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

News & Analysis

A file picture of former Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad el-Machnouk speaking in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP)

Machnouk picks up regional signals, prepares for the post-Hariri era

News & Analysis

Mourners hold up a poster showing assassinated Iraqi anti-government activist Ihab al-Wazni during his funeral in the central holy shrine city of Karbala on May 9, 2021. (AFP)

Liquidation of Iraqi protest leaders continues in anticipation of elections

News & Analysis

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian walks after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, Lebanon May 6, 2021. (REUTERS)

France warns Lebanese politicians: No special treatment for anyone, anymore

News & Analysis

French Defence Minister Florence Parly and French Secretary of State and Government’s spokesperson Gabriel Attal visit the military camp of Satory in Versailles-Satory, west of Paris, April 7, 2021. (AFP)

French military letter rejects “concessions” to Islamism, warns of ‘civil war’

Qatar

Qatari Minister of Finance Ali Shareef Al-Emadi attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia, June 6, 2019. (REUTERS)

Mystery surrounds the arrest of Qatar’s powerful finance minister

News & Analysis

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (C-R) and prime minister Muhammad Shtayeh (C-L) meeting with members of cabinet in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 4, 2021. (AFP)

Drawback after drawback, Abbas’s electoral calculations backfire

Latest Issue

Issue: 254 | Sun, April 26, 2020

Top Stories

Washington green-lights Israeli government’s move to annexation

Gulf countries seen as well-positioned to weather storm

For Muslims in Arab world, Ramadan is unlike any before

Opinion

Tunisian reform script for the IMF offers no future vision

Yemenis should take ownership of the solution for their country

Regional crises may require Egyptian foreign policy reset

Mohamed Abul Fadhl

Those who yearn for war in Libya

Palestine

Smoke billows from targets during Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza region of Khan Yunis, on May 11, 2021. (AFP)

Israeli strikes kill 24 in Gaza including children, Hamas militants

News & Analysis

Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) fast in-shore attack craft (FIAC) speeds near US naval vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, May 10, 2021. AP

US warship fires warning shots at ‘aggressive’ Iranian boats

News & Analysis

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh speaks during a press conference. (AFP)

For first time, Iran confirms talks with Saudi Arabia

News & Analysis

Coast guard vessels approach carrying migrants, some of the hundreds that arrived packed on boats, on the southern island of Lampedusa, Italy May 9, 2021.(REUTERS)

Hundreds of migrants cross from Libya, Tunisia into Italy

Maghreb

Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita attends a joint press conference with his Spanish counterpart Arancha Gonzalez Laya (L) in the capital Rabat, on January 24, 2020.(AFP)

New tensions erupt between Spain, Morocco over Polisario leader

Iraq

Iraqi protesters burn tyres in front of the Karbala governorate headquarters in the central city of Karbala, May 9, 2021. (AFP)

Iraqi reporter injured after Wazni killing, Iranian consulate attacked

News & Analysis

Libyan special forces stand guard outside Corinthia Hotel ahead of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh’s arrival in Tripoli, Libya. (REUTERS)

As they flex muscle, Libyan militias sow doubt about government authority

Gulf

A combination picture of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz (L) and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. (AFP)

Qatar, Saudi Arabia hold summit to discuss regional issues

Kuwait

Kuwaiti members of parliament wait for the parliamentary session to start at Kuwait’s National Assembly headquarters in Kuwait City. (AFP)

Fake news, rumours fuel political tensions in Kuwait

Iran

Iranian conservative presidential candidate and Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a Guard member, gives an address during a campaign rally in the capital Tehran. (AFP)

Iran's presidential race 'militarises' politics as Guards take a shot

News & Analysis

A couple walks in a street market in Tunis, Friday, April 9, 2021. (AP)

Mounting pandemic toll prompts one-week lockdown in Tunisia

MENA Now

Workers walk between photovoltaic panels at the Benban plant in Aswan, Egypt, November 17, 2019. Picture taken November 17, 2019. (REUTERS)

EBRD invests in MENA’s renewable technology, energy sectors

Opinion

Tunisian reform script for the IMF offers no future vision

Yemenis should take ownership of the solution for their country

Regional crises may require Egyptian foreign policy reset

Mohamed Abul Fadhl

Those who yearn for war in Libya

Culture

Members of the Kharrat family pose for a picture in costume at their home in the Shahgur district of the old city of Syria’s capital Damascus. (AFP)

Damascus family preserves Sufi whirling tradition

Maher-Al-Mounes

Culture

A view of the Al-Aqiser archeological site in Ain Tamr near Karbala in Iraq. (AFP)

Iraq’s neglected historic heritage crumbling to dust

Culture

Kuwaiti actress Hayat al-Fahd in a scene from "Margaret" TV series. (Facebook)

Excessive censorship handicaps Arab Gulf TV dramas

Culture

Arabic Language Academy headquterts in Amman. The Law for the Protection of the Arabic Language in Jordan is the first legislation of its kind in the Arab world. (https://arabic.jo)

Jordan’s law to protect Arabic triggers mixed reactions

Culture

A woman walks by a board painted with the image of Napoleon Bonaparte in Ajaccio. (AFP)

Split vision marks Mideast perception of Napoleon’s legacy

Culture

Yasmin Hayat, fruits of heaven plate 1 from the “Making Paradise” exhibition at London’s Aga Khan gallery. TAW

Artists showcase ‘Garden of Eden’ in London exhibition