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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Top News: Court Acquits Journalist and Twelve Others on Rioting Charges, Sentences Sixty-Three

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.

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Top News: Court Acquits Journalist and Twelve Others on Rioting Charges, Sentences Sixty-Three

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

Top News: Court Acquits Journalist and Twelve Others on Rioting Charges, Sentences Sixty-Three

MENASource
Jan 12, 2026

The Venezuela-Iran connection and what Maduro’s capture means for Tehran, explained 

By
Joze Pelayo, Kirsten Fontenrose, Ellie Sennett 

Our experts break down Iran’s ties to Venezuela and the impact Maduro’s capture could have on Tehran’s interests in and outside of its own borders. 

Iran
Oil and Gas

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Content

MENASource

Apr 29, 2015

Top News: Court Acquits Journalist and Twelve Others on Rioting Charges, Sentences Sixty-Three

By EgyptSource

A Cairo criminal court has acquitted journalist Ahmed Gamal Ziyada, after he spent more than 486 days in pretrial detention. The court acquitted twelve other defendants and sentenced sixty-three others. The sixty-three sentenced defendants received prison sentences ranging from a year to seven years’ hard labor. 

MENASource

Apr 29, 2015

EconSource: Oil Dips on Oversupply after Saudi Reshuffle

By EconSource

Oil prices slipped on Wednesday on oversupply after news that King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia had reshuffled the kingdom’s line of royal succession.

MENASource

Apr 28, 2015

Top News: Yemen Struggles to Import Food as Coalition Navies Hold Up More Ships

By MENASource

Yemen is facing mounting problems bringing in food by sea as the danger from fighting between Houthis and government supporters is exacerbated by an arms blockade by Saudi-led coalition navies searching ships for weapons destined for the rebels.

MENASource

Apr 28, 2015

What’s Next for Egypt’s Military and Media Moguls?

By Miriam Berger

It’s just past three o’clock in December and the Dot Masr office is bustling. Dozens of twenty-something Egyptians tap away at desktop computers in the website’s open newsroom in the two-story office in Garden City, Cairo — prime real estate. 

North Africa

MENASource

Apr 28, 2015

Top News: New Lawsuit Against Mubarak to Investigate Political Crimes

By EgyptSource

The Administrative Court of the State Council referred on Tuesday the lawsuit filed by Samir Sabry to the State Commissioner’s Authority, seeking a legal opinion. In the lawsuit, Sabry demanded that the President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi form a fact-finding committee to prepare a report on corruption crimes committed under former President Hosni Mubarak. 

MENASource

Apr 28, 2015

EconSource: Gulf Banks Tighten Credit for Small Firms as Cheap Oil Bites

By EconSource

Banks are tightening lending conditions for small, private companies in the Gulf, a sign that the region’s economies are not escaping damage from the plunge of oil prices.

MENASource

Apr 27, 2015

Syria: Is Assad Slipping?

By Frederic C. Hof

Recent tactical setbacks by Assad regime forces in northwestern Syria are reviving—for the first time since early 2013—fin du régime hopes and speculation. Reporting from the region suggests that arms transfers from Gulf powers and Turkey are enabling rebels to overcome exhausted and exposed Syrian Arab Army units.

Syria

MENASource

Apr 27, 2015

Sisi Pulls the Plug on the Religious Debate

By Khaled Dawoud

Over the past two weeks, Egyptians were not occupied with the daily terrorist attacks in Cairo, Sinai and elsewhere in which dozens were killed, or with regional wars in Yemen, Libya, and Syria. Instead, the heated debate on the airwaves and in newspapers was over a call by a prominent journalist for Egyptian women to […]

North Africa

MENASource

Apr 27, 2015

Top News: State Owned Al-Ahram Slams Police Abuse of Power

By EgyptSource

State-owned newspaper Al-Ahram, renowned for its pro-government stance, released a report Saturday slamming police abuses of power and negligence.

MENASource

Apr 27, 2015

Top News: Coalition of Rebel Factions Seize Control Over Jisr al-Shughur

By MENASource

A coalition of rebel factions, including the Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, captured the northwestern Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib Province on Saturday.

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