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The latest pieces from MENASource:


MENASource

Sep 23, 2025

A geography of protest: Inside the rise of Iran’s minority factor

By
Mohammed A. Salih

From the death of Mahsa Jina Amini to the Twelve Day War, the ethnic question has emerged as a significant dimension of Iran’s politics.

Civil Society
Iran


MENASource

Sep 23, 2025

Iran’s minorities and policy complexity: A look at two communities

By
David Sklar

Iran plays a significant role in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Policymakers should develop a sober, accurate mapping of its population.

Civil Society
Iran


MENASource

Sep 19, 2025

How Israel’s strike on Doha is forcing a Gulf security reckoning

By
Giorgio Cafiero

The Gulf monarchies have displayed strong unity at a time when rethinking twenty-first-century Gulf security is no longer optional.

Israel
Middle East

READ More from MENASOURCE

Through our Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, the Atlantic Council works with allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.

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Content

MENASource

Nov 29, 2018

Hezbollah’s evolving role in Syria and Lebanon

By Mona Alami

Hezbollah has been instrumental to Iran’s power play in the Middle East, and its behavior is often evocative of Iran’s priorities in Syria and Lebanon. As the United States ramps up sanctions against Tehran and the war winds down in Syria, Hezbollah has adapted by scaling back and shifting its role in regime areas while escalating its political rhetoric and activity in Lebanon.

Middle East Syria

MENASource

Nov 29, 2018

An update on Yemen’s water crisis and the weaponization of water

By Margaret Suter

In a piece published last year, I examined the interaction of water and conflict in Yemen and Syria, two countries whose severe water shortages have enabled competing actors to wield this precious resource as a weapon in violent conflict to the detriment of millions of civilians.

Yemen

IranSource

Nov 29, 2018

Impeaching the Foreign Minister Won’t Solve Iran’s Woes

By Holly Dagres

Iran’s US-educated Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has always had enemies within the Iranian establishment. When Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari was imprisoned during the 2009 post-election protests known as the Green Movement, his interrogators demanded not only that he admit to being a CIA agent but that Zarif—who had been sidelined by then hardline President […]

Iran

In the News

Nov 28, 2018

Ellen Wald joins TRTWorld to discuss Saudi Aramco plans, Khashoggi killing, and oil

By Ellen Wald

Watch the full discussion here.

Saudi Arabia

In the News

Nov 28, 2018

Hellyer Quoted in The Independent on Saudi Crown Prince’s Trip to G20

By H.A. Hellyer

Read the full article here.

Saudi Arabia

In the News

Nov 28, 2018

Charai in Newsmax: Countering Iran’s Regional Ambitions Will Bring Peace to Yemen

By Atlantic Council

Iran Middle East

Rebuilding Syria

Nov 28, 2018

A short tribute to Raed Fares

By Faysal Itani

I first met Raed Fares in November 2015 when he spoke at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC. I had learned about his work as an activist however much earlier in the Syrian conflict, especially his role in organizing local sit-ins in his northern Syrian town of Kafr Nabl. Locals were […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Nov 28, 2018

Raed Fares: in remembrance

By Frederic C. Hof

For days I’ve been trying and failing to write something about the violent and unjust passing of a good man—Raed Fares—and his colleague, Hammoud al-Jneid. In nearly eight years of witnessing Syria being eaten alive by a rapacious regime and by criminal sectarian “rebels” supported by regional states, nothing has been more demoralizing and deflating than these murders. Those who admired Raed Fares and saw in him the future of Syria now must choose: Permit all hope and effort for a successful, peaceful revolution to follow him and his colleague into the grave; or allow the example of Raed Fares to inspire renewed and unceasing work to bring about the Syria for which he gave his life.

Syria

Event Recap

Nov 27, 2018

Iran sanctions, OPEC and Trump: where are oil markets moving?

By Ellen R. Wald

On Tuesday, November 27, in Istanbul, the Atlantic Council IN TURKEY hosted Atlantic Council Global Energy Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Ellen R. Wald for a talk entitled “Iran Sanctions, OPEC and Trump: Where Are Oil Markets Moving?” to a roundtable that featured a discussion about the likely impact of the new U.S. sanctions on Iran and […]

Economic Sanctions Energy Markets & Governance

In the News

Nov 26, 2018

Shaffer in Irish Examiner: Escalating Fear and Loathing in Iran

By Brenda Shaffer

Read the full article here.

Iran
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Experts

Fellow

Marino Auffant

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Economy & Business Energy & Environment

Executive Leadership Intensive participant

Ilker Baburoglu

CEO, MedTrade Energy & Commodities

Millennium Leadership Program

Africa Economy & Business

Staff

Elise Baker

Senior Staff Lawyer, Strategic Litigation Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Civil Society Extremism

Staff

Nibras Basitkey

Associate Director, MENA Futures Lab

Iraq Initiative Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Economy & Business

Millennium fellow

Hussein Al Baya

Partner, Wildcard

Millennium Leadership Program

Climate Change & Climate Action Economy & Business

Fellow

Nicholas Blanford

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Conflict
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