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The latest pieces from MENASource:


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


MENASource

Sep 19, 2025

Snapback sanctions threaten to further derail Iran nuclear deal hopes

By
Rob Macaire

Now would be the best time for the West to negotiate a deal with Iran—but snapback sanctions threaten a derailing into further confrontation.

Economic Sanctions
Iran


MENASource

Sep 18, 2025

Libya’s stalled transition: When domestic spoilers meet foreign interests

By
Luis Aleman and Karim Mezran

Libya’s stalled transition has not happened by chance; it has been deliberately engineered into paralysis by both domestic spoilers and foreign powers.

Libya
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

SyriaSource

Nov 13, 2018

Assad needs UN assistance to repatriate refugees

By Jesse Marks and Lina Kreidie

As the Syrian government and its allies extend control over a growing portion of Syria, they are accelerating demands for refugees to return to the country.President Bashar al-Assad’s government has a political interest in refugees coming back. The government wants international legitimacy, and significant returns would signal that it has won refugees’ confidence in its ability to protect them and rebuild the country.

Syria

New Atlanticist

Nov 12, 2018

Violence erupts between Gaza and Israel

By David A. Wemer

“This latest escalation, however, may be more difficult to contain. Israel may feel the need to respond with much stronger force given the number of rockets that have already hit Israel, including a bus earlier today," said Rachel Brandenburg, director fo the Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council.

Conflict Israel

Inflection Points

Nov 11, 2018

Trump’s test on Iran: Turning disruption to progress

By Frederick Kempe

Without minimizing the other challenges, my wager is that the Iran issue may become the Trump administration’s most defining foreign policy challenge over the coming two years, viewed alongside North Korea as part of a dual effort to counter rogue regimes.

Economic Sanctions Iran

In the News

Nov 10, 2018

Slavin Joins Al Jazeera to Discuss the Messaging Battle with Iran

By Barbara Slavin

Listen to the full discussion here.

Iran

New Atlanticist

Nov 9, 2018

Libya, the US, and the Palermo Conference

By Karim Mezran and Erin A. Neale

The United States has much to gain by taking a larger leadership role in the political negotiations and redirecting the tangential European actions toward the UN-led stabilization process.

Democratic Transitions Elections

IranSource

Nov 9, 2018

Support Marines’ Families, Not Iran’s Terror-Sponsors

By General James L. Jones

Thirty-five years ago, Iran-sponsored terrorists drove a truck laden with explosives into the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 U.S. service members — 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers — and injuring many others, some severely. It was the single deadliest day for the Marines since World War II. The U.S. Embassy in Beirut had […]

Iran Middle East

SyriaSource

Nov 9, 2018

Regime resurgence endangers local aid community

By Barrett Limoges, Sage Smiley, Reem Ahmad, and Noura Hourani for Syria Direct

When pro-government forces recaptured the southwestern rebel stronghold of Daraa province in July, Muhammad Sabsabi’s colleagues tried to bury their pasts.Some tried to flee. Many simply went underground.

Syria

Issue Brief

Nov 9, 2018

A road map of the re-imposed sanctions for Iran

By David Mortlock, Nikki M. Cronin

President Trump announced on May 8, 2018 that the United States would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran and the other P5+1 governments and re-impose nu- clear-related sanctions on Iran.

Economic Sanctions Iran

Issue Brief

Nov 9, 2018

A road map of the re-imposed sanctions for Iran

By David Mortlock, Nikki Cronin

President Trump announced on May 8, 2018 that the United States would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran and the other P5+1 governments and re-impose nu- clear-related sanctions on Iran.

Economic Sanctions Iran

IranSource

Nov 8, 2018

Reza Pahlavi: A Democratic Alternative for Iran?

By Saman Askari

As a new round of crushing US sanctions against Iran goes into effect and the Iranian people’s frustration with their country’s economic and political situation grows, various foreign-based groups calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic have ratcheted up their rhetoric and activities. At the center of credible opposition forces in exile sits Reza […]

Iran
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Experts

Fellow

Nicholas Hopton

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Europe & Eurasia Iran

Millennium fellow

Said El Khoury

Senior Piping Engineer, Consolidated Contractors Company

Millennium Leadership Program

Energy & Environment Middle East

Fellow

Amir Asmar

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Intelligence Israel

Fellow

David H. Young

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Afghanistan Conflict

Staff

Kayra Sener 

Program Assistant, Realign for Palestine

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs Realign For Palestine

Middle East Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

Fellow

Omer Rafiq

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Hindi
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