The Takeaway: Would Hamas complicate US plans for reset with Palestinians? Also: the back story on the spat between Israel and Jordan; Gulf post-COVID economic trends; Turkey’s Kurds; Egypt and Somalia; and more! Originals
Egypt sentences activist Sanaa Seif to 18 months in prison Seif, who had been in pretrial detention since June, was convicted Wednesday of spreading false news and misusing social media. Egypt
Ukraine rejects Iran's final report on downed passenger plane The Iranian government said last year's shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was the result of a human error. Iran
Palestinians receive first batch of vaccines through COVAX More than 60,000 doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived in Ramallah on Wednesday. Palestine
Egypt challenges court ruling on Hamas 'terrorism' In what seems to be a commitment to preserving its regional political interests and backing the Palestinian cause, Egypt is scrambling to challenge a court ruling that deemed Hamas a terrorist entity. Palestine
Imported goods crowd out local production in Iraq Flooded with imported goods, the Iraqi market is grappling with a serious lack of local products, due to the displacement of farmers, lack in government control and almost absent support for the domestic industry. Iraq
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. Saudi Arabia
PM Barzani: Shiite militias should be regulated In an interview with Al-Monitor, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani addresses the fight against IS, the rise of the Iraqi Shiite militias and relations with Baghdad. Iraq
Will R&D agreement seal the Iran deal? Research and development for Iran's nuclear program will play a large role in how the final nuclear agreement looks. Iran
The Islamic State in Africa The Islamic State presence in the depth of the African continent was strengthened after Nigerian movement Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the terrorist group. Egypt
Israeli Zionist Camp lost the periphery towns The Zionist Camp's election loss can be explained by its choice to embrace a Tel Aviv-Ashkenazi image, instead of investing time and resources in periphery towns. Israel
Iranian vendor dies after setting himself on fire Iranian activists are questioning why the self-immolation of a fruit vendor in Iran did not lead to mass protests. Regional
After four years, Syrian revolution continues Syrian rebels say that the shift to armed movements against Bashar al-Assad’s regime has pushed people away from the main purpose of the revolution that started in 2011 and called for achieving justice, equality and freedom for all. Egypt
Erdogan’s delicate balancing act in Kiev Ankara is not prepared to spoil ties with Russia over Ukraine. Turkey
Post-election Netanyahu tries to make amends In the week since the elections, Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to erase what he did during the campaign, expressing worries about US backing of Israel and international reactions. Israel
Erdogan grows more radical Erdogan’s hard-line nationalist and anti-Western rhetoric has become more unrelenting ahead of Turkey’s general elections, but electoral concerns are not the sole reason behind the escalation. Turkey
