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
Israel, Region Need Middle East Security Forum The need for security dialogue among the states of the Middle East region is more urgent than ever. Israel
Turkish Ties With Iraq, Iran Worsen Over PKK Peace Plan Iraq is protesting the relocation of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters from Turkey to Iraq. Turkey
Erdogan Confronts the Near Insanity Of His Opposition Those who blame Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan for the Reyhanli bombing are immoral and irrational. Turkey
Yemeni Houthi Leader Committed To National Dialogue Mohammed Nasser Al-Bakhiti, representative of Ansarullah (the Houthis’ movement) to the National Dialogue talks, discusses his party’s vision for Yemen in an exclusive telephone interview with Al-Monitor. Yemen
Jabhat Al-Nusra Shows Its Cracks What appears to be divisions among the leadership of terrorist allies Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda in Iraq may signal greater difficulties in controlling radical jihadists in Syria. Iraq
The Dangerous Simplicity Of the Interventionists Advocacy for military intervention in Syria may be well-intentioned, but can it achieve the true objectives? Syria
Turkey Adjusts its Syria Policy Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan came to Washington to convince Washington the red line had been crossed in Syria, but he came up short. Syria
Iraq's Yazidis in Crossfire In Baghdad On May 14, 2013, 12 employees of an alcohol shop in Baghdad, 10 of whom were Yazidis, were killed by armed assailants amid increasing religious extremism in the country. Iraq
Why Bassem Youssef Can Make Egyptians Uncomfortable The Egyptian comedian challenges and provokes a conservative culture, and President Mohammed Morsi, with his sharp wit and racy language. Egypt
Why Iran’s City Council Elections Matter City council elections in Iran are important amid the nation's upcoming presidential elections. Iran
Iran's Government Subsidies Are Incentives for Poor Voters Cash handouts as part of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s subsidy reform programs have a constituency among Iran’s lower classes. Iran
Who Are Iran's Voters? While we have an idea of who will be among the candidates for Iran's presidency, what do we know about Iran's voters? Iran
