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.

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Trump on Libya: What Now?

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.

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Trump on Libya: What Now?

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

Trump on Libya: What Now?

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

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Content

MENASource

Apr 21, 2017

Trump on Libya: What Now?

By Karim Mezran and Elissa Miller

The situation in Libya seems to be simultaneously stalemated and wavering on the brink of collapse. The Presidential Council and Government of National Accord (PC/GNA), which emerged from the UN-led Libyan Political Agreement at the end of 2015, has made little progress in solidifying its authority in the country. The United Nations is increasingly weak […]

Libya

MENASource

Apr 17, 2017

Raising the Stakes: Egyptians Have Questions About a New Emergency Law and the State of Security

By Mirette F. Mabrouk

The dead were buried without a mass. On April 9, two suicide bombers hit two churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria in Egypt. The next day, the first burial was held for seven of those killed at St Mina Monastery in King Mariout, on the outskirts of Alexandria. The Eastern Orthodox Church does […]

North Africa Political Reform

MENASource

Apr 12, 2017

Egypt Church Bombings Leave Copts Insecure in the Face of ISIS Threats

By Jihad Abaza

“My father and I still have headaches and a buzzing sound that has been in our ears since after the attack,” said the 27-year-old Ashraf Ramzy, a survivor of the explosion on Tanta’s St. George’s Cathedral that killed twenty-nine worshippers on Palm Sunday.  

North Africa

MENASource

Apr 12, 2017

Iraq’s Fall Elections Can Help Stabilize the Country—if Steps are Taken Now

By Husayn Hosoda

For the first time since the outbreak of the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) conflict, Iraqis across the country will be able to make their voices heard at the ballot box in provincial elections in the fall of 2017. Voters will elect provincial councils in every governorate, and especially in places affected by the Islamic […]

Iraq

MENASource

Apr 10, 2017

Sisi’s Visit to Washington: Not Much Expected, Not Much Happened

By Dr. H.A. Hellyer

Amidst the anticipation of the first visit of an Egyptian president to Washington DC since 2009, there were a number of articles on Abdal Fattah El-Sisi’s visit to the White House in the first week of April. Much of the analysis was about what the Trump administration should want from Cairo. But the harsh reality […]

North Africa

MENASource

Apr 7, 2017

Al-Azhar and Sisi’s Regime: Structural Roots of Disagreement

By Belal Abdallah

Tensions between Egypt’s religious leadership and its political leadership—represented by the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, and Egypt’s President respectively—have reached a point where they can no longer be concealed. The underlying disagreement has become public, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has raised this issue in his public speeches, the most recent of […]

North Africa

MENASource

Apr 5, 2017

Egyptian Media Hails New Era in US-Egypt Relations

By Dalia Rabie

After years of condemning and rejecting what it considered an intrusive relationship, Egypt’s state media finally hailed a new era of bilateral relations between the US and Egypt ushered in by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s first meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump on Monday.

North Africa

MENASource

Apr 4, 2017

Winning Yemen, but at What Price?

By Tarek Radwan

The Hudayda (also spelled Hodeida) port receives about 70 percent of all imports and humanitarian assistance shipments to the poorest country in the Middle East, wracked by decades of on-and-off conflict and standing at the precipice of famine thanks to the most recent conflict between the rebels and those backing President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi, including the […]

Yemen

MENASource

Apr 4, 2017

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Transform into an Expeditionary Force

By Ali Alfoneh

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) intervention in Syria’s war changed the outcome of the war and has, at least in the short term, secured the Assad regime in the face of a popular revolution and armed rebellion. The war is also changing the IRGC. Previously tasked with protecting Iran from a foreign invasion and […]

Iran Syria

MENASource

Mar 31, 2017

The Failed Serraj Experiment of Libya

By Wolfgang Pusztai

On March 30, 2016, Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and a few other members of Libya’s Presidency Council (PC) and Government of National Accord (GNA), the two government bodies that the UN-brokered Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) established, arrived to Tripoli’s Abu Sita navy base after having operated in Tunisia for three months. While the international media […]

Libya
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