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 to sell valuable cotton land to bolster the textile industry Egypt announced that it will sell 14 tracts of land where it stores its industrial cotton gins to compensate for the heavy losses suffered by the textile industry. Egypt
Tunisia in limbo after Essebsi ends Ennahda alliance The announcement by Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi of the dissolution of Nidaa Tunis' alliance with Ennahda, ending five years of consensus government in Tunisia, has sparked controversy. Tunisia
Russia pins downed plane on Israel, will add missiles in Syria Russia’s decision to deploy its S-300 air defense systems in Syria is a major step toward dominating Syrian airspace, but to what extent will it affect Israel? Syria
Is Trump shifting toward Abbas? According to statements by President Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly, it seems that the solution he envisions is closer to the one Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas favors than to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s status quo. Palestine
Iraqi Kurds vote to elect new parliament Iraqi Kurdistan held its parliamentary elections one year after its failed bid for independence, but low voter turnout and claims of voter fraud are tainting the results. Iraq
Lebanon’s next chapter: A new social contract Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil blames “foreign countries” for “disrespect of elections” in his country. Saudi Arabia
Erdogan in Germany: A controversial but successful visit Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Germany has been an achievement as he managed to return to Turkey without committing himself to improve the human rights and democracy record of his country while getting what he wanted. Turkey
Zarif: US 'obsession' with Iran is backfiring everywhere In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed several topics from this week's UN General Assembly session. United States
UN warns of famine after Yemen talks sputter In an interview with Al-Monitor, the top UN aid official in Yemen warned that 10 million more people are at risk of starving if fighting in the war-torn country doesn’t stop. Saudi Arabia
Will Shiite militias become Iraq’s Basij? The Popular Mobilization Units are expanding their presence in the strategic city of Basra by forming a Voluntary Reserves force, similar to the Iranian Basij forces. Iraq
Head of PMU faction talks Iraqi politics, US relations The head of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Qais al-Khazali, spoke to Al-Monitor about the Iraqi organization's history with the United States and current political positions. Iraq
