The Takeaway: Would Hamas complicate US plans for reset with Palestinians? Also: the back story on the spat between Israel and Jordan; Gulf post-COVID economic trends; Turkey’s Kurds; Egypt and Somalia; and more! Originals
Egypt sentences activist Sanaa Seif to 18 months in prison Seif, who had been in pretrial detention since June, was convicted Wednesday of spreading false news and misusing social media. Egypt
Ukraine rejects Iran's final report on downed passenger plane The Iranian government said last year's shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was the result of a human error. Iran
Palestinians receive first batch of vaccines through COVAX More than 60,000 doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived in Ramallah on Wednesday. Palestine
Intel: Why 5 Democratic presidential hopefuls just rebelled against Trump’s new defense secretary An overwhelming bipartisan majority of the Senate voted 90-8 Tuesday to confirm former Army Secretary Mark Esper as President Donald Trump’s new defense secretary. Saudi Arabia
What's at stake for Russia with S-400 deliveries to Turkey? The decision to sell the missile system to Turkey is now seen as a win for Moscow, but this doesn't mean it came easy. And there are still potential downsides for Russia. Turkey
Special operations forces reflect on lessons of terror fight The Pentagon’s command for elite special operations forces is assessing how repeated deployments to the Middle East during the war on terror have impacted the forces' core values. Iraq
As Idlib burns, Turkey focuses on another corner of Syria Last year, Turkey helped stave off an attack on Syria’s last rebel stronghold of Idlib, but the truce may be crumbling as regime and Russian bombardments kill dozens. Syria
Iran claims massive counterespionage win Iran claims it has dealt a "severe blow" to US intelligence in announcing the arrest of 17 individuals it claims worked with the CIA. United States
Israeli right, left play merger game Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak apologized for the killing of 12 Arab citizens in the 2000 protests — a step apparently designed to score some political points ahead of the September elections. Israel
Are Israelis and US Jews no longer ‘brothers’? Significant differences among Jews from Israel, the United States and France were uncovered on issues like anti-Semitism, the peace process and Russia in a recent survey. Israel
Kurdish officials in Iraq await fallout from Turkish diplomat's death Iraqi Kurdistan authorities are concerned about the potential political, economic and security impacts of the recent killing of a Turkish diplomat in Erbil. Iraq
Kuwait extradites accused Muslim Brotherhood cell to Egypt Kuwait has handed over to Egypt members of an alleged Muslim Brotherhood group in the country. Kuwait
Lebanon’s air pollution nears alarming level Under new austerity measures and budget cuts, Lebanon’s Ministry of Environment was forced to close its air monitoring stations across the country, raising the concerns of experts amid high levels of pollution. Lebanon
Hamas government in Gaza gets major overhaul There are leaks that Hamas in the Gaza Strip is moving to merge and dissolve ministries as part of efforts to counter its financial crisis. Palestine
Newly elected New Right party leader aspires for more Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would like the situation to remain as is — with two separate political groupings to the right of the Likud targeting the religious-right constituency — rather than see them come together in a unified, strong religious-right platform. Israel
