Quite frankly, and not so suprisingly, much of the news from the Middle East - never the quiet corner of the globe - this year has been pretty awful. The headlines have been largely dominated by terrible and intense conflicts: The rise of Daesh (still ISIS/L to some, the Islamic State to others) and its brutal, repressive tactics; the sieges of Mount Sinjar and Kobani; Israel’s war in Gaza and tensions in Jerusalem; and ongoing state repression in Egypt.
With the exception of a few bright spots such as the Tunisian elections, 2014 has seen the hopes of the fallen-from- grace and so-out-of-season “Arab Spring” continue to be dashed amid cycles of violence. And let's not forget Syria's saga - already shadowed by newer conflicts, some offshoots of the already stale Syria problem. We have left out Syria as such from this news-reel as the conflict seeps into and touches most of the year's hotspots, and serves as the subtext to a whole slew of the region's stories.
Join us as we look back on the events that gripped the Middle East over the last year, and hope that 2015 will see better times for all the denizens of the region. The year in Al Bawaba's rearview mirror.
