News from the Middle East and North Africa | The Arab Weekly

The newly built military hospital in Benslimane seeks to alleviate the pressure on hospitals in Casablanca region. (Reuters)

Morocco increasing hospital bed capacity to fight coronavirus

Iraq

Flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field north of Basra, Iraq. (REUTERS)

Rockets target US oil company in Iraq’s Basra province

Turkey

A worker sprays disinfectant outside Ortakoy Mosque to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Istanbul. (Reuters)

COVID-19 hits Erdogan’s divisive domestic policies hard

News & Analysis

A February file picture of Tunisian Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh speaking to parliament. (DPA)

Special powers offer Tunisian PM opportunity to tackle crisis, show mantle

News & Analysis

OPEC sign outside the headquarters of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Austria. (Reuters)

Virtual OPEC meeting set after Trump talks with Saudi crown prince, Russian president

Mohammed Alkhereiji

Top Stories

Iranian dissident Masoud Molavi Vardanjani. (Twitter)

Accusations to Tehran in killing of dissident add to Turkey-Iran tensions

Latest Issue

Issue: 251 | Sat, April 04, 2020

Top Stories

Tehran continues brazen interference in Iraq’s politics as prime minister-designate falters

Radio Karantina brings solace to listeners on days of lockdown

Accusations to Tehran in killing of dissident add to Turkey-Iran tensions

Opinion

We have to learn to live with the threat of the virus

Haitham El-Zobaidi

Putting Humpty Dumpty back together again

Oussama Romdhani

Europe needs to take North Africa more seriously

If China were sued over the pandemic, the US should be over Iraq

Rashmee Roshan Lall

Yemen five years on after Operation Determination Storm

Khairallah Khairallah

Gantz joins Netanyahu in fractured landscape

Gregory Aftandilian

China, Russia push for lifting of sanctions on Syria over pandemic

Editorial

MENA

Palestinian employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), wearing surgical masks and gloves, divide food aid rations and place them onto transport vehicles. (dpa)

Making sure the poor do not go hungry

Middle East

Health workers of government-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital, where most of the Lebanese coronavirus cases are treated, are saluted by Lebanese policemen. (AP)

Saluting Arab women doctors

News & Analysis

Hezbollah 'commander' Ali Mohammed Younes. (Facebook)

Hezbollah member shot dead in southern Lebanon

UAE

Sunrise over the skyline in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP)

UAE doubles stimulus to counter coronavirus impact

News & Analysis

Libyans wear protective masks, as part of precautionary measures against spread of COVID-19, as they stand in a queue at a bank in Misrata. (Reuters)

In Libya, more concern about pandemic than over ongoing war

Top Stories

Prime Minister-designate Adnan al-Zurfi (C) meets with the ambassadors of the P5 countries of the United Nations Security Council in Baghdad, March 25, amid the coronavirus pandemic. (AFP)

Tehran continues brazen interference in Iraq’s politics as prime minister-designate falters

News & Analysis

A nurse uses a swab to test the passenger of a car for COVID-19 at a drive-through verification centre in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi, April 2. (AFP)

Gulf nations introduce more measures as infection numbers rise

Mohammed Alkhereiji

Turkey

A Turkish military convoy drives on the highway, between Bab al-Hawa crossing on the border with Turkey and the rebel-held town of Ariha, in the Syrian province of Idlib. (AFP)

Former top diplomat urges Turkey to use ‘corona diplomacy’ to repair ties with Syria

Algeria

Compounded fears. Passengers, repatriated from China, disembark an Algerian aeroplane, last February. (DPA)

Algeria begins airlift of nationals stranded in Turkey amid worries over jihadist infiltrators

Lebanon

Clients wearing protective masks line up to use ATM machines outside a closed bank in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP)

Nasrallah tries to pin the blame for the system’s failure on banks

News & Analysis

Workers are seen in a factory that produces sterilised surgical equipment and medical clothings in Sadat, Egypt, March 15. (Reuters)

Egypt steps up battle to prevent spread of COVID-19 pandemic

Syria

Syrians wearing face masks in front of posters informing about the novel coronavirus, in the capital Damascus, April 1. (AFP)

Spectre of coronavirus hovers over Syria

Simon Speakman Cordall

Lebanon

A street vendor wearing a face mask pushes his cart in Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut's suburbs, last March. (Reuters)

Lebanon gets COVID-19 assistance from World Bank

News & Analysis

A 2017 file picture shows a Salafist protester talking to a police officer during a demonstration against the ban on the sale and manufacturing of the burqa in Rabat. (Reuters)

Moroccans reject Salafists’ ‘irresponsible’ attempt at assailing closure of mosques

Society

Medical staffers treating patients of the COVID-19 pandemic at al-Hakim General Hospital in Iraq’s central shrine city of Najaf. (AFP)

Medical ‘Wonder Women’ making a difference in the region’s fight on coronavirus

Gulf

A student attends an online course at home in Riyadh, March 23. (AFP)

Coronavirus prompts digital transformation in Gulf countries

UAE

A medical professional carries out a swab test for the COVID-19 virus at a drive-thru testing centre in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on March 30. (Reuters)

UAE fights coronavirus with largest detection lab outside China

Palestine

A paramedic of Israel's Magen David Adom national emergency medical service (MDA) holds a swab test in a plastic bag at a drive-thru testing site in the northern Israeli city of Tamra on March 31. (AFP)

Arab and Jewish medics together on front line of Israel’s virus fight

East|West

A man wearing a face mask as a precautionary measure against covid-19, walks away from the East London Mosque in east London on March 20, 2020, after it closed temporarily due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (AFP)

During COVID-19 lockdown, UK local radio begins broadcasting Islamic service

Mahmud el-Shafey

Top Stories

Radio Karantina brings solace to listeners on days of lockdown