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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IRI Poll Highlights Economic and Governance Challenges in Jordan

MENASource
Mar 26, 2026

As Iran attacks, the US should provide air defense for Iraqi Kurdistan

Washington faces a choice: Continue to defer to Baghdad’s procedural objections while Iran conducts unimpeded strikes on Kurdish territory or acknowledge the strategic reality and take decisive action.

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IRI Poll Highlights Economic and Governance Challenges in Jordan

MENASource
Mar 17, 2026

A crisis in Egypt could be a warning sign for the global economy 

By
Khalid Azim

Market watchers should keep an eye on Egypt as an oil shock could cause financial turmoil.

Economy & Business
International Financial Institutions

IRI Poll Highlights Economic and Governance Challenges in Jordan

MENASource
Mar 11, 2026

Three lessons from Libya for the war in Iran

By
Frank Talbot

Any outside power using force to attain a political outcome must define the end state it seeks, align coalition partners around a shared strategy, and establish credible escalation controls.

Conflict
Iran

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Content

MENASource

Jul 13, 2016

IRI Poll Highlights Economic and Governance Challenges in Jordan

By Ramsey Day

The results of a new comprehensive public opinion survey released by the International Republican Institute (IRI) in Jordan show an increasing sense of dissatisfaction among citizens. Jordan, a Sunni Muslim-majority constitutional monarchy wedged between Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the West Bank is a key strategic ally of the United States and a recipient […]

MENASource

Jul 11, 2016

After ISIS Defeat in Sirte Challenges Remain

By Mohamed Eljarh

In early June, forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) claimed to have entered the city of Sirte. Indeed, fighting continues in the last strong hold of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in Libya.  The defeat of ISIS in Sirte would be a significant development in the war against the group in […]

Libya

MENASource

Jul 11, 2016

The Ideas Behind ISIS

By H.A. Hellyer

As the Arab world and Muslim communities worldwide react in horror to a suicide attack in Medina on the last eve of Ramadan—capping a violent few days that has taken close to 300 lives in Iraq, Turkey, and the Gulf kingdom—the world once again asks: what is this vigilante scourge that persists in engaging in […]

MENASource

Jul 7, 2016

What You Need to Know About the Chilcot Report

By MENASource

On July 6, the long-awaited British inquiry into the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was released. In a 12 volume report that took seven years to complete, the public is given greater insight into then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision-making process, his relationship with then US President George W. Bush, and into the failure […]

Iraq United Kingdom

MENASource

Jul 1, 2016

June 30 Anniversary: A Subdued Affair

By Khaled Dawoud

On the third anniversary of the mass June 30 protests that led three days later to the army’s removal of Muslim Brotherhood leader and president, Mohamed Morsi, government officials were keen to stress that this was an occasion worth celebrating amid tight security measures. On what has just been announced a national holiday, President Abdel […]

North Africa

Bremain vs Brexit

Jul 1, 2016

Brexit’s Impact on UK Development and Foreign Policy in the Middle East

By Mirette Mabrouk and Tarek Radwan

As financial markets try to regain their footing in the wake of the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union (or “Brexit”), many wonder the effect the reverberations might have on the politics and economics of other parts of the world. For the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), this divorce-between-nations could potentially have […]

Middle East United Kingdom

MENASource

Jun 30, 2016

After Failed 2015 Siege, Sinai State Fights On

By Zack Gold

On July 1, 2015, Sinai State—the ISIS affiliated terrorist group —launched a massive operation across the Egyptian border governorate of North Sinai. The bulk of “The Battle of Sheikh Abu Sohaib al-Ansari,” named for the group’s deceased founder, took place around and inside Sheikh Zuweid: North Sinai’s third-largest city. Sinai State’s failed attempt to takeover […]

North Africa

MENASource

Jun 29, 2016

Yemen Peace Talks Stalled But Process to Restart Mid-July

By Jillian Schwedler

Representatives of the government and Houthi delegations to the peace talks in Kuwait announced that they were suspending the talks until the end of Ramadan in mid-July.  The process had effectively stalled even as UN special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed expressed cautious optimism last week about the Yemeni peace talks underway in […]

Yemen

Bremain vs Brexit

Jun 28, 2016

What Brexit Means for the GCC

By Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

The startling result of the referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union has caused political and economic chaos in Britain unparalleled since World War Two. Prime Minister David Cameron will be out of power by September 2 and Britain faces a period of profound uncertainty and volatility over the nature of its […]

European Union International Organizations

MENASource

Jun 28, 2016

Turkey-Israel Rapprochement: Business as Usual

By MENASource

On June 26, Turkey and Israel announced the end of a diplomatic row reached a head in 2010, after eight Turks and a Turkish-American citizen were killed on an aid flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, bound for Gaza. Soon after the incident, Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Israel, and within six months had expelled the Israeli […]

Israel Turkey
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