A Middle East NATO? Regional Security Op...

In this episode of Middle East Focus, hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj are joined by MEI Senior Fellow Mirette F. Mabrouk to unpack the growing tensions over the recently inaugurated Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile. With no water-sharing agreement with ... Show More

With Iran’s nuclear program devastated, the reimposition of UN sanctions looming, and Tehran grappling with the fallout of the 12-Day War, is the time ripe for Iran to return to the negotiating table? MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Alan Eyre — former senior US diplomat and m ... Show More

In this episode of Middle East Focus, host Alistair Taylor is joined by climate, energy, and sustainability expert Karim Elgendy to examine the growing water and climate crisis across the Middle East. They explore how climate change, mismanagement, and regional politics are strai ... Show More

Is Hezbollah still able to fight Israel after its leadership has been weakened? The group says fighters have already inflicted serious damage on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. How different are these confrontations from previous conflicts? In this episode: Sami Atallah, Foun ... Show More

In Lebanon, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has condemned the back-to-back attacks targeting the group's pagers and walkie-talkie communications system as "massacres." He also warned Israel that Hezbollah's forces on the border won't stop until the war in Gaza ends. At ... Show More

Since the war between Hamas and Israel erupted in October 2023, the fear has been that the conflict in Gaza could lead to a wider regional war across the Middle East. Questions are growing as to whether Iran will retaliate against Israel, which is widely believed to be responsibl ... Show More

On Saturday evening, Iran launched a major attack on Israeli territory, with a combination of 300 drones and missiles. Israel’s air defense seems to have intercepted most of these and the airspace over Israel and Jordan has since been reopened. In this special episode, Mark Leona ... Show More

Today on the show, Israel successfully killed Hamas leader and mastermind of the October 7 attacks Yahya Sinwar. Fareed is joined by retired Israel Defense Forces Colonel Miri Eisin to discuss how this will impact Israel’s broader strategy in its war in Gaza.  Next, Tareq Baconi, ... Show More

Mediators are making one last push to pause the fighting in Gaza. Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara has met one of the country’s senior Christian leaders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to travel to Washington today. On today's episode of Trending Middle East: Media ... Show More

Two weeks ago, there was reason to think that the Middle East was becoming more stable than it had been for years. Washington was pushing for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia as one piece of a broader attempt to reduce the U.S. role in the region and focus on other p ... Show More

Israeli forces launched strikes on military targets across Iran early Saturday, claiming they were in response to ongoing regional attacks by “Iran and its proxies.” Hours later, Israel announced it had “achieved its objectives” and warned Tehran against retaliation. Will Iran an ... Show More