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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Syria and Iraq: The “Skyes-Picot” Issue

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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Syria and Iraq: The “Skyes-Picot” Issue

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

Syria and Iraq: The “Skyes-Picot” Issue

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

Jun 19, 2014

Syria and Iraq: The “Skyes-Picot” Issue

By Frederic C. Hof

The violent convulsions gripping Syria and Iraq have given rise to the argument that the “Sykes-Picot” boundaries imposed by France and Britain in the Levant and Mesopotamia after the First World War will have to be redrawn to recognize and reconcile ethnic and sectarian divisions papered over by the Great War’s victorious allies.  As someone […]

Iraq Syria

MENASource

Jun 19, 2014

Top News: Egypt ranks 143 out of 162 countries in 2014 Global Peace Index

By EgyptSource

The Institute for Economics and Peace released its 2014 Global Peace Index (GPI) on Wednesday, in which Egypt ranked 143 out of 162, falling over 30 places and marking the second biggest loss in peace of any country in the world. 

MENASource

Jun 18, 2014

Egypt’s Protest Law: An Ongoing Battle

By Khaled Dawoud

Several political parties and youth movements said on Tuesday they would renew a campaign aimed at amending Egypt’s repressive protest law. The decision comes in the wake of a Cairo court issuing a surprisingly harsh fifteen-year sentence in absentia against activist and blogger, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, and twenty-four others for protesting in November against the military […]

North Africa

MENASource

Jun 18, 2014

Top News: Egypt Regains Membership in African Union

By EgyptSource

The African Union’s Peace and Security Council has unanimously agreed to unfreeze Egypt’s membership to the AU following the election of a new president, state news agency MENA reported on Tuesday.

MENASource

Jun 18, 2014

EconSource: Egypt’s natural gas exports fell by 81 percent Y-o-Y in April

By EconSource

Follow the latest economic news and developments about the Arab transition countries. 

MENASource

Jun 17, 2014

Meet Egypt’s New Cabinet Under Sisi

By EgyptSource

The first cabinet under Egypt’s new President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in on Tuesday morning, headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab. The new government is made up of thirty-four ministers. Twenty-one ministers are holdovers from the previous cabinet under the interim government, one of whom has been reassigned to a different ministry. Only thirteen new […]

North Africa

MENASource

Jun 17, 2014

Jamal Benomar and the Fine Art of Making Peace in Yemen

By Tik Root and Peter Salisbury

Jamal Benomar, the UN special adviser on Yemen who in April started his fourth year on the job, isn’t keen on talking about himself. He “hates” being profiled by the press, a colleague says. He seems far happier talking about the minutiae of the political transition he is overseeing. Yet with the departure of his […]

Yemen

MENASource

Jun 17, 2014

ISIS Terrorists: Should Tehran and Washington Cooperate?

By Frederic C. Hof

Military success in Iraq by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has concentrated the minds of political leaders in Washington and Tehran.  Neither the United States nor Iran wishes to see ISIS or any Al-Qaeda franchise prosper or even exist in Iraq.  Neither Washington nor Tehran wishes to see Iraq splinter into multiple […]

Iran Iraq

MENASource

Jun 17, 2014

Top News: Egypt’s New Cabinet Sworn In; Ministry of Information Scrapped

By EgyptSource

The first cabinet under Egypt’s new President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in on Tuesday morning, headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab. 

MENASource

Jun 17, 2014

Top News: Forty-Four Sunnis Die In Prison Clash As Baghdad Sees First Signs Of The Conflict

By MENASource

The first sectarian killings of Sunnis appeared in Iraq on Tuesday, as forty-four Sunni prisoners were killed in a government-controlled police station in Baquba, north of Baghdad. Bodies of four young Sunni men were also found shot to death and dumped on a street in a Baghdad neighborhood controlled by Shiite militiamen.

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