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May 19, 2016

The Fragility of Tunisia’s Success Story

By Karim Mezran

Tunisia has been considered by most observers as the success story of the Arab Spring. If compared with the disastrous situations in Libya, Yemen, and Syria, and with the increasingly complicated situation in Egypt, Tunisia’s success seems an apparent truth.

North Africa

MENASource

May 17, 2016

Yemen’s Peace Talks: A Progress Report

By Daniel R. DePetris

On May 11, Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri — the spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen for over a year — briefed reporters in Washington with a clear message: if the Houthis and supporters of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh continue to insist on unreasonable demands at the negotiating […]

Saudi Arabia Yemen

MENASource

May 16, 2016

A Global Resettlement Scheme for Refugees in the EU

By Solon Ardittis

On May 4, 2016, the European Commission (EC) presented a draft regulation intended to overhaul the existing Dublin Regulation that has dictated the asylum application system in Europe for the past 20 years. By introducing a “fairness mechanism,” the idea was to establish a new system that imbibes solidarity among the EU member states.

European Union International Organizations

MENASource

May 13, 2016

The Violent Death of a Violent Man

By Frederic C. Hof

Hezbollah media outlets in Lebanon have announced the death in Syria of Mustafa Amine Badreddine, an intimate of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and the person reportedly in command of Hezbollah forces in Syria. The news outlets initially reported that a Hezbollah facility near Damascus had been engaged by Israeli aircraft; a claim omitted from subsequent […]

MENASource

May 11, 2016

Everything You Need to Know about the Raid on Egypt’s Press Syndicate

By Margaret Suter

On May 1, police raided the headquarters of Egypt’s Press Syndicate in downtown Cairo and arrested journalists Mahmoud al-Sakka and Amr Badr. The incident is the latest development in a period of mounting tensions between journalists and the government in the wake of the April 25 public protests against the state. The protests, which were […]

North Africa

MENASource

May 10, 2016

In Jarablus, a Chance for a Better Turkish Policy against ISIS

By Faysal Itani and Aaron Stein

The Turkish government is the most important external, pro-opposition actor in northern Syria. It will remain involved in the Syrian conflict despite concurrent political instability within the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Yet the war has undermined US-Turkish relations, due in large part to disagreement over the strategy to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), […]

Syria Turkey

MENASource

May 9, 2016

Muqtada al-Sadr’s Changing Role in an Unchanging Iraq

By Nabeel Khoury

In a speech a day after his followers stormed Iraq’s parliament, Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr described the move as a gesture of civil disobedience in rejection of Iraq’s political class and the sectarian division of power and corruption within it. The protesters tore up papers, ransacked offices, and kicked furniture around, with some reports of […]

Iraq

MENASource

May 5, 2016

Operations in the Manbij Pocket: Finding A Way Forward in the War against ISIS

By Aaron Stein

The Islamic State (ISIS) threat to Turkey has increased considerably in recent months, following an increase in rocket attacks on the Turkish city of Kilis and the deliberate targeting of Turkish tanks and artillery near Karkamış. The rise of the Islamic State threat prompted Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, to underscore the need to clear […]

Iraq Syria

MENASource

May 3, 2016

Finding a New Approach to Yemen’s Peace Talks

By Nadwa Al-Dawsari

On April 21, a third round of Yemen peace talks started in Kuwait, but with little hope that they will achieve a breakthrough to end the devastating eighteen-month long war in the country. Delegates from President Hadi Abd Rabbo Mansour’s Yemeni government based in exile in Riyadh and the alliance of Houthis and former president […]

Yemen

MENASource

Apr 28, 2016

Egypt’s New Economic Team and New Economic Plan

By Mohsin Khan and Elissa Miller

Since the January 2011 uprising, the Egyptian economy has been floundering. Economic growth has averaged a dismal 2.5 percent a year, the average unemployment rate has been close to 13 percent, with youth unemployment reaching 35-40 percent, and inflation in the double digits.

Economy & Business North Africa