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Weeks of discussions between the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his American counterpart John Kerry resulted in the following terms for a truce in Syria. This will go into effect on Saturday February 27 subject to acceptance by the various parties to the conflict.

After five years of bloodletting, there is a glimmer of hope that the Syrians' long nightmare may end soon. A truce agreement was announced by Russia and the US today under which a ceasefire will go into effect in Syria on February 27. Humanitarian aid will be delivered to besieged towns and villages. The truce does not extend to such terrorist outfits as Daesh, Jabhat al Nusra, Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham.

February 21 marks the 51st anniversary of the martyrdom of El Haj Malik el-Shabazz, better known as Macolm X. Born Malcolm Little, he adopted the letter 'X' after his name to signify rejection of the name imposed on him by the white supremacist establishment. His was a life of struggle, sacrifice and ultimately triumph through martyrdom. We reproduce this article first published in Crescent International on March 1, 2015 to honor him.

The Saudis and their Arabian allies were never a match for the lightly armed Ansarallah fighters in Yemen. They had to rely on Blackwater mercenaries to do the fighting for them but the Ansarallah fighters have put these mercenaries also to flight as the latest news from Yemen indicates. The Saudi war on Yemen is a total failure and will end up in even more humiliation for the Bani Saud.

As the Syrian army makes steady gains against the Saudi-Turkish-Israeli-American backed terrorists, some of the terrorists' backers have freaked out. There are reports that Turkey might launch a direct ground invasion of Syria with frightening consequences for the region. Even the incompetent but brutal Saudis have said they would send their troops into Syria. There seems to be no limit to the madness of these rulers.

As the Syrian army makes steady progress on the ground in Aleppo and elsewhere in the country, Syrian opposition groups and their foreign sponsors conspire to sabotage the peace talks, albeit indirect, in Geneva. Talks were suspended today when opposition groups refused to meet the UN Special envoy, Staffan de Mistura. It was pointless to continue with the charade if no one was talking to each other.

It is incredible that the 62 richest people in the world own as much wealth as half of the world’s population; that is 3.5 billion people. This half (3.5 billion) experienced 41 percent decline in their wealth while the rich increased theirs by 44 percent. Is this fair or tolerable?

As if bad governance, gross inequalities and mismanagement were not enough, there are some regimes that are deliberately promoting sectarianism to divide the Muslims.

Amid all the doom and gloom, there is one country—Islamic Iran—that stands out as a beacon of hope for the oppressed Muslims, indeed all oppressed people. The Islamic State has entered its 38th year.

Islamic resistance movements operate under very difficult conditions but they must be careful about who they choose as “friends”. Hamas seems to be drifting toward the Saudis that will certainly result in disaster.