Jordan's flagbearer Hussein Iashaish leads his delegation during the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 5, 2016. PEDRO UGARTE / AFP

International media often struggles with naming the various actors in the Middle East today. Is it Daesh? ISIS? The Islamic State? ISIL? Is he Benjamin Netanyahu ? Binyamin? Or Bibi? Is it the regime of Bashar al-Assad or the government? And what is the difference? And on top of all this, the media often reports on names of groups without explaining their meaning. Hamas and Fatah are rival Palestinian groups, for example. So do their names reflect their difference in ideology? Al Bawaba is here to help. Take a look ...

Militant factions and international terror groups are typically on the bad side of major global powers. The combined military force and intelligence apparatus of the nations waging war on terrorism and militancy provide a significant threat to groups from Colombia to Yemen, who just as soon as declaring their existence could find themselves on the wrong end of a drone strike. But not all threats are external. Conflicting ideologies, controversial decisions, or differences in strategy can lead to internal strife that can dissolve a group or even lead to a ...

Oh, to be a child once again! Those were the days, especially as an 80s/90s kid in the Middle East, when recess meant one of two things: Playing games with the neighborhood kids down the street, or binge watching the best cartoons the very few TV channels available had to offer (long before SpaceToon and Cartoon Network came to life). Whether it was crying over girls’ faves Sally and Lady Lady (dubbed mostly from their original Japanese into classical Arabic), or laughing at the silliness of everyone’s favorites The Flintstones ...

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - JULY 31: A journalist poses for a selfie in front of the Olympic rings ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games on July 31, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP Christian Petersen / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

Why does Oman have swords on their flag? Why does Qatar have the world’s widest flag? Why would Jordan put a five-sided star on theirs? Here’s a question: Why do so many Arab flags look the same? No disrespect to the proud states of the Maghreb, Mashreq, and Gulf, but if you take a combination of red, green, white, and black then toss in a falcon for good measure you’ve got all the ingredients you need to put together just about any of the region’s flags. You won’t hear anyone ...

The Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games kick off on August 5, its fanfare muddled by unfinished infrastructure, polluted water, violent crime, Russian doping, and the terrifying Zika virus . But ten special athletes are bringing a new, positive meaning to the event. Each is a bona fide refugee, competing for the first time as the nationless Refugee Olympic Team (ROT). Ten people were picked from a pool of 43 promising candidates based on sporting level, official United Nations refugee status , and personal stories. The nationless team will march under ...

Arab pride has seen better days. People are in no rush to declare their Arab credentials or make bids for the Arab League. Arabic passports do not wield much relative ‘power’ and pretty much since Team America depicted a crude mock-Arabic “Derka Derka Allah Muhamad Jehad”, a curtain of shame has fallen over the Arab identity causing closet Arabs to stay in the woodworks. The Middle Eastern Arab heartland is in serious existential trouble , spitting out citizens in refugee floods. With the region’s self-esteem at an all time low ...

Mini team Yazeed Mohamed al-Rajhi an co-pilot Timoo Gottschalk celebrate with a Saudi flag their second place podium of the Silk Way Rally in Beijing on July 24, 2016. PATRICK BAZ / AFP

Arab hospitality with its legendary generosity may not always be what it seems. Okay, most of the time it is - call Arabs what you like - terrorists (we’d rather you didn’t), racists, lazy…. but stingy they are not! Still, theirs is a slippery, sensitive culture that comes complete with its curious codes and cues that leave the true intention and meaning often lost on even the hardiest local. Arabic is a flowery language riddled in customary catch-phrases. These obligatory rejoinders and complementary formulas are designed to distance and ‘kiss ...

The Sultanate of Oman's Musandam-Oman Sail (Ultimate class) sails on St. Lawrence River on July 13, 2016 for the Transat Quebec Saint-Malo race in Quebec City. Every four years the Transat Quebec Saint-Malo brings together the best professional oceangoing multihull and monohull racers for an epic crossing from Quebec City to Saint-Malo, some 3000 nautical miles. Some 26 boats are competing this year. Florence Cassisi / AFP