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
Netanyahu Sees Liberman As Key to Likud's Future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to strengthen his alliance and unification with Avigdor Liberman’s party. Israel
US Should Move Beyond Drones in Yemen US security assistance toward Yemen cannot depend primarily on controversial drone attacks and needs to be linked to security reform in the country. Yemen
Israel’s Triple Challenge On the Syrian Front Israel faces tactical, operative and strategic challenges on its Syrian front, trying to combine efficient deterrence without sinking into the Syria quagmire. Israel
Khomeini's Daughter Asks Khamenei: Let Rafsanjani Run Ayatollah Khomeini's daughter Zahra Mostafavi has written to the supreme leader to ask him to intervene after the Guardian Council disqualified Hashemi Rafsanjani for the presidential race. Iran
Six Nautical Miles Not Enough For Gaza Fishermen Israel's announcement to re-extend Gaza's fishing zone from three to six nautical miles comes at the end of the lucrative sardine season and does not promise relief for fishermen. Palestine
Sadr Wants Talabani to Step Down Iraqi Shiite Leader Muqtada Al-Sadr is seeking to appoint a new president as questions linger about President Jalal Talabani's return to Iraq. Iraq
Hezbollah Campaigns For Preemptive War in Syria To preempt dissent among its base, Hezbollah is conducting a propaganda campaign to convince supporters that the sacrifices they are making in the battle for Qusair are worth it. Lebanon
Did Muslim Brotherhood Frame Salma Sabahi? Opposition figures have accused the Muslim Brotherhood of framing the daughter of a powerful opponent for fraud in an act of retaliation. Egypt
Iran Elections: Where an Old KIA Beats a Mercedes-Benz Iran’s Guardian Council nixes both former president Hashemi Rafsanjani and Rahim Meshai, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's acolyte and adviser. Iran
Vulgarity on Rise in Turkish Political Discourse Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the first to place CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the same boat of the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Turkey
Knesset (Res.) Colonel: 'We Can Withstand' the Syrian Threat Israel is threatened more by diplomatic deadlock than by Syrian jihadists, says Knesset member Col. (res.) Omer Bar-Lev of the Labor Party. Israel
Erdogan’s ‘Plan C’ Under Way If "plan C" means a constitutional process driven by Turkey's ruling AKP, yet marred by high tension, two interesting scenarios emerge. Turkey
