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

News & Analysis

Anti-government protesters pass by a defaced picture of Prime Minister-designate Adnan Al-Zurfi in Tahrir Square, Baghdad. (AP)

Iraq’s Shia parties seek to use Kazemi to topple PM-designate

Qatar

The construction site of the Lusail stadium being built for the 2022 FIFA soccer World Cup in Doha. (Reuters)

US indictment charges Qatar with bribery over 2020 World Cup

UAE

More than 10,000 doctors and nurses can expect to benefit from the shipment

UAE sends 10 tonnes of medical aid to Italy

Syria

COVID-19 risks. Syrian workers spray disinfectant to prevent the spread of coronavirus, in Qamishli, Syria. (AP)

Pressure grows on Damascus to release prisoners amidst COVID-19 pandemic

Saudi Arabia

Muslim worshippers circumambulate the sacred Kaaba in Mecca's Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest site, on April 3, 2020. (AFP)

Saudi Arabia imposes 24-hour curfew on major cities

Iran

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi speaks at a press conference in Tehran. (DPA)

Despite Instex transaction, US-Iran tensions endure amid pandemic

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

COVID-19 hits Erdogan’s divisive domestic policies hard

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

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

Egypt

An aerial view of ongoing construction development at Egypt’s “New Administrative Capital” megaproject, some 45 kilometres east of Cairo. (AFP)

Pandemic postpones move to new Egyptian capital

Lebanon

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab speaks to the media outside Beirut’s International Airport, Lebanon April 5. (Reuters)

Lebanon appeals for international financial aid amid Covid-19 crisis

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

Lebanon

Ali Mohammed Younes. (Facebook)

Internal feuds could be behind assassination of Hezbollah commander in South Lebanon

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

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

UAE

A picture taken on March 15th shows school buses parked outside a closed school in Dubai. (AFP)

Abu Dhabi schools offer discounts during virus outbreak

UAE

NHS Nightingale London could be one of the world’s largest hospitals if it reached full capacity. (Reuters)

ADNEC offers use of ExCeL London centre to NHS free of charge

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

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

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

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

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