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
Turkey to end draft — for those who can pay A proposed bill to change Turkey's conscription practices has stirred fierce debate and warnings from military experts. Turkey
Iranian MPs move to grant citizenship to children of foreign fathers Iranian lawmakers passed a bill that would grant citizenship to children in Iran born to Iranian mothers and foreign fathers. If approved by the Guardian Council, the bill would put an end to years of discrimination against women in the country’s nationality law. Iran
Khamenei: US views talks as ‘tactic’ in pressure strategy Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected calls to renegotiate the nuclear deal with the United States despite the campaign of pressure and sanctions. Iran
Failure to ensure equity sows seeds of conflict, UN development chief says In an interview with Al-Monitor, the head of the UN Development Program discusses his agency’s work in conflict zones like Syria and the future of multilateralism. Syria
Intel: Why Russia dispatched top diplomat to Tehran Russia dispatched one of its leading diplomats to Tehran this week to urge the Iranians to back off their threat to resume nuclear activities in retaliation for the US “maximum pressure” campaign. Russia
Voters’ economic confidence dips ahead of key Istanbul vote Turkey’s consumer confidence index, which also reflects voter confidence, has plunged to a record low ahead of a critical rerun of the mayoral election in Istanbul next month. Turkey
Syrian government, opposition swap 36 more prisoners A new prisoner swap between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Syrian government took place at al-Eiss crossing, while the Syrian opposition is looking for more exchanges in the future. Syria
More Arab protests expected against Kurdish SDF in Syria Al-Monitor traveled recently to Syria's Deir ez-Zor province, an area of deadly unrest between Arab civilians and Kurdish-led factions, to speak with victims' families. Syria
Who is really behind torching of Iraqi grain fields? The setting afire of grain fields in disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil flames ethnic tensions between Arabs and Kurds. Iraq
Likud blindly obeys Netanyahu The obedient vote by the Likud Party’s Knesset faction to dissolve the parliament, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s needs and wishes, shows the current state of Israel’s ruling party — one of being in an era of a strongman who has turned the Likud into a one-man band. Israel
Saudi Arabia’s new 'freedom' gas Saudi Arabia has partnered with a US company to export LNG from Texas, and is looking for more LNG deals. Saudi Arabia
