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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EconSource: Standard & Poor’s Rates Iraq for First Time

MENASource
Jan 14, 2026

Voices from Iran: As rejection of government reaches all-time high, Iranians also wary of foreign intervention

If Trump is serious about peace, stability, and a lasting legacy, the path forward does not run through air strikes or transactional deals with a failing theocracy.

Read More

EconSource: Standard & Poor’s Rates Iraq for First Time

MENASource
Jan 28, 2026

Trump’s National Security Strategy doesn’t downgrade the Middle East, it redefines it

By
Kristian Alexander

Trump’s strategy is a sophisticated refinement of “America First.” For the Gulf, the implications are significant, but manageable.

Middle East
National Security

EconSource: Standard & Poor’s Rates Iraq for First Time

MENASource
Jan 13, 2026

Eight questions (and expert answers) on the SDF’s withdrawal from Syria’s Aleppo

By
Atlantic Council experts

Our experts unpack why violence erupted, what it means for Kurdish safety and integration in Syria, and how Washington is engaging.

Civil Society
Conflict

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Content

MENASource

Sep 4, 2015

EconSource: Standard & Poor’s Rates Iraq for First Time

By EconSource

Financial services company Standard & Poor’s (S&P) issued a credit rating for Iraq for the first time on Thursday, giving the country a junk score.

MENASource

Sep 3, 2015

Egypt’s Anti-Terror Law: A Translation

By EgyptSource

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved, in mid-August, a new anti-terror law aimed at strengthening the country’s efforts in combatting a rising terror insurgency.

North Africa

MENASource

Sep 3, 2015

Top News: UN Investigators Denounce International Failure to Protect Refugees

By MENASource

UN investigators on Thursday denounced the international community’s failure to protect refugees fleeing Syria, saying the neglect of those forced to flee the conflict had fueled Europe’s migrant crisis.

MENASource

Sep 3, 2015

Top News: New ISIS in Sinai Video Documents Use of Advanced Weaponry

By EgyptSource

A new video released by Sinai State, the peninsula’s Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) affiliated militant group, allegedly documents a number of sophisticated operations on Egyptian army targets and appears to show the group’s capacity to move with alarming freedom through areas of North Sinai.

MENASource

Sep 3, 2015

EconSource: S&P Says Saudi Banks Can Fund Up to $100 Billion of State Debt

By EconSource

Saudi Arabia’s banks have enough assets to absorb $75 billion to $100 billion of government securities as the Kingdom begins selling bonds for the first time in seven year, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said.

MENASource

Sep 2, 2015

Top News: Multiple ISIS Suicide Attacks Kill Twelve Iraqi Soldiers and Militiamen

By MENASource

A series of ISIS suicide attacks outside a town in Iraq’s western Anbar province Tuesday killed twelve soldiers and allied Sunni militiamen, military and hospital officials said. They said the attack began when ISIS militants shelled army and militia positions outside the town of Haditha with mortars.

MENASource

Sep 2, 2015

Top News: Egypt’s Sisi Discusses Cooperation, Economic Ties With Chinese Counterpart

By EgyptSource

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met in Beijing on Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss furthering economic and political cooperation between the two countries, Egypt’s news agency MENA reported.

MENASource

Sep 2, 2015

EconSource: Egypt to Keep Eni’s Natural Gas Find to Itself

By EconSource

Egypt plans to keep all the natural gas produced at a giant field that Italy’s Eni found off its Mediterranean coast to itself, heightening competition among gas producers in the Middle East and Africa.

MENASource

Sep 1, 2015

Misunderstanding Egypt’s Ultras

By Ziad A. Akl

Egypt’s Ultras, organized groups of football fans, shot to infamy with the 2011 uprising. Despite an active presence in the streets dating back several years, 2011 marked a new introduction of the Ultras to the Egyptian public.

North Africa

MENASource

Sep 1, 2015

Top News: 1,250 Forced Disappearances since Beginning of Year Says NGO

By EgyptSource

Following months of cases circulating on social media and press, a local Egyptian NGO claims to have recorded 1,250 cases of forced disappearances in the first eight months of 2015.

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