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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

Egyptians hold pictures of Egypt's presidential candidate and former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as they wait to cast their votes for the presidential election at the Egyptian embassy in Riyadh May 15, 2014. Egyptians living outside the country on Thursday began voting in the presidential election, which will be held on May 26-27 in Egypt. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3PAN1

Millions will boycott Egypt's elections

Sisi expects a comfortable win, while a boycott campaign may hurt Sabahi's chances.

A National Democratic Party (NDP) sign is seen in front of their burned headquarters in downtown Cairo January 31, 2011. Protesters intensified their campaign on Monday to force Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak to quit as world leaders struggled to find a solution to a crisis that has torn up the Middle East political map. The sign reads "in order to be confident about the future of your children". REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXXBNJ

Members of Mubarak's old party plot comeback

Members of the disbanded National Democratic Party in Egypt are seeking to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections, despite a court ruling prohibiting their participation.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy speaks during an interview with Reuters at his office in Cairo November 2, 2013. Fahmy said on Saturday that Egypt would look beyond the United States to meet its security needs and warned Washington that it could no longer ignore popular demands in a changed Arab world. Picture taken November 2, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX14YF8

Fahmy: Egypt seeks talks, not conflict, over Ethiopian dam

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy rejects conditionality on US aid while stressing progress on the road map as key to US-Egypt ties.

A Palestinian Salafist shouts slogans in front of a poster depicting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (R) and Egypt's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with the Arabic words that read "criminals and murderers", during a rally in protest of what they say are recent massacres committed against Syrian and Egyptian people, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 22, 2013. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX12TC6

Egypt's cold realism on Syria

Egyptian officials are focusing on their own politics for now, while expecting a protracted conflict in Syria.

A worker climbs down after completing work on a campaign billboard of presidential candidate and Egypt's former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, along a highway in Cairo May 12, 2014. An influential Qatar-based Islamist whose fiery sermons have caused tension between Gulf states said on Sunday that Egyptian presidential front runner Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will only bring downfall to the country. Sisi is expected to easily win the May 26-27 presidential election. The only other candidate is leftist politician

Hamas tones down Brotherhood links to improve Egypt ties

Hamas is positioning itself to welcome Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as Egypt’s likely next president, hoping it will result in an improvement in relations.

A worker stands and works on a campaign billboard of presidential candidate and Egypt's former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, along a highway in Cairo May 12, 2014. An influential Qatar-based Islamist whose fiery sermons have caused tension between Gulf states said on Sunday that Egyptian presidential front runner Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will only bring downfall to the country. Sisi is expected to easily win the May 26-27 presidential election. The only other candidate is leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, w

The false promise of Mideast elections

The coming presidential elections in Egypt, Syria and Turkey offer little hope for a regional trend toward stability and democracy.

A volunteer leaves the headquarters of former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi near his poster in El Gamaliya district, where he spent his childhood, in the old Islamic area of Cairo May 9, 2014. As the Egyptian state presses its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the man expected to become president has deployed a new weapon in the battle with the Islamists: his own vision of Islam. Sisi, the former army chief who deposed the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi and is expected to be elected president lat

What would Sisi's presidency look like?

What we've learned about how Egypt's leading presidential candidate may run the country.

A man walks over a bridge by the construction of Ethiopia's Great Renaissance Dam in Guba Woreda, some 40 km (25 miles) from Ethiopia's border with Sudan, June 28, 2013. Egypt fears the $4.7 billion dam, that the Horn of Africa nation is building on the Nile, will reduce a water supply vital for its 84 million people, who mostly live in the Nile valley and delta. Picture taken June 28, 2013. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri (ETHIOPIA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY ENERGY ENVIRONMENT) - RTX115K9

Egyptian satellite will monitor water security, Renaissance Dam

Egypt launched the EgyptSat 2 satellite on April 14 to help with borders, resources and the Renaissance Dam.

Sinai residents complain of violations by Egypt army

Sinai civilians claim they are bearing the brunt of the Egyptian army’s war on terror in the peninsula.

A masked woman demonstrator shouts slogans against Egypt's former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and against a law restricting demonstrations near El-Thadiya presidential palace in Cairo, April 26, 2014. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3MR49

Egypt's atheists find each other on social media

Atheism is still a target for immense criticism in Egypt, and some have gone to jail for “contempt of religion.”

A woman wearing a sign on her head that reads "No Harassment" takes part in a protest against Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood and in support of women rights in the constitution in front of the presidential palace in Cairo October 4, 2012. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR38T3N

Egyptian women scared to speak out against sexual harassment

Sexual harassment leads all crimes against Egyptian women, and experts say it is abetted by toothless laws, lax enforcement and societal acceptance of the phenomenon.

Can social media sway Egypt's youth vote?

The current presidential election campaigns in Egypt have witnessed an unprecedented use of the Internet and social media as a means of targeting young voters.