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October 26, 2026

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Analysis

What's at stake as Libya's eastern parliament approves Turkey maritime deal

Libya's eastern-based parliament's approval of a long-disputed maritime deal with Turkey marks a strategic win for Ankara as Saddam Hifter seeks Turkish backing for his presidential ambitions, according to analysts.

Ezgi Akin

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a joint statements and agreements during the EU and Egypt summit in Brussels, on Oct. 22, 2025.

Sisi says Egypt has no ‘territorial ambitions’ after Israel’s Smotrich threatens Sinai

The Egyptian president’s remarks follow a warning from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that Israel would seize the Sinai Peninsula if Egypt attacks.

China's President Xi Jinping (center L) walks along with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi followed by their wives Peng Liyuan and Entissar Amer (R) upon their arrival at the Cairo International Airport on September 1, 2026. President Xi Jinping arrived in Egypt on September 1, making a rare trip to the Middle East as both countries face the threat of US sanctions over financial links to Iran. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Why renewed Egypt-Ethiopia tensions are a problem for China

For Beijing, the renewed Egypt-Ethiopia standoff is a zero-sum bind that threatens vital strategic interests on both sides of the Nile.

Joyce Karam

A quadrilateral summit was held on Oct. 4, 2026, attended by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al‑Sisi, Eritrea President Isaias Afwerki, President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan Gen. Abdel Fattah al‑Burhan, in New El Alamein City, Egypt.

Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan hold summit amid Ethiopia tensions

All four countries have increasingly tense relations with Ethiopia, driven by disputes over the Nile, Red Sea access and security.

Latest News

Explainer

Why are Egypt and Ethiopia clashing over Tigray, Somalia and the Nile?

This general view shows the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba, Ethiopia, on February 19, 2022. - Ethiopia's massive hydro-electric dam project on a tributary of the Nile has raised regional tensions notably with Egypt, which depends on the huge river for 97 percent of its water supply. Government officials said the dam would begin producing electricity on Sunday, more than a decade since work first started. (Photo by Amanuel SILESHI / AFP) (Photo by AMANUEL SILESHI/AFP via Getty Ima

Ex-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to sue Netanyahu over Oct. 7 accusations: What to know

Ronen Bar, former chief of Israel's domestic Shin Bet security agency

On secret UAE visit, Netanyahu asked MBZ to deny pre-Oct. 7 warnings

Israeli PM

20 Israelis stranded in Ethiopia seek evacuation as fighting resumes: What to know

A general view of the damaged building housing Tigray TV, the state broadcaster of the Tigray region, following a drone strike in Mekelle, Ethiopia, Sept. 27, 2026.

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

In London, reporting on North Africa and Gulf politics

Mohammed Magdy

In Berlin, reporting on Egyptian politics

Ayah Aman

In Cairo, reporting on politics and culture

Salwa Samir

In Giza, reporting on politics

Nada Shaker

In Cairo, reporting on culture

A Palestinian woman, hoping to cross into Egypt, cries as she waits with others at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip August 12, 2014. Under Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Cairo has secured closures on the Gaza border, increasing economic pressure on Hamas from a long-running Israeli blockade. Talks to end a month-long war between Israel and Islamist militants in Gaza have made no progress so far, an Israeli official said on Tuesday, as a 72-hour ceasefire in the shattere

Rafah crossing used as a bargaining chip in Gaza crisis

The economic and humanitarian interests of the people of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula are relegated to the political game that will determine whether the Rafah crossing is reopened or not.

A burnt vehicle belonging to Iraqi security forces is pictured at a checkpoint in east Mosul, one day after radical Sunni Muslim insurgents seized control of the city, June 11, 2014. Sunni insurgents from an al Qaeda splinter group extended their control from the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday to an area further south that includes Iraq's biggest oil refinery in a devastating show of strength against the Shi'ite-led government. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Can Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE form Arab security alliance?

With the Islamic State (IS) out to change the regional order, Gulf states ought to establish a security alliance to prevent this from happening.

People wait to buy fuel at a petrol station in Cairo July 6, 2014. Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb has sought to justify politically sensitive subsidy cuts on fuel and natural gas which took effect on Saturday, saying they were a necessary part of fixing an economy hammered by three years of turmoil. Egypt had overnight on Friday slashed its subsidies for car fuel and natural gas, increasing their prices by more than 70 percent. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS ENERGY TRANS

Egyptians tolerating cuts in subsidies — for now

The government mobilized its police forces to prevent any massive protest against its reduction in fuel subsidies; road infrastructure improvements also helped soften the blow of increased prices for consumers.

Will US Middle East policy change after the Gaza war?

After the Gaza war, the challenge for the Obama administration will be to stabilize the region, prevent an intifada and create a basis for future progress.

Egyptian demonstrators gather outside the presidential palace in Cairo during a protest calling for the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on July 1, 2013. Egypt's armed forces warned that it will intervene if the people's demands are not met within 48 hours, after millions took to the streets to demand the president's resignation. AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Obama tells Morsi: US does not favor any Egypt group

In a July 1 phone call to Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi, President Obama stressed that democracy is about more than elections and urged Morsi to take steps to show he is responsive to the concerns of protesters.

An Egyptian protester lights up a flare as hundreds of thousands of Egyptian demonstrators gather in Cairo's landmark Tahrir square during a protest calling for the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on July 1, 2013. Egypt's armed forces warned that it will intervene if the people's demands are not met within 48 hours, after millions took to the streets to demand the president's resignation. AFP PHOTO/MOHAMED EL-SHAHED (Photo credit should read MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images)

White House: US not 'urging' Morsi to hold early elections

The White House has stressed that the United States does not favor any particular group in Egypt and that only Egyptians can determine the future.

Egyptian demonstrators gather outside the presidential palace in Cairo during a protest calling for the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on July 1, 2013. Egypt's armed forces warned that it will intervene if the people's demands are not met within 48 hours, after millions took to the streets to demand the president's resignation. AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Egypt protests

As millions of Egyptian protesters celebrated as the Egyptian army's deadline passed for Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to respond to protesters' demands, a top foreign policy advisor to Morsi, warned that what is happening in Egypt is a military coup.

An Egyptian woman puts turns her back to show an image of US President Barack Obama with a slogan, as they rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square, on July 7, 2013. Opponents of Egypt's deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi packed Tahrir Square in their tens of thousands to show the world his ouster was not a military coup but the reflection of the people's will. AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Ex envoys Wisner, Kurtzer: What the US should do now in Egypt

former Egypt Daniel Kurtzer and former US diplomat Frank Wisner have said that the US did not recognize that Mohammed Morsi did not respect democratic institutions.

Employees work on dough for kunafa at a machine in the factory of Arafah Al Kanafani, a shop selling traditional sweets, in old Cairo July 9, 2014. Arafah, which started operations in 1870, is one of the oldest pastry shops in Egypt that sells traditional desserts such as kunafa and qatayef during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, according to the owner Haj Mahmoud Arafah, who is from the Arafah family that founded the shop. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY FOOD BUSINESS) - RTR3XU

Austerity measures won't save Egyptian economy

Although Egyptian officials contend that recent austerity measures are designed to protect the poor in the long term, the immediate burden will fall on low-income households.

A member of the presidential guards a military helicopter of former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as he boards it after swearing in as Egypt's new president in a ceremony at the Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo June 8, 2014. Sisi was sworn in as president of Egypt on Sunday in a ceremony with low-key attendance by Western allies concerned by a crackdown on dissent since he ousted Islamist leader Mohamed Mursi last year. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3SQ85

Egypt may ban Brotherhood supporters from joining army

The recent announcement by Egyptian attorney Azeb Makhlouf warning about the recruitment of men affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in the Egyptian army has stirred controversy.

Former Shin Bet chief calls for regional conference

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Shin Bet head and current Science Minister Yaakov Peri calls to seize this moment after the Gaza war for a regional diplomatic move involving the Palestinians, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Protesters, who are against Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, hold a poster featuring the head of Egypt's armed forces General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Tahrir Square in Cairo July 3, 2013. Egypt's armed forces overthrew elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Wednesday and announced a political transition with the support of a wide range of political, religious and youth leaders. A statement published in Mursi's name on his official Facebook page after al-Sisi's speech said the measures announced amounte

Morsi ousted: Egypt army suspends constitution, calls early elections

Egypt's military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced the army has stepped in to transfer power from Egypt's Islamist President Mohammad Morsi to a technocratic government ahead of early parliamentary and presidential polls.