AW

Palestine

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivers a statement regarding the pre-emptive measure taken against the coronavirus outbreak, March 11. (dpa)

Virus outbreak in Israel sparks calls for unity government

News & Analysis

A Muslim worshipper covers his head with a carpet as he wears a mask after prayers outside the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, March 7. (AP)

Coronavirus disrupts life in the region, more than 10,000 cases recorded

Yemen

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (C-L), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz (C) and Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi at the signing of the Riyadh Agreement, last November. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia urges Yemeni factions to implement Riyadh Agreement

Lebanon

Lebanese President Michel Aoun (C) leads a cabinet meeting at Baabda Palace near Beirut, March 12. (DPA)

Will Lebanon’s Eurobond default spur much-needed reform?

Simon Speakman Cordall

Saudi Arabia

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud reads a document as he receives two newly appointed Saudi ambassadors at his palace in Riyadh, March 8. (AP)

Saudi arrests spark speculations about attempted coup

Syria

In this file photo taken on September 11, 2019 Hanny Megally, a member of the United Nations (UN) Commission of Inquiry on Syria, gives a press conference in Geneva. (AFP)

Trauma and Sadness: UN Investigators Reflect on 9-Year Syria Probe

Latest Issue

Issue: 247 | Sun, March 08, 2020

Top Stories

Idlib agreement draws battle lines for next Turkish-Russian escalation

Tunis suicide attack resurrects terrorism shadow, memory of Ben Guerdane’s battle

Stephen Quillen

Fear snowballs in Middle East over spread of coronavirus

What peace process in Libya after Salame?

Refugees become 'toys' in standoff between Turkey and Europe

Opinion

Eurobond default sounds death knell for Lebanon’s system

Epidemic (mis-)management reflects Iran's parallel structure of power

Iraqi MPs loyalties are not to their people

Majid al-Samarrai

Coronavirus does not distinguish between Palestinians and Jews

Uncertainty looms for leaderless Iraq

Iran is sick with its political system, not just coronavirus

Uncertain outcome of Israeli election will affect US vote

Gregory Aftandilian

Editorial

MENA

Incoming lawmaker Iman Khatib Yasin holds a Palestinian scarf in Nazareth after her Arab Joint List's results in Israeli elections. (Reuters)

Celebrating Arab women’s rights

Iran

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani chairs a meeting with the Iranian National Health Management Staff for the coronavirus outbreak, February 25. (dpa)

Lying in the time of coronavirus

Palestine

Iman Khatib Yassin, representing the Islamic Movement in the Joint List electoral alliance, holds up her hand as she stands next to Ofer Cassif, Jewish member within the alliance, as they address supporters in Shefa-Amr on March 2. (AFP)

Four women at forefront of Israel's Arab political surge

Majeda El-Batsh

News & Analysis

Syria’s government makes dubious claims about COVID-19

Egypt

Reaching out to friends. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (L) and Saudi Minister of State for African Affairs Ahmed Kattan (R) attend the consultative meeting on the sidelines of the 153rd Arab Foreign Ministers annual meeting at Arab League headquarters in Cairo, March 4. (DPA)

Egypt seeking Arab support in dispute over Nile dam with Ethiopia

Egypt

Tourists visit the Luxor Temple in Egypt’s southern city of Luxor, March 11. (AFP)

Fears Egypt’s tourism sector could be a casualty of COVID-19

Turkey

Ali Babacan attends in Ankara the funeral of a Turkish soldier killed in Syria, March 1. (AP)

Babacan pitches new party as way out of Turkey’s ‘politics of fear’

Syria

Displaced Syrian women walk at a camp in Kafr Lusin village on the border with Turkey in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, on March 10 (AFP)

Syria war enters 10th year with international showdown causing huge toll

Iran

Homeless men wearing masks and clean clothes are seen at Khavaran homeless shelter after sanitizing and taking a shower amid the coronavirus outbreak in Tehran, Iran, March 10, 2020 (DPA).

Iran asks for billions in loans as virus deaths climb to 429

Economy

Terminal tractors line up at DP World's Terminal 2 at Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Reuters)

Dubai's DP World posts rise in 2019 profit

Turkey

A file picture of Ali Babacan. (Reuters)

Turkey's Babacan to launch new party, sees need for 'fresh start'

Society

Sudanese activist Zeineb Badreddine talks to AFP during an interview at her home in Omdurman, near the capital Khartoum, on March 7, 2020. (AFP)

Sudanese women want more progress on rights

Economy

A Kuwaiti man shows a bag full of locusts at a market in Al-Rai, north-west of Kuwait City, January 25. (AFP)

Locust invasion threatens MENA crops

News & Analysis

Al-Hussein mosque, which was built in 1154 in name of the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, Hussein ibn Ali, highly regarded by Shia Muslims, on Al-Mu’izz al-Din Illah Street in Cairo. (AFP)

Crackdown on Shia TV channels, websites expected in Egypt

Society

The first Moroccan female fishing cooperative go out to sea in a fishing boat, in the village of Belyounech, north Morocco. (AP)

Moroccan fisherwomen venture into man’s realm

Amira El-Masaiti

Culture

From Umm Kulthum’s West End musical in London. (Zainab Mehdi)

West End musical celebrates Arab diva Umm Kulthum

Society

Women’s rights activists during an anti-government protest in Beirut. (AFP)

Lebanese women to press for equal personal status rights

Culture

An Egyptian archaeologist restores the throne of King Tutankhamun at the conservation centre in the Grand Egyptian Museum. (AFP)

Egypt gets tougher to safeguard its ancient treasures

Culture

Kuwaiti actress, journalist and former MBC talk show co-host Nadia Ahmad. (Courtesy of Nadia Ahmad)

Kuwaiti producer talks about new generation of Arab film-makers

Khadija Hamouchi

Culture

Egyptian writer Yacoub el-Sharouni. (Al Arab)

Veteran Egyptian writer knows how to tell a children’s story