Sunday 15 Sep 2019 | | AW

Top Stories

Hezbollah, Israeli brinkmanship continues in the face of ratcheting tensions

How Qatar is playing a double game in France with Macron’s consent

Idlib fighting and Turkish ‘safe zone’ plans throw cloud over Syria summit

Teens discover voice through media outlet in Egypt’s peripheries

Marc Espanol-34622

Peace takes a backseat as Netanyahu moves to boost electoral chances

Mamoon Alabbasi

Interview

High-stakes election. Secularist presidential candidate Said Aidi. (Courtesy of Said Aidi)

Aidi calls Tunisian campaign climate poisonous

Economy

Oil producers pledge to respect output cuts

New Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz speaks at the World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi, September 9. (AP)

New Saudi oil minister faces daunting task

A view at the financial district in Casablanca. (Saad Guerraoui)

Morocco FDI declines amid EU slowdown

People shop at a popular market in downtown Cairo. (Reuters)

Seeking additional tax revenue, Egypt tackles informal commerce

Culture

“Beirut” by Nabil Ismail. (Courtesy of Dar al Mussawir)

First Image Festival turns Beirut into outdoor gallery

The ruins of the Makawir fortress where John the Baptist was said to be imprisoned. (Hasan Tamimi)

Makawir attracts Christian pilgrims, despite dark past

A man touches an icon tracing the flight of the Holy Family in Egypt on display at the entrance of the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary in Al Muharraq. (Marc Espanol)

A rare spiritual experience at Egypt’s oldest monastery

Travel

A view of the St Vartan’s Armenian Cathedral. (Living Lebanon)

Bourj Hammoud, the little Armenia in the heart of Beirut

Society

Cement barriers reinforce the sea wall near the Citadel of Qaitbay in Alexandria. (AP)

Alexandria battles climate change

Hassan Abdel Zaher

Young Syrian refugees enjoy a session of UNICEF’s “My Music” initiative. (UNICEF)

Music initiative soothes the soul of traumatised child refugees

A Yazidi woman and mother of three children fathered by an ISIS fighter talks to reporters at a makeshift house on the outskirts of the north-western Iraqi town of Baadre, June 25. (AFP)

Yazidi mothers of ISIS children face impossible choices

News & Analysis

Hezbollah, Israeli brinkmanship continues in the face of ratcheting tensions

Simon Speakman Cordall

Turkey eyes new defence partnership with Russia but risks remain high

Turkey’s military base in Qatar further antagonises Arab Quartet

Ahmed Fouad Anwar

Suspicions swirl after Egyptian scientist’s death in Morocco

Egyptian human rights advocates decry US release of military aid

Iraqi militants likely to plot comeback under the shadow of regional instability

Manuel Langendorf

Shia cleric al-Sadr raises eyebrows in rare Iran visit

Syrian opposition hopes dashed as Idlib turns into giant chessboard

Peace takes a backseat as Netanyahu moves to boost electoral chances

Mamoon Alabbasi

Tunisian electoral campaign mirrors anger, anguish

For voters in Tunisia, it feels like a roll of the dice

Oil producers pledge to respect output cuts

Victory for Netanyahu’s Likud Party ‘hanging by a thread’ before vote

Jomaa focuses on experience in clash with populists

Assad clips wings of rich cousin amid concerns over growing influence

Special correspondent

Opinion

Tunisian elections pledges

Palestinian peace plan postponed indefinitely

Whither goes US policy in Iran after Bolton?

Khairallah Khairallah

Oppression of women extends into Iran football stadiums

Desertification danger looms in MENA region

Hariri is telling the world: Hezbollah is your problem, not ours

Israeli prime minister’s unilateralism is informed by Trump’s style

Rashmee Roshan Lall

Iran is in no hurry to revert to terms of 2015 nuclear deal

Is Erdogan’s ruling party imploding?

Thinking outside the box: Towards a new legitimacy in Yemen

Mustafa al-No’man

How Qatar is playing a double game in France with Macron’s consent

Foreign journalists, politicians join Syria’s propaganda tours

Tunisia’s freedom cushion is not enough

Oussama Romdhani

Greenblatt’s resignation signals US peace plan a mere political exercise

Gregory Aftandilian

Jihadist-owned private military company unsettles Russia

New Saudi oil minister faces daunting task