Al-Monitor Staff - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

A man holds up the official 2020 Oktoberfest beer mug in front of the Bavaria monument at Theresienwiese in Munich, southern Germany, the place of the yearly beer festival, on Sept. 19, 2020. The traditional Bavarian Oktoberfest beer festival would have started today, but it was canceled a few months ago due to the ongoing novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

German city angry over Dubai's 'Oktoberfest' event

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

A Saudi Boeing jet is seen at the gate at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) on Nov. 19, 2020.

Saudi Arabia to lift international travel ban on vaccinated citizens

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

In this handout image provided by EU Delegation Vienna, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (R) speaks with other participants at the JCPOA Iran nuclear talks on April 27, 2021, in Vienna, Austria.

Iran downplays state media report on US prisoner swap

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images

Iraqi authorities nab Islamic State 'governor' of Fallujah

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

US forces patrol in Syria

US soldier faces criminal charges over firefight with Syrian regime

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Hodeida land mine

Yemen land mine explosion kills three kids near Red Sea port

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian shakes hands with a French soldier of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon during a visit to the contingent headquarters in the southern village of Deir Kifa, Lebanon, April 20, 2015.

French FM says some Lebanese politicians banned from France over failure to form government

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Lebanon's parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meets with US envoy David Schenker (C) and US Ambassador to Algeria John Desrocher (L) in Beirut, Lebanon, Oct. 15, 2020.

US to send mediation team for Israel-Lebanon maritime talks next week

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

A picture taken on April 20, 2020 shows a 120-bed ward at a specialised hospital for coronavirus cases inaugurated by the Kurdish Red Crescent around 10 kilometres outside the Syrian city of Hasakeh after the first COVID-19 death was reported in the northeastern region.

Northeast Syria's pandemic response in jeopardy as cases rise, charity warns

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Blinken and Cohen

Blinken meets Israel’s Mossad chief to talk Iran

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Iraq's oil minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar (C) attends the inauguration of a new gas compressor station in the Rumaylah oil field near Iraq's southern port city of Basra on Feb. 28, 2021.

Iraqi, Syrian oil ministers discuss gas imports

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

A grab from an AFPTV video taken on April 25, 2021, shows fighters loyal to the Saudi-backed Yemeni government along the Mashgah frontline against Houthi rebel forces near the contested northeastern city of Marib.

Iran’s Zarif backs cease-fire in meeting with Yemen’s Houthis

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff