The spectacular and unforeseen fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 upended Syria’s political order and launched a precarious transition. Ahmed al-Sharaa officially assumed the role of interim president on January 29, 2025, serving as the head of a coalition dominated by members of the now disbanded Islamist militia that he had led, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, and a transitional government […]

On November 11, 2025, Iraqis voted in their seventh parliamentary election since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. According to the Iraqi High Electoral Commission, the election saw a turnout of 56 percent, markedly higher than the previous two elections. Although the results have yet to be confirmed by the judiciary, no party has emerged with a […]

From late September to mid-October 2025, Moroccans across the country descended into the streets to once again demand change from their government. Under the banner of a leaderless youth coalition dubbed the Gen Z 212 Movement (after Morocco’s international telephone code), protesters called for improved conditions in hospitals and schools, fair job opportunities, infrastructure that meets social needs, and an […]

On November 17, 2025, following weeks of diplomatic maneuvering, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voted to approve Resolution 2803 (2025) in support of the Trump administration’s “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict.” The resolution, drafted and actively pushed by Washington, received 13 votes in favor and none against, with China and Russia abstaining after their repeated attempts to […]

Egyptians are currently casting their ballots in parliamentary elections, the final results of which will not be announced before late December 2025. In two phases of voting held in different regions ...

Mohammed bin Salman’s return to Washington after seven years signals a recalibration of US-Saudi ties, with Riyadh seeking security assurances as well as support for its now AI-driven Vision 2030 agen...

YouTube video by Arab Center Washington DC

President Trump sent a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog asking him to pardon Netanyahu on corruption charges, calling his prosecution “political [and] unjustified.”

Having emerged in 2017 from Yemen’s Southern Movement, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) is the preeminent political and military force in southern Yemen. Since its founding, Aidarous al-Zubaidi...

Ethiopia’s highly contested and controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) was officially inaugurated on September 9, 2025, marking the completion of one of Africa’s most ambitious infrastru...

Since Israel began its brutal assault on Gaza in October 2023, observers have asked how the world could allow the indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinians to continue. Part of the answer is that numerous powerful corporations in the United States and overseas have profited from Israel’s actions, as well as from Israel’s ongoing efforts to avoid accountability. In her bombshell July […]

At first glance, US President Donald J. Trump and Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa inhabit very different political universes. Trump, the populist president of a prosperous global power, is k...

The United States circulated to several UN Security Council members a draft resolution that would provide a mandate for an international stabilization force in Gaza for at least two years.

Among Arab states, perhaps none faces a more complex challenge in managing relations with President Donald Trump than Qatar. Ironically, Doha’s deepening partnership with the Trump administration has been bolstered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ill-judged September 9, 2025, missile attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, where they had gathered to review a ceasefire deal proposed by the American […]

More than a decade into Yemen’s civil war, no end to the conflict is in sight. The lines of control between the two main belligerents have barely changed, and conditions for the Yemeni people continue to be dire. The internationally recognized government is led by the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), a loose-knit coalition of Yemeni political and military factions backed […]

An October 2025 deal between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—which are linked to the Kurdish-dominated autonomous administration in the northeast—has opened a viable path to merge the SDF into Syria’s national army. The merger had been agreed to, in principle, in a March 2025 accord between the transitional government led by Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum […]

President Trump defended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to order “forceful” strikes in Gaza after accusing Hamas of breaching the ceasefire agreement.

On April 15, 2023, a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as “Hemedti,” erupted into what has become a devastating armed conflict and humanitarian crisis. By 2025, Sudan had two rival governments—the SAF’s “Hope Government” in Port Sudan, in […]

On a cold night in January 2022, Omar Assad, an elderly Palestinian American man, was driving back to his town in the West Bank after a night of playing cards at his cousin’s house. According to a lea...

Rather than serving as a forum for hashing out difficult next steps for Gaza, the Sharm summit was largely a congratulatory gesture to Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump traveled to Israel and Egypt to celebrate the Gaza ceasefire deal. He addressed the Knesset before heading to Egypt, where he and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi co-host...

On September 9, 2025, Israel attacked Qatar in an act of international aggression that caused shockwaves in Doha, across the Gulf states, and around the world. Missile strikes on a building in a busy ...