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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses Turkish members of parliament during the opening of the parliamentary session at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara, on Oct. 1, 2026.

Breaking | Last Updated: November 5, 2026, 3:56 pm

Turkey’s parliament ratifies Mecca pact in boost to Saudi Arabia

Turkey will now decide the scope of military support for Saudi Arabia amid ongoing Iran-backed Houthi attacks on the kingdom.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Culture

What’s next for Cristiano Ronaldo after retirement from Portugal team?

The Portuguese superstar is signed to the Saudi side Al Nassr until 2027, but the Yemen war is impacting the sport in the kingdom.

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Aramco begins expansion of oil export route bypassing Hormuz

AFP via Getty Images

Oil tops $114 as traders brace for Iran escalation after US midterms

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the opening bell, New York City, Sept. 28, 2026.

Russian satellite data helped Yemen’s Houthis target Saudi Arabia: What to know

Security forces stand guard in front of a banner showing the Kaaba during a protest by supporters of the Houthi authorities against the Saudi intervention in Yemen and against Saudi Arabia's recent accusation that the Houthis fired at the holy city of Mecca, in Sanaa on Sept. 18, 2026.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Vanessa Ghanem

In Dubai, reporting on business, energy and politics

Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh pauses during an interview with Reuters in Sanaa May 21, 2014. Other Yemeni officials may have looted public funds, but Saleh says he was not one of them and he has challenged his authorities to find one dollar acquired inappropriately and hold him to account. His critics in Yemen, an impoverished country of 25 million where 40 percent of the population live on less than $2 per day, accuse him of embezzling billions of dollars during his 33 years in power. Picture

Yemen's Saleh proves to be a survivor

Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been central to the Houthis' success in Yemen and may determine the country's future.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal (R) attends near his delegations the foreign ministers of the Arab League meeting ahead of the Arab Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, March 26, 2015. The Arab League on Thursday pledged full support for the Saudi-led campaign against Shi'ite Houthi fighters in Yemen. Its secretary-general, Nabil Elaraby, said the operation was directed against specific Houthi targets based on a request by Yemeni President Abd-Rabb

Riyadh's war on Yemen stokes Saudi nationalism

Saudi Arabia's war on Houthis in Yemen is key to rallying the domestic Saudi populace after the regime's repeated failures to obtain a victory over Iran.

An armed man gestures as he stands on the rubble of houses destroyed by an air strike near Sanaa Airport March 26, 2015. Saudi Arabia and Gulf region allies launched military operations including air strikes in Yemen on Thursday, officials said, to counter Iran-allied forces besieging the southern city of Aden where the U.S.-backed Yemeni president had taken refuge. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah - RTR4UXIA

Saudi Arabia gets bipartisan backing for Yemen airstrikes

Lawmakers are lining up behind the US ally despite fears of another sectarian proxy war.

Civil defence workers and people search for survivors under the rubble of houses destroyed by an air strike near Sanaa Airport March 26, 2015. Saudi Arabia and Gulf region allies launched military operations including air strikes in Yemen on Thursday, officials said, to counter Iran-allied forces besieging the southern city of Aden where the U.S.-backed Yemeni president had taken refuge. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah - RTR4UXDR

Iran condemns Saudi bombing of Yemen

Hard-line Iranian officials have condemned the United States and Saudi Arabia for the bombing in Yemen and have warned of consequences for Saudi Arabia.

Fighters from the Shi'ite Badr Brigade militia stand near their flag as they guard at a checkpoint along a highway recently taken from militants of the Islamic State, outside the town of Sulaiman Pek September 5, 2014. The highway, which continues south to Baghdad, is now controlled by Shi'ite militia fighters and the Kurdish Peshmerga. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR454AO

Is the Shiite revival here?

Iran's support of religiously motivated forces in the Middle East has been viewed by many as a success while Saudi Arabia has struggled to find find reliable proxies.

Southern Movement militants man a weapon in the Jabal al-Ierr area of Yemen's southern Lahej province, as they prepare to secure the area against Shi'ite Houthi fighters, March 7, 2015. Most of Yemen has been left without state services or authority, and deadly violence is a daily occurrence as Houthis, state security forces, tribesmen, southern separatists and al Qaeda militants clash with each other. REUTERS/Stringer (YEMEN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4SG0C

Saudi anguish over Iranian gains

The withdrawal of the remaining US military personnel from Yemen only adds to Riyadh's desperation, with Riyadh worried that Washington's priority is a nuclear deal with Tehran, not stopping Iranian subversion in the Arab world.

Saudi Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdul-Aziz (R) arrives for the opening of the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, about 550 km (342 miles) south of Cairo, March 13, 2015. Egypt expects to sign agreements worth up to $20 billion at the weekend investment summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, its investment minister said on Friday. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS ROYALS) - RTR4T975

The new Saudi king, Egypt and the MB

Saudi Arabia might be witnessing a slow shift in the region, especially since the new King Salman seems friendlier to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood than his predecessor.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah (L) is escorted by Saudi Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz bin Abdullah upon his arrival to attend the ordinary meeting of the 134th session of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), on March 12, 2015 in Riyadh. The Meeting will discuss developments on Yemen and Syria crisis. AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)

Kuwaiti activists targeted under GCC security pact

Following the signing of the GCC Internal Security Pact, the recent detention of opposition activists in Kuwait highlight a worsening plight for social dissidents across the region.

A protester carries a Bahraini flag as they clash with riot police in the village of Bilad Al Qadeem south of Manama, February 6, 2015.
Protesters clashed with riot police demanding for the release of Bahraini opposition leader Sheik Ali Salman. Sheik Salman, head of the al-Wefaq Islamic Society was arrested on December 28, 2014 after leading a protest rally against elections in November which his party boycotted. REUTERS/ Hamad I Mohammed (BAHRAIN). - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4OIT8

Does Iran have a card to play in Bahrain?

While protests in Bahrain have remained largely peaceful, does Iran have any influence among the various Bahrain opposition groups?

A Muslim woman reads the Koran before Iftar, when Muslims break their fast, during the holy month of Ramadan at the historic Umayyad Mosque in Old Damascus August 26, 2009. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and conducting sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA SOCIETY RELIGION) - RTR274NK

Contemporary Islamic views support reform in favor of women

The religious feminist movement has succeeded in improving the status of women in some parts of the Muslim world, while in others, there is resistance to any change regarding women’s rights.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attends the closing session of 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Kathmandu November 27, 2014. A brief meeting between India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart appears to have salvaged a summit of South Asian leaders, with all eight countries clinching a last-minute deal to create a regional electricity grid.
REUTERS/Niranjan Shrestha/Pool (NEPAL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4FUCN

Pakistan declines to join Saudi Arabia's anti-Iran alliance

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has rejected, at least for now, Saudi Arabia's entreaties for Pakistani troops to help guard the Saudi border with northern Yemen, controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi Shiite forces.

A Palestinian girl recites Koran to her teacher during a Koran memorization lesson on the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque in Gaza City June 29, 2014.REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY EDUCATION) - RTR3W9WR

Can you be an Islamist and a feminist?

Feminists and others in the West intent on "liberating" the women of the Muslim world fail to recognize a brand of Islamist feminism demanding public and private space for women to contribute to society.