch fire?" (Ad-Diyyar, Lebanon)

Terrorism - Unrest

On February 9, the Ad-Diyyar daily newspaper carried the following report by Issa Bou Issa: “While the political attention is focused on the angle of the presidential elections, which will yield no outcomes in the near future, a different scene is emerging in a different angle, one that consists of the possibility of opening the front of the Lebanese north and the Syrian borders as a potential response to the progress of the Syrian forces and their allies in important areas of Aleppo, Latakia and Deraa… (Read More)

“Tehran to Paris: Presidency is a Christian affair” (Al-Akhbar Lebanon, Lebanon)

Democracy and Party Politics - USA Europe

On February 9, the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper carried the following report: “…The March 14 team, mainly the Future movement, left no opportunity unused to declare that the hindering of the presidential elections is due to an Iranian decision… Although the Hezbollah Secretary General, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, announced his responsibility for his “hindering,” which aims at supporting the candidate, Gen. Michel Aoun, to become president; and although he insisted during his last appearance on his commitment to the Ta’ef accord, the March 14 forces kept saying the same thing: Hezbollah wishes to change the constitution… (Read More)

Middle East

Opinion

"Let them come!" (Al-Akhbar Lebanon, Lebanon)

Military and Security - USA Europe

On February 9, the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper carried the following piece by Amer Mohsen: “If the Saudi and Gulf ‘threats’ to dispatch armies to Syria and Iraq do materialize, this could actually have several benefits. On the one hand, at least morally and “esthetically,” there’s something [good] about the Kingdom fighting with its own soldiers knowing that, for decades, it has been fighting its wars through the hands of the others instead of confronting its adversaries in the field… Nothing has weakened our countries from the political, ideological and every other aspect like the state of “un-announced” war that Saudi Arabia had launched against America’s enemies and resisters… (Read More)

Politics

“...Quds Arabi reveals details of Northern Thunder and Jordan’s and Egypt’s role” (Al-Quds al-Arabi, United Kingdom)

Arab Diplomacy - Military and Security

On February 9, the Qatari-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the following report by its Amman office Chief Bassam Bdareen: “Memories and contradictory political sentiments can be detected on the faces of Jordan’s politicians, around 24 hours before the launching of Exercise “Northern Thunder” that is hosted by Saudi Arabia with superior training capabilities this time around, especially after the Saudi announcement that was followed by Emirati and Bahraini ones, surrounding the willingness to dispatch land forces to Syria to fight the [Islamic] State organization. The official Jordan does not wish to point to presence of military troops in Saudi Arabia to participate in these maneuvers, except in the context of “training” obligations. And on the Jordanian level at least, this settles the talk about the increasing possibility of seeing Arab forces militarily entering the Syrian swamp… (Read More)

Palestine

Politics

“Israeli bullying of Arab deputies” (Al-Hayat al-Jadidah, Palestine)

Democracy and Party Politics

On February 9, the pro-PA Al-Hayat al-Jadidah newspaper carried the following opinion piece by Ezzat Daraghmeh: “Israel is not settling for its aggressions and wars on the unarmed Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as it is also targeting the Arab Palestinian presence in the territories occupied in 1948. And this is not only affecting the Arab civilians, but also their representatives, who were elected in accordance with the Israeli laws and regulations by which the Israeli deputies are also chosen. But since the purely Arab Palestinian deputies oppose the occupation government’s and the Hebrew state institutions’ practices, which feature exclusion, marginalization, judaization and isolation, even arrests and charges concocted against their people, and since the Arab deputies in the Israeli Knesset are defending those who voted for them and deterring the harm befalling them..., the official, partisan, parliamentary and legal Israel rose to strip them of their representational character, their immunity, and their parliamentary status by all means necessary… (Read More)

Saudi Arabia

Opinion

"The minorities in Saudi Arabia: the crisis of the relation with the regime" (Al-Akhbar Lebanon, Lebanon)

Human Rights - Religion

On February 9, the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper carried the following piece by Mohammad Choukair: “The execution of Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia revealed the existence of a crisis in the relationship between the different sectarian minorities mainly the Shi’i minority on the one hand and the Saudi regime on the other hand. One could say that this crisis is not one between a regime and the minorities but rather a crisis between a regime and the people since the present equation is not that of the state vs. the citizen but that of an owner regime and an owned parish since there are no civil freedoms, no citizens’ rights, no political role for the people, no democracy leading to authority transfer, and no institutions to play a role in surveillance and accountability… (Read More)

Politics

“Al-Riyadh-Tehran: A dangerous appointment on the Syrian land” (As-Safir, Lebanon)

Arab Diplomacy

On February 9, the independent, leftist As-Safir daily newspaper carried the following report: “The announcement made by the Saudi ministry of defense’s advisor, Ahmad Asiri, on Al-Riyadh’s willingness to dispatch land forces to Syria raised a wide debate from several aspects. The Kingdom – which had not been engaged in many wars throughout its history – is still fighting a direct war in Yemen in addition to a number of regional conflicts that the Kingdom is fighting indirectly by supporting some parties in the regional conflicts… (Read More)

Syria

Opinion

“Turkish-Saudi land intervention and Syrian red lines” (Website, Middle East)

Military and Security - Peace Process

On February 9, the independent Lebanese En-Nashra news website carried the following opinion piece by Maher al-Khatib: “During the last few days, the Arab and international media outlets were filled with positions surrounding the Saudi and Turkish willingness to participate in a military operation in Syria, under the headline of fighting the terrorist ISIL organization in the context of the US-led international coalition forces... However, one must not neglect the developments that accompanied these positions, the most prominent of which was probably the Syrian army’s – with the support of the Russian Air Force – regaining of its control over Rif Latakia, its lifting of the siege imposed on the towns of Nubbul and Zahra’ following its noticeable progress in Rif Aleppo, and the collapse of the talks during the Geneva 3 conference on the beat of the military operations… (Read More)

Politics

“Munich conference to choose between relief, ceasefire, or “stupid bombs”” (Al-Hayat, United Kingdom)

Arab Diplomacy - Peace Process

On February 7, the London-based Saudi-owned Al-Hayat newspaper carried the following report by its correspondent in London Ibrahim Hamidi: “The ministerial conference of the International Syria Support Group on the sidelines of the security conference in Munich next Thursday, will settle the fate of the resumption of the indirect talks between the representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee in Geneva on February 25, amid two inclinations, one supporting US Secretary of State John Kerry’s wish to rush the proclamation of a ceasefire, and another supporting an approach based on the conference’s announcement of “trust-building measures,” including the dropping of humanitarian aid over the besieged regions, and the discontinuation of the launching of “stupid bombs” on the civilians… (Read More)

“Field commander in Free Army to Quds Arabi: Southern front is crumbling...” (Al-Quds al-Arabi, United Kingdom)

Military and Security

On February 9, the Qatari-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the following report by its correspondent in Istanbul Abdullah al-Omari: “Field commanders accused Al-Mu’tazz Army, which is affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, of having surrendered Atman - north of the southern Daraa City - to the Syrian Army, whether by pulling out from it or by implementing foreign instructions, though it has more than 20 heavy armored vehicles and tanks, in addition to weapons and ammunition that could sustain the battle with and stop the progress of the regime forces. Throughout four years, Al-Mu’tazz Army turned down all offers for help, prevented any faction from coming near the town, and handled its protection alone. However, it lost it in the first real battle, as a result of which Atman followed Sheikh Maskin, which was occupied by the regime due to “acute” disputes between the opposition factions… (Read More)

“Al-Assad might be visiting Moscow soon…” (Ad-Diyyar, Lebanon)

Arab Diplomacy - Peace Process

On February 9, the Ad-Diyyar daily newspaper carried the following report: “Well-trusted diplomatic pieces of news indicate that President Bashar al-Assad might be visiting Moscow again to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and to discuss the relations between the two countries in addition to discussing the situation in the field mainly at the level of the battles, the Russian air raids in Syria, and Syria’s need for weapons. Indeed, Syria is suffering from a general economic deterioration, economic sanctions against it, and a war of attrition launched by the terrorists. For this reason, Syria needs weapons from Russia, the price of which will be paid in ten years; or, Russian could be offering these weapons to Syria for free despite the Russian economic crisis… (Read More)

“The Syrian army and the Kurds: the “Union” of the fait accompli” (As-Safir, Lebanon)

Military and Security

On February 9, the independent, leftist As-Safir daily newspaper carried the following report: “The operation implemented by the Syrian army forces and the supporting factions in Aleppo’s northern suburbs has re-sketched the field map in the north, an area that is open on Turkey and the most prominent passageway for armed groups, weapons and ammunitions into Syria… The Kurds saw this as an “opportunity” to progress into areas adjacent to their areas of control thus placing the Kurds and the Syrian army in a quasi-direct contact… (Read More)

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