Hafsa Halawa

‘They slaughtered us like animals’: the inside story of how one of the biggest atrocities of the Sudan war unfolded in Zamzam As the UK prepared to host a global summit on bringing peace to Sudan, the RSF paramilitary began a ‘genocidal’ massacre in Zamzam refugee camp. But when reports emerged of the killings, London held i...

We knew at the time that a deeply deeply horrific assault had occurred, but just absolutely shaken by this report detailing the massacre at Zamzam in April 2025. Genocide. Utterly shaken.

“They slaughtered us like animals” www.theguardian.com/global-devel... ‘

The real danger in this permacrisis is not the political drama: it’s the risk that nothing changes | Nesrine Malik It is said the centre cannot hold, but what if it does? That’s a frightening recipe for more stasis and more rage, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

“What if the problem isn’t that the centre cannot hold, but that it can, and in doing so brings about a new, volatile, miserable status quo of escalating rage and impotent government?” - great read from @nesrinemalik.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

And it makes a mockery not only of this disastrous, horrific war, but of the journalists who have tirelessly risked their lives to keep reporting on the toll of that war.

What utter repugnancy from Anne Applebaum and BHJ.

Journalists need to stop using Sudan as some political ball to use in their partisan political points scoring. It’s disgusting - the western (white) “elite” can f*** off with their comparative exercise in human suffering. If the public isn’t there it’s because none did the job right to start with.

The 68 are almost entirely Ethiopian nationals, fleeing wars, oppression and the resulting abject poverty. Only twelve survived, and with this cycle so normalized and common since 2020, the Ethiopian government no longer even acknowledges such tragedies, let alone declare national mourning.

I struggle with the obsession in western media that aerial footage from planes now “uncovers” what is happening in Gaza. Palestinian journalists have brought us all this reality every day for almost two years. The dehumanisation of Palestinians is everywhere and constant, all encompassing.

Sudan Is Burning: And the New Scramble for Africa Has No Flags, Just Mercenaries - DNE Africa Sudan is being torn apart not by a civil war, but by a carefully orchestrated campaign of destruction. This is not a local conflict. It’s a war scripted far

We’ve said this for years:

“Make no mistake: this is the new scramble for Africa. But it’s smarter. More hidden. No flags. No occupations. Just contracts, mercenaries, proxy militias, and surveillance drones. Sudan is not just a victim. It’s the model.” africa.dailynewsegypt.com/sudan-is-bur...

For the Record: it was always genocidal intent. This was a genocide from the beginning.

It is all mere delay tactics. Israel won’t stop its genocide in Gaza, its ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. The US won’t stop arms shipments. Sanctions are but a question of when, not if. Even if it’s a decade from now, they will come.

That Britain and Canada have articulated a policy of statehood recognition as a threat in the event of “no ceasefire in Gaza”, is mere proof that the purpose of this symbolic diplomatic mode serves only to distract from and ignore mounting pressure to impose sanctions on Israel.

In rare appearance, Fairuz mourns son Ziad Rahbani as Lebanon bids farewell Legendary Lebanese singer Fairuz attended the funeral of her son, renowned composer and playwright, Ziad Rahbani, at a church in a town north of Beirut, in her first public appearance in years.

BEIRUT: Feyrouz, the legend, makes appearance at her son’s funeral, Ziad Rahbani. Something heart-wrenching, yet also healing about seeing Feyrouz (90) whose life and hardship is intertwined with Lebanon’s… www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...

Accurate, detailed and comprehensive report from Etana on the Syrian transition. Available in Arabic and English:

STUDY: Between Symbolism and Substance: Syria’s Transition at 6 Months

etanasyria.org/study-betwee...

And the epicentre of those civic movements and that mobilisation was not the Levantine neighbourhood surrounding Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, it was North Africa.

In the revisionist history that has been ongoing in the MENA region for some years, people forget that the first “green shoots” of revolution and initial triggers of the Arab Spring were not regimes at home. First: protests against Iraq 03, later, mobilisation in response to Israel’s 2008 Gaza war.

People really don’t seem to get it. They *want* to kill them all.

And they will kill them all.

Written in 2023.

Not in the least bit surprised or shocked after everything western media has said and done in the last two years.

Président Macron would rather ‘recognise’ the State of Palestine than impose sanctions on Israel.

A purely symbolic, immaterial move within the confines of the UN. This is not a ‘win’.

This man’s foreign policy is bordering on schizophrenic.

Sometimes I wonder if we “policy experts” live in an incredibly tiny niche bubble and try to give mainstream commentators the benefit of the doubt. But they shouted down all those experts on both issues, both wars, and all those in between…honestly, this repeating cycle is just exhausting.

It’s meaningless all the same. Just words. Impunity reigns supreme and absolute. They will kill everyone.

This ongoing ‘mea culpa’ - concentrated in the West - among high profile pundits, commentators & journalists with the current scale of the genocide in Gaza, only fills me with utter sadness and heartache. So much death because they followed the politics and gave Israel absolute impunity.

And for the record: they *are* killing everyone.

Your regular reminder that unless Israel is forcibly stopped they will kill everyone.

2 Israeli IDF soldiers have been arrested in Belgium under Universal Jurisdiction.

It took a decade, but everyone should be reminded that this tool of international law was all Syrians had when the system in its entirety failed them. It was the tool that drove the end of the Assad regime.

We knew because the illegal occupation, siege, brutal apartheid did not begin on 7th October. We knew because Israel has made no secret for decades of its ambitions. Everyone knew.

On 11th October 2023, I had a frank conversation with a dear friend of mine in Amman about what we expected in Gaza following the Hamas attack.

“How many lives this time round? 5 figures? 6 figures?”

“6 figures minimum, and Gaza is gone”.

“Yes. Gaza is gone”.

We knew from day 1.

There’s nothing left to say about Gaza, what is happening to the entire Palestinian people, because it has already been said. There’s nothing left to say because words are meaningless, unable to express the level of pain felt over this genocide. Over these regional wars.

Israel & US’s chosen path.

This image of Damascus…and a sinking feeling for the future the Middle East