Saudi Arabia - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Saudi Arabia cover image

Saudi Arabia

September 25, 2026

Riyadh 11:35 pm

31°C

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Can Netanyahu turn Israel's UN isolation into strength at home?

The absence of a Trump meeting would have been awkward for Netanyahu, who has long portrayed himself to Israeli voters as uniquely close to the US president.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Latest News

Saudi Arabia pauses star-studded Red Sea film festival as Houthis hit kingdom

red carpet at the Red Sea International Film Festival

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Vanessa Ghanem

In Dubai, reporting on business, energy and politics

OPEC+ pressures Iraq, UAE to further cut oil production

Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members held a virtual meeting with Russia and other allied oil producers today to discuss the continuing low price of oil amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Major General Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim (C), chief of intelligence of the administration of Yemen's Huthi rebels in control of the capital Sanaa, and other Huthi officials attend an official parade commemorating the sixth anniversary of the Huthi takeover of the capital Sanaa on September 20, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Stakes high in Yemen's Marib province for Houthis, Saudis

Yemen’s Houthi rebels face fierce resistance from the Saudi-backed government forces in the oil-rich province of Marib.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 15: (L-R) Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump, Foreign Affairs Minister of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, and Foreign Affairs Minister of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan wave from the Truman Balcony of the White House after the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House on September 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. Witnessed by President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu si

The Takeaway: Trump scores diplomatic win with eye on November election

Iran deal coming after elections, Trump says; Qatar says normalization not the answer; Netanyahu returns home to COVID-19, political crises.

State Department officials testify before Congress on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the May 2019 sale did not warrant an emergency certification, but a State official cited the threat from Iran.

Saudi Arabia to resume some international flights Sept. 15

The Interior Ministry said a limited number of citizens and nonresidents will be eligible for flights entering and exiting the kingdom.

<<enter caption here>> on June 21, 2018 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Saudi women entrepreneurs fight cultural conditioning

The Saudi government has changed many practices that were discriminatory against women, but really empowering women requires a profound change of mentality.

Hatice Cengiz, slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi's fiancee, attends a press conference calling for the Trump administration to release details about his killing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 3, 2020. - US lawmakers vowed Tuesday to force the release of an intelligence report on the killing of Saudi dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, accusing President Donald Trump of blocking it to protect the kingdom. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Khashoggi murder trial in Riyadh lacked accountability, UN rights office says

A court in Riyadh Monday jailed eight people over the 2018 murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

ST PAUL, MN - AUGUST 05: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks during a press conference outside the DFL Headquarters on August 5, 2020 in St Paul, Minnesota. Omar is hoping to retain her seat as the representative for Minnesota's 5th Congressional District in next week's primary election. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Intel: House Democrats want answers from Saudi ambassador over jailed female activists

A group of seven congressional Democrats laid into Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States on Wednesday for failing to respond to their repeated requests to discuss the kingdom’s continued detention of female rights activists.

An Emirati official stands near an air-plane of El Al, which carried a US-Israeli delegation to the UAE following a normalisation accord, upon it's arrival at the Abu Dhabi airport in the first-ever commercial flight from Israel to the UAE, on August 31, 2020. - A US-Israeli delegation including White House advisor Jared Kushner took off on a historic first direct commercial flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi to mark the normalisation of ties between the Jewish state and the UAE. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP)

Netanyahu calls opening of Saudi skies 'huge breakthrough’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi hailed Saudi Arabia's decision to open its airspace to "all countries" following the UAE-Israel deal.

(FILES) A file picture taken on January 6, 2020 during the Dakar 2020 car racing shows a general view of Saudi Arabia's northwestern region, between Neoam and al-Wajh. - A rare revolt by a Saudi tribe has spelt fresh trouble for a planned Red Sea megacity, a lynchpin of the crown princes economic vision already beset by low oil prices. The $500 billion NEOM project, set to be built from scratch along the kingdom's picturesque western coast, is billed as a futuristic cityscape evocative of a sci-fi blockbust

Gulf citizens powerless in face of megaprojects

Local communities in Saudi Arabia often have no say in the strategic infrastructure projects and long-term economic reforms that directly impact them.

Democratic Party platform criticizes possible Israeli annexation of West Bank, Saudi role in Yemen

Parts of the platform approved at the Democratic National Convention this week have been both praised and criticized by Israel- and Iran-focused groups in Washington.

A reinforcement convoy of Yemen's Security Belt Force dominated by members of the the Southern Transitional Council (STC) seeking independence for southern Yemen, heads from the southern city of Aden to Abyan province on November 26, 2019, amid tensions with the forces of Saudi-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. - Saudi Arabia brokered on November 5 a power sharing agreement between Yemen's internationally recognised government and southern separatists of the STC, in a bid to end infighting that had d

Can new mechanism advance stalled Riyadh Agreement in southern Yemen?

Neither the Riyadh Agreement nor the mechanism for accelerating it can fundamentally end the conflict in southern Yemen, but will rather help suspend it and control its rhythm, according to analysts.