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
Are Metro suicides sign that Egyptians are losing hope? A spate of metro suicides in Egypt has been a wake-up call for the authorities, alerting them to the growing discontent in the country. Egypt
Erdogan: 'Nothing will stop us' if Syrian Kurds do not leave Manbij Turkish president intensifies warnings as US exits Syria; Islamic Jihad bends Hamas to its will; Amberin Zaman reports on Tunisia’s returning jihadis. Originals
Revolution at 40: Qom seminary at crossroads over clergy’s future in Iran On the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, the Qom seminary is torn in a struggle that may very well once again decide the future of Iran. Iran
Revolution at 40: Have Iranian regional policies come full circle? Forty years after the Islamic Revolution, the shah’s view of Iran and its role in the region is paradoxically echoed in the foreign policy debate by those with a more revolutionary perspective. Legacy: Gulf
Russia is 'clear eyed' about its Mideast policy Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin discusses the results of his latest tour around the Middle East and Russia’s vision for key regional issues, including Israeli-Iranian frictions, Idlib and the buffer zone in Syria. Iraq
Revolution at 40: Same old structural problems still plague Iran While the Islamic Republic can pride itself on improvement on literacy and poverty, 40 years after its Islamic Revolution, Iran is still struggling with many of the structural deficiencies that plagued the country under the shah. Iran
Revolution at 40: IRGC turns to new nationalism to win over Iranian millennials The rise of the Islamic State has provided the IRGC with an opportunity and platform to project a new form of nationalism that portrays it as the defender of Iran. Iran
What fate awaits Tunisia's returning jihadis? As one of the top countries of origin for foreign IS recruits, Tunisia has struggled to address domestic threats of returning jihadis and how to de-radicalize these youths. Syria
Al-Azhar considers opening Fine Arts Faculty Al-Azhar is reported to be researching the possibility of adding a fine arts faculty to its string of institutions. Egypt
Why residents of Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah face eviction Eleven families are about to be thrown out of their home in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to make room for settlers. Palestine
Will Warsaw summit unite US, EU against Iran? Despite a likely Western European snub in terms of level of representation, the Warsaw summit holds the possibility of being a starting point for a European-American consensus against Iran down the line, potentially depriving Tehran of even the minimum benefits of the nuclear deal. United States
Egypt moves against synthetic narcotics The Egyptian Cabinet approved new amendments to a drug law in light of a surge in the use of new kinds of drugs. Egypt
