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
Jordan Deals With Backlash From Iraq, Syria Jordanians may be becoming more xenophobic as the Hashemite Kingdom deals with pressures from Iraq and Syria. Jordan
Davutoglu Cautiously 'Not Pessimistic' On Syria Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says US-Turkish policies on Syria are now synchronized. Syria
Nasrallah on Syria: 'This Battle Is Ours' Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declares war on Salafist groups and calls for "political dialogue" in Syria. Lebanon
Two Rockets Hit Beirut's Southern Suburbs Sunday morning, May 26, two rockets hit Beirut's predominantly Shiite southern suburbs, in what some see as the Syria conflict increasingly encroaching on Lebanon. Lebanon
Syrian War Overtakes Lebanese Valley Lebanon’s Wadi Khaled faces hardship and divisions as a result of the war in Syria. Lebanon
Iran’s Private Sector Weighs Its Options Iran’s business community considers the presidential candidates and the future of Iran’s economy. Iran
Syria's Struggle Is Now Lebanon's Struggle Lebanon's political stability and instability have always depended on external key powers; today, the effect of the Syrian crisis, is no different. Qatar
Is Rafsanjani’s Disqualification A Signal to US? The disqualification of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani as a candidate in this year’s election may be about more than Iranian domestic politics. Iran
Israeli, Palestinian Business Leaders Seek to Break Impasse A new peace initiative will be presented at the World Economic Forum in Jordan this weekend, May 24-26. Palestine
Tripoli a ReflectionOf Syria’s Sectarian War The fighting in Tripoli complicates Lebanon’s politics. Lebanon
The Seven Draft Laws Defining Egypt Right Now Egypt’s political debate heats up over draft legislation. Egypt
Turkey Puzzled by US Stance On Exxon-KRG Oil Deal Ankara questions US concerns over its arrangement with ExxonMobil for energy exploration in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Iraq
