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: Is a Diplomatic Solution Possible?

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

Syria: Is a Diplomatic Solution Possible?

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: Is a Diplomatic Solution Possible?

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

Nov 27, 2013

Syria: Is a Diplomatic Solution Possible?

By Frederic C. Hof

The suffering of Syrians inside their tortured, broken country is unspeakable.  Even those not yet driven from their homes or banished by fear from their country of birth cannot escape the consequences of pure evil unleashed.  In recent days a young woman from the family that hosted me in Damascus as an exchange student eons […]

Syria

MENASource

Nov 27, 2013

The Sinai Question: Economy or Ideology?

By Ahmad Hosni

Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has witnessed a wave of militant attacks against army and government posts since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The rate and intensity of attacks, together with the fatalities, however, have increased since the military coup that ousted the country’s first elected president Mohamed Morsi on July 3. The military-led government […]

North Africa

MENASource

Nov 26, 2013

Pack and Eljarh on Localizing Power in Libya

By MENASource

On Friday November 15, Tripoli witnessed its bloodiest day since its liberation from  Muammar Qaddafi. In their article, Localizing Power in Libya, Cambridge academic Jason Pack and analyst Mohamed Eljarh argue that this current crisis allows the government an unprecedented opportunity to change course and to abandon its previously failed policies.

Libya

MENASource

Nov 26, 2013

Top News: Police Disperse Anti-Protest Law Demonstration in Cairo

By EgyptSource

Egyptian police fired teargas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesters in Cairo on Tuesday after they defied a new law that restricts demonstrations.

MENASource

Nov 26, 2013

How the Gulf States Will and Won’t Respond to the Iran Agreement

By Richard LeBaron

Gulf states have cautiously greeted the interim nuclear agreement between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the EU and Iran. The Saudi statement on Monday treads lightly—”The government of the kingdom sees that if there was goodwill, this agreement could represent a preliminary step towards a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear program.” In […]

Iran Saudi Arabia

MENASource

Nov 26, 2013

Dealing Away the Middle East?

By Faysal Itani

In the abstract and in isolation, a US-Iranian nuclear deal is a welcome development. While it does not eliminate Iran’s nuclear program, it does complicate any future Iranian efforts to develop a robust nuclear military capability. It also shows that the United States and Iran, two sworn enemies, are capable of rationally pursuing their interests […]

Iran

MENASource

Nov 25, 2013

The Public Sphere: Between Displacing the Individual Citizen and Mobilizing Supportive Crowds

By Amr Hamzawy

Through the second half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty first, Egyptian citizens have begun peacefully injecting themselves into the public sphere, and its physical form, the “street” (this space also exists in an intangible form through public discussion, media outlets and some activities of civil society and political life). […]

North Africa

MENASource

Nov 25, 2013

Top News: Egypt’s Interim President Issues Protest Law

By EgyptSource

Egyptian Interim President Adly Mansour approved on Sunday a controversial law regulating protests, two weeks after the cabinet submitted it for his review, state TV reported.

MENASource

Nov 25, 2013

Syria: Towards a Strategic Reappraisal

By Frederic C. Hof

The closing session of the 2013 Atlantic Council Energy and Economic Summit in Istanbul featured a lively discussion of what to do about the mess that is Syria.  The four panelists included former national security advisors to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, a member of the European Parliament, and a prominent Turkish journalist.  […]

Syria

MENASource

Nov 25, 2013

EconSource Headlines- November 25, 2013

By EconSource

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

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