By KAREEM FAHIM / NY Times The government has asked imams for recordings of their Friday sermons and started to strictly monitor religious schools. Members of an influential Muslim women's group have now been told to scale back activities like preaching or teaching Islamic law. And this summer, more than 1,000 teachers who wear the niqab, or the face veil, were transferred to administrative duties.

Categories: Syria  Religion  Persecution  Secularism  Bashar al-Assad  

Added: September 04, 2010

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By DAN BILEFSKY / NY Times Turkey's blend of conservative Islam and cosmopolitan democracy is increasingly viewed as a model in the younger generation. Turkish soap operas and films are attaining cult status, while "Made in Turkey" labels near the cachet of Paris or Milan.

Categories: Turkey  Syria  Modernity  Islam  Democracy  

Added: July 26, 2010

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By ALBERT AJI / Associated Press Writer Syria has banned the face-covering Islamic veil from the country's universities to prevent what it sees as a threat to its secular identity.

Categories: Syria  The Niqab  Islam  Education  Faith  Gender  

Added: July 21, 2010

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By AFP Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, held three-way talks in Istanbul to discuss regional affairs. Ahmet Davutoglu said the Syrian and Qatari leaders both supported Ankara's efforts to mediate between Western powers and Iran

Categories: Turkey  Syria  Qatar  Nuclear Challenges  The West  

Added: May 10, 2010

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By Sami Moubayed / Asia Times Online In Lebanon - given all the tension that erupted between the ruling March 14 coalition, backed by the West, and the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria, after the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri - nobody would have imagined such an harmonious outcome.

Categories: Hezbollah  Lebanon  Syria  Iran  Iraq  

Added: April 12, 2010

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By J.Hashmi

In 2007, Mr. Arar was honored in the annual TIME Magazine 100, listed under number 58 in the Heroes and Pioneers category.  The U.S. government again denied him the right to attend the TIME awards ceremony. Although the case received considerable media coverage in Canada, it has largely been ignored by the U.S. mainstream media.

Categories: Prisoner's Abuse  The US  Syria  War on Terror  Misconceptions  Islamophobia  Justice  Canada  

Added: November 04, 2009

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By Sami Moubayed / Asia Times Online The improvement in relations between Syria and the US, after Obama came to power, certainly had an effect on relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia. If the Americans were now talking again to the Syrians, it was only logical for the Saudis to do so as well.

Categories: King Abdullah  Syria  The US  Saudia  Peace  

Added: October 07, 2009

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By David B Roberts / Asia Times Online Saudi Arabia, along with Jordan and other Sunni countries, has been concerned for some time about a so-called Shi'ite crescent descending on the Middle East. Stretching from Iran, through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, for one, has been taking steps to seek to mitigate the strengthening of Shi'ite power where possible.

Categories: Saudis  Syria  Sectarianism  Terrorism  

Added: December 09, 2008

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By Jacob G. Hornberger Apparently "the law" and the concept of "sovereignty" don't apply to Syria and Pakistan. Those are two independent countries that Bush's military forces have recently attacked, killing scores of Pakistanis and Syrians.

Categories: Occupation  War  Syria  Pakistan  

Added: November 04, 2008

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By Max Kantar

Last week's unilateral attack on Syria and the subsequent coverage of the events by the mainstream US media give us an impeccable illustration of the prevailing ideologies that dictate how news is received, composed, and understood by respectable journalists and reporters. In fact, considering all of the variables surrounding the recent US attack, this single case could not be a more perfect example to evaluate for the sake of gaining a clear understanding not only of the rationale behind US foreign policy, but the ideological constraints that shackle our "free" press.

Categories: Media  Syria  War on Terror  

Added: October 31, 2008

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