With curated multimedia series focused on hard hitting issues such climate change as well as current events, MENASource seeks to explore all facets of life in the region as affected by political, security, economic, and cultural issues.

Of particular focus and interest are the minorities, women, and the youth populations across the region and how they are affected by the changing environments.

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

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The Non-Option of Disengagement from the Middle East

MENASource
Jul 12, 2025

Netanyahu’s trip to Washington ends with conflicting signals

The moment of truth may yet come when Trump’s leverage on Netanyahu, which is considerable, may not be expressed only in private settings.

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The Non-Option of Disengagement from the Middle East

MENASource
Jul 7, 2025

Unpacking Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court chaos

By
Safwan al-Amin

Regardless of the reasons behind initial mass resignations, the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the Supreme Court is serious.

Iraq
Middle East

The Non-Option of Disengagement from the Middle East

MENASource
Jun 26, 2025

Dispatch from Damascus: Church attack shows transition’s fragility

By
Ibrahim Al-Assil

The bombing at Mar Elias Church is more than an isolated tragedy. It is a signal that Syria’s transition remains vulnerable to sabotage.

Democratic Transitions
Middle East

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Content

MENASource

May 25, 2016

The Non-Option of Disengagement from the Middle East

By Frederic C. Hof

In 2003 American forces successfully took Baghdad, but without the benefit of a ‘day after’ civil-military stabilization plan. The unintended results: a chaotic occupation, a vicious insurgency, the premature withdrawal of the United States from Iraq in 2011, and the subsequent rise of the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh). This and other disappointments—Libya 2011 (again […]

Iraq Libya

MENASource

May 25, 2016

Small Signs of Hope in the Yemeni Peace Process

By Jillian Schwedler

UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has worked tirelessly to keep Yemeni peace talks alive in Kuwait, expressing cautious optimism.  He described the truce on the ground as holding at around 80 to 90 percent, even as the delegations of the Houthi-GPC alliance and the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi express frustrations at […]

Yemen

MENASource

May 20, 2016

The Nakba, Sykes-Picot and Today’s Arab World

By H.A. Hellyer

On May 16, precisely one hundred years ago, two British and French politicians signed the now infamous ‘Sykes-Picot’ agreement, which, according to one view, was responsible for setting in motion turmoil in the Arab world. Those two names of ‘Sykes’ and ‘Picot’ would probably have passed away into history with few people noticing, except that […]

MENASource

May 20, 2016

A Swift Response to Egypt’s April 25 Dissent

By Khaled Dawoud

Egypt’s opposition was dealt a heavy blow early this week after several courts sentenced 152 protesters, arrested on April 25, to two to five years in prison. They were detained for demonstrating against the maritime border agreement signed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia in early April, ceding Cairo’s sovereignty over the two strategic Red Sea […]

North Africa

MENASource

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
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