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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The Assad regime faces a Rubik’s Cube of challenges in 2021

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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The Assad regime faces a Rubik’s Cube of challenges in 2021

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
The Assad regime faces a Rubik’s Cube of challenges in 2021

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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MENASource

Jan 11, 2021

The Assad regime faces a Rubik’s Cube of challenges in 2021

By Nizar Mohamad and Abdulrahman al-Masri

The coming year will likely present the Bashar al-Assad regime with a perplexing stalemate as it attempts to navigate a political, economic, and security landscape beset with a Rubik’s Cube of challenges.

Middle East Politics & Diplomacy

MENASource

Jan 8, 2021

The Biden administration’s Yemen imperative

By Nabeel Khoury

Ending the war in Yemen, which has raged for the past six years, would fulfill two stated goals of the incoming Joe Biden administration: restoring the United States’ leadership role in international affairs and reducing tensions in the Gulf.

Middle East Politics & Diplomacy

MENASource

Jan 6, 2021

MENA’s post-COVID resilience depends on using the talent pool of women

By Nadereh Chamlou

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where gender-based inequalities are many and deep-rooted, the concern for women’s setbacks could be more serious due to the pandemic.

Economy & Business Middle East

MENASource

Jan 4, 2021

A more serious agreement to end the Gulf rift would yield a bigger political payout for Saudi Arabia and the UAE

By Kirsten Fontenrose

Everyone wins if the rift ends now. Any later, and MBS loses his shot at immunity and the UAE loses its chance to please both political parties in the US. The time to act is this week.

Middle East Politics & Diplomacy

MENASource

Jan 4, 2021

Experts react: The US brokers another deal to end the Gulf rift

By Atlantic Council

On January 4, it was reported that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf states are expected to sign a deal towards ending the “Gulf rift.” Atlantic Council experts react to the agreement and what it means for the wider region.

Democratic Transitions Middle East

MENASource

Dec 24, 2020

How Moroccans reacted to normalization with Israel

By Zineb Riboua

Moroccans were not surprised to see their country became the fourth Arab nation to normalize relations with Israel—it was the US’s recognition of Western Sahara that astonished them since Morocco’s identity is intertwined with that of Western Sahara.

Middle East North Africa

MENASource

Dec 23, 2020

Five decades of Baathism survived because of nationalism

By Rahaf Aldoughli

Implicit in understanding the role of nationalism in maintaining the Assad regime’s survival is exploring the extent to which this ideology has given support to it.

Middle East Syria

MENASource

Dec 22, 2020

The quest for water: Will the Abraham Accords change the water landscape for the region?

By Rumaitha Al Busaidi

With the threat of climate change already creating direct consequences for water security and conflict, safeguarding water for the region will prove to not only be a challenging task, but an even more crucial one than during the last multilateral efforts in the 1990s.

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment

MENASource

Dec 21, 2020

Global litigation strategies to close the accountability gap on human rights violators in Iran

By Lucy Grathwohl

Gissou Nia and a panel of litigators—Haydee Dijkstal, Amanda Ghahremani, Scott Gilmore—discussed the tools through which the perpetrators of gross human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) can be held accountable in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

Human Rights Middle East

MENASource

Dec 18, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden can help end the war in Yemen

By Khaled H. Alyemany

If President-elect Joe Biden commits to putting an end to the war in Yemen, he can prevent Yemen from falling into the hands of warlords and Iran’s proxy network—namely the Houthis and Lebanese Hezbollah—as well as other terrorist groups like al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS.

Middle East Yemen
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