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

Saudi Arabia cover image

Saudi Arabia

June 29, 2026

Riyadh 1:00 pm

40°C

A student attends a training seminar at the Tourism Ministry Training center in the city of Riyadh on August 30, 2022.

Interview

Saudi labor localization will take ‘generation or two': Armada CEO

Around 70% of Saudi Arabia's population is 35 years old or younger, according to the kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics, providing ample opportunity for an educated and technology-savvy national workforce in the coming decades.

Olivier Badard

CEO of Armada Holding

FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

Gulf states push incentives for investors, expats after war dents image

Several Gulf states are working to recover their images as global havens of stability in the wake of the Iran war.

United Arab Emirates

French Trade & Invest Commissioner for United Arab Emirates and Middle East and Business France's regional director for the Middle East Axel Baroux. — Business France

Interview

Franco-Gulf investment holds firm despite Iran war, French official says

French investors are reallocating capital toward strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence and technology rather than pulling out of the region altogether.

Axel Baroux

France’s trade and investment commissioner for the UAE and Middle East

Latest News

Saudi Aramco's VC arm sees boom in emerging technologies, retail

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

Who is Fahd Al-Dosari, Saudi Arabia’s new ambassador to Lebanon?

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji meets with Fahd bin Abdulrahman bin Hathloul Al-Dosari, the new Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut on June 17, 2026.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

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

Why canceled Arab League summit should worry Israelis

Morocco’s decision not to host the Arab League summit has unexpected implications for Israel.

Protesters carry banners and wave Lebanese, Yemeni and Hezbollah flags during a protest against Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen, in front of the offices of the U.N. headquarters in Beirut May 12, 2015. Saudi-led air strikes pounded the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday just hours before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire was set to begin. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir - RTX1CNBR

Is the Saudi, Lebanese relationship gone for good?

In retaliation for Hezbollah’s support of the Houthis in Yemen, Saudi Arabia has launched a campaign designed to pressure Lebanon.

Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel (L) speaks during a joint news conference with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian at Beirut airport airbase during a ceremony to give weapons to the Lebanese army April 20, 2015. The first shipment of French weapons and military equipment arrived in Lebanon on Monday under a Saudi-funded deal worth $3 billion to bolster the Lebanese army's fight against militants encroaching from neighboring Syria. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir - RTX19GVB

What is Riyadh's endgame in Lebanon?

In an effort to condemn Iran, Saudi Arabia is setting its sights on Hezbollah and Lebanon.

Head of the Badr Organisation Hadi al-Amiri (C) walks with Shi'ite fighters in Makhoul mountains, north of Baiji, October 17, 2015. Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militia fighters recaptured most of the country’s largest oil refinery from Islamic State militants on Thursday, security officials said. The report could not be independently confirmed because it is too dangerous for journalists to enter the battle zone around the refinery near the town of Baiji, about 190 km (120 miles) north of Baghdad. REUTERS/Thaie

Why Saudis may take on Iraq’s Shiite militias

Saudi Arabia sees Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units, formed from various Shiite militias to fight the Islamic State, as a dangerous long-term foe for the Sunni Islamic world.

Lebanese army soldiers stand next to displayed weapons that they received during a ceremony at Beirut airport airbase April 20, 2015. The first shipment of French weapons and military equipment arrived in Lebanon on Monday under a Saudi-funded deal worth $3 billion to bolster the Lebanese army's fight against militants encroaching from neighboring Syria. (From L to R) The national flags of Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and France are displayed during the ceremony. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir - RTX19H2B

Saudis increasingly frustrated with Lebanon

The Saudis, who aspire to expand their status in the Gulf, are growing ever more frustrated with Lebanon.

Lebanese Army soldiers on their military vehicles take part in a military parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Lebanon's independence, in downtown Beirut November 22, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: ANNIVERSARY POLITICS MILITARY) - RTX15OH2

Why did Riyadh cancel $4 billion in aid to Lebanon?

Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah provide different reasons for the cancellation of billions of dollars in aid that the Gulf state had pledged to Lebanon, until it decided otherwise on Feb. 19.

Muslim Brotherhood's president-elect Mohamed Morsy (R) arrives at the Egyptian Television headquarters for his first televised address to the nation in Cairo June 24, 2012. Morsy's victory in Egypt's presidential election takes the Muslim Brotherhood's long power struggle with the military into a new round that will be fought inside the institutions of state themselves and may force new compromises on the Islamists. Picture taken June 24, 2012. To match Analysis EGYPT-ELECTION/STRUGGLE/ REUTERS/Stringer (

Who's behind vote to label Muslim Brotherhood a terror group?

After the House Judiciary panel voted along party lines to force a State Department ruling, opinions remain split over the true motivation behind the step.

What fading oil fortunes means for Turkey's businesses

Turkish businesspeople are losing sleep over oil-producing states' deferrals of payments to international contractors and the possible loss of mega projects.

UNICEF's representative in Yemen, Julien Harneis, listens to a boy during a visit to Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Anees Mahyoub - RTX23EIY

Death, starvation haunt southern Yemen

The catastrophic humanitarian situation in Yemen’s besieged Taiz calls for immediate action to lift the siege that has strangled the city for almost a year.

Soldiers stand guard at the Jordanian-Syrian border, near Mafraq, August 16, 2015. Commander of the Jordanian Border Guard, Brigadier General Saber Mahayrah, said on Sunday that there was no sign of Nusra Front or Islamist State fighters on the border between Jordan and Syria. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed - RTX1OELU

Will Saudi Arabia pressure Jordan to join ground offensive in Syria?

There is increasing talk about a land war in Syria to combat the Islamic State, but the Jordanians thus far appear reluctant to get involved.

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters through a giant screen during a rally commemorating the annual Hezbollah Martyrs' Leader Day in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Aziz Taher - RTX278R4

Does Hezbollah seek Israel’s elimination? 'Not so,' says Nasrallah

Hezbollah leader says group will not open new front against Israel; Turkey’s two-front war; battles for Aleppo “unlike any others”; Saudi military exercise provides distraction.

Fighters from the Democratic Forces of Syria position themselves in Ghazila village after taking control of the town from Islamic State forces in the southern countryside of Hasaka, Syria February 17, 2016. Picture taken February 17, 2016. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RTX27JLM

Can Ankara's plans keep up with Syria's escalation?

The course of events in Syria offer opportunities but also new threats to Ankara, which still has to deal with structural flaws in its Syrian policy.