MENASource

As the MENA region continues to be the epicenter of news headlines, the Atlantic Council’s MENASource is a hub for thought-provoking and hard-hitting analyses about the latest trends, ideas, and debates. This online publication provides fast reactions and in-depth commentary on breaking news and key regional topics by a diverse team of experts and contributors.

MENASource brings you up-close to a region at the epicenter of geo-political headlines. It is the Atlantic Council’s hub for in-depth commentary about breaking news, key topics, and trends from our team of experts on the Middle East and North Africa.

The views expressed in MENASource are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

Learn more about the Middle East

Hezbollah’s evolving role in Syria and Lebanon

MENASource
Jul 31, 2026

Why GCC integration matters more than ever

Gulf countries can’t build their knowledge economies of the future on their own.

Read More

Hezbollah’s evolving role in Syria and Lebanon

MENASource
Jul 13, 2026

Israel’s next government must prioritize the Abraham Accords

By
Amit Yarom and Itai Melchior

The fall election could open a narrow window for Israel to reset its regional strategy and create momentum to expand normalization.

Israel
Politics & Diplomacy

Hezbollah’s evolving role in Syria and Lebanon

MENASource
Aug 3, 2026

Can al-Zaidi separate the sects from the state in Iraq?

By
Munqith Dagher

The biggest challenge facing Iraq’s prime minister is how to curb the role of sectarian institutions in shaping Iraq’s state decisions.

Conflict
Iran

Stay Updated


Content

MENASource

Nov 29, 2018

Hezbollah’s evolving role in Syria and Lebanon

By Mona Alami

Hezbollah has been instrumental to Iran’s power play in the Middle East, and its behavior is often evocative of Iran’s priorities in Syria and Lebanon. As the United States ramps up sanctions against Tehran and the war winds down in Syria, Hezbollah has adapted by scaling back and shifting its role in regime areas while escalating its political rhetoric and activity in Lebanon.

Middle East Syria

MENASource

Nov 29, 2018

An update on Yemen’s water crisis and the weaponization of water

By Margaret Suter

In a piece published last year, I examined the interaction of water and conflict in Yemen and Syria, two countries whose severe water shortages have enabled competing actors to wield this precious resource as a weapon in violent conflict to the detriment of millions of civilians.

Yemen

MENASource

Nov 20, 2018

Reviving peace talks in Yemen: What comes next

By Jessica Levy and Paul R. Williams

With the high and ever-growing civilian death toll of Yemen’s civil war, the acute need for peace contrasts sharply with the sparse hopes of a peace process. After months of delays, the government and rebel forces announced on November 19 their intentions to temporarily freeze military operations and convene for negotiations in Sweden. The success of these talks will depend on whether the parties can effectively apply the lessons of past peace talks to structure a new peace process for Yemen.

Yemen

MENASource

Nov 19, 2018

Saudi Arabia: Review the bidding now

By Frederic C. Hof

Reports that the CIA has concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi add weight and urgency to something recommended by this writer weeks ago: The United States should undertake a comprehensive, bottom-up national security review of the bilateral relationship with the Saudi Kingdom and its impact on American interests in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia

MENASource

Nov 16, 2018

Turkish policy in Syria: Divining intent and options for the United States

By Aaron Stein

Turkey was once the main sponsor of the Syrian opposition’s effort to topple Bashar al Assad. However, beginning in late 2016, Turkish policy has shifted following the Russian defeat of Turkish backed proxies in Aleppo. This change in policy sparked a reassessment of Turkish strategy away from the overthrow of the regime and towards close cooperation with Russia and competition with the United States.

Syria Turkey

MENASource

Nov 14, 2018

The United States should not get involved in Libya’s civil war

By Hafed Al-Ghwell

An unmistakable sense of despair and gloom accompanies most news reports and literature on the state of affairs in Libya after 2011. The Arab Spring was meant to usher in a period of unprecedented change after decades of notoriously undemocratic leadership across the Middle East and North Africa. Yet, seven years later, there has been very little positive development in terms of transparency, accountability, and inclusivity in the Arab world.

Libya

MENASource

Nov 7, 2018

The unknowns of the Libya stabilization conference

By Nicola Pedde

The approaching conference on Libyan stabilization hosted by Italy—which will be held on November 12 and 13 in Palermo—will bring together the main Libyan leaders, with the purpose of defining their respective negotiation platforms in advance. Italy must not only navigate the components of Libya's heterogeneous and conflicting political landscape, but also host the most relevant regional and global actors.

Libya

MENASource

Nov 5, 2018

The end—or not—of Tunisia’s “Mut’ah”?

By Erin A. Neale

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi announced in September the official end to the alliance between Nidaa Tounes Ennahda that had been holding on since February 2015. Termed a “mut'ah”—a temporary marriage of traditional Shia origin—by Tunisia expert Dr. Monica Marks, it was a marriage of convenience between the two main parliamentary parties to preserve stability and to focus on counterterrorism, improving the economy, and government efficiency during the critical transitional period following the ousting of former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

North Africa

MENASource

Oct 30, 2018

Sudan’s security services target refugees in Cairo

By Mat Nashed

When Sudan’s government was bombing hospitals in one of its own states in 2011, Kareem was among the activists detailing the atrocities. His work tracking the counterinsurgency in South Kordofan made him a target for Sudan’s security services, and in December 2012 he was accosted by two men who sprayed him with a nerve agent that put him in the hospital.

North Africa Sudan

MENASource

Oct 22, 2018

The Khashoggi reset

By Frederic C. Hof

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi—a resident of the United States and a citizen of a Kingdom that owed him protection—highlights the purely transactional nature of the relationship between Riyadh and Washington.

Saudi Arabia
Load More