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

A US Boeing KC-135 air refueling tanker flies

US quietly aids Saudi Arabia’s Yemen offensive with intel, refueling

Pentagon aims to keep Yemen and Iran wars separate while shielding the flow of Gulf oil exports from attack as Riyadh bears the brunt of the Houthis' missile and drone barrages.

Yemen

Turkish Navy infantry soldiers take part in the Denizkurdu-I/2026 Exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Aksaz, at Marmaris in Mugla, on Sept. 24, 2026.

Turkey to send Mecca pact to parliament, opening path to Saudi deployment

Parliamentary ratification will remove a legal hurdle for Turkish military deployment to Saudi Arabia under a trilateral defense pact.

Turkey

Passengers board a flydubai flight, bound for Dubai, before taking off from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, on Sept. 30, 2026.

Mossad, Shin Bet in UAE: What we know about Israel’s FlyDubai probe

The National Security Council is probing foreign carrier security protocols, while police investigate two senior Transportation Ministry officials suspected of providing private services for aviation companies.

Israel

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at the Pnyx hill, where ancient Athenians held democratic assemblies, with the ancient Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis seen in the background, in Athens on October 7, 2026. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

Rubio says Iran ‘lost’ Hormuz. Has it?

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Iran has “lost complete control” of the waterway, pointing to the recovery in Gulf oil exports in September.

Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lays a wreath during the state memorial ceremony for the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, at Mount Herzl military cemetery, Jerusalem, Oct. 5, 2026.

Why Netanyahu still resists an independent probe 3 years after Oct. 7

Alongside official memorial ceremonies taking place across Israel on Monday, civil society groups are holding protests calling on Prime Minister Netanyahu to take responsibility for the Oct. 7 attacks.

Israel

Latest News

Iraq devalues dinar 13% as Hormuz disruption hits oil revenue

Iraq

Latest defection hands Erdogan’s AKP control of Turkey’s third-largest city

Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay (R) his wife Oznur Tugay and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledge the audience after the mayor announced joining the ruling Justice and Development Party during a meeting with AKP lawmakers in Ankara, on Oct. 7, 2026.

Turkey

Culture

Syria's Kurds, Arabs find common cause in battle for language rights

Syria

Explainer

From Amaliqa to Houthis, here are main armed groups fighting in Yemen

Yemen

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Passengers walk at the arrival lounge of Aden Airport in Aden

Attacks on Saudi airports kill three people, as fighting escalates in Yemen

Reuters

A satellite imagery taken on January 30, 2026 shows a new roof over a previously destroyed building at Natanz nuclear site

Explainer-The status of Iran's uranium enrichment programme

Reuters

IEA to accelerate oil reserve release, says 100 million barrels still to come

Reuters

Smoke rises following an explosion in Mansouri, Lebanon

Exclusive-Lebanon's Hezbollah gets $200 million from Iran to help displaced, sources say

Reuters

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Middle East Minute

Rubio says Iran 'lost complete control' of Hormuz

Adam Lucente

7 October, 9:33 AM ET

3:36

Middle East Minute

Houthis target Saudi airports as Yemen military advances

Adam Lucente

6 October, 8:41 AM ET

3:18

On the Middle East with Amberin Zaman

Straight from Putin's playbook: Turkey's Islamists are jailing LGBTQ activists in ‘morality’ drive

Yildiz Tar joins Amberin Zaman

16 September, 11:28 AM ET

25:45

Interviews

Exclusive conversations with AL-MONITOR.

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Interview

Trump's Africa adviser denies Libya plan would entrench rival families

US Department of State's senior advisor to the President for Arab and African Affairs Massad Fares Boulos attends a conference for the support of peace and prosperity in the Great Lakes region, in Paris, on October 30, 2025. The international community gathered in Paris on October 30, 2025 to raise awareness about the dire humanitarian situation in the Great Lakes region, aiming to raise hundreds of millions of euros despite a drastic decrease in international aid, particularly from the United States. (Phot

Interview

Waltz: ‘Door open’ to Iran talks, more countries eye Abraham Accords

Interview

Yemen separatists urge US not to let Saudi Arabia ‘call the shots’

Yemenis gather during a rally to show their support for the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the coastal port city of Aden, on December 14, 2025. (Saleh Al-OBEIDI / AFP via Getty Images)

Interview

Ex-PM says Sudan risks partition amid US ceasefire push

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok chairs an emergency cabinet session in the capital, Khartoum, on Oct. 18, 2021.

Analysis

Stay a step ahead of your colleagues.

Analysis

Three years after Oct. 7, Hamas’ grip on Gaza tests Netanyahu’s ‘total victory’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the state memorial ceremony for the third anniversary of Oct. 7 attack, at Mount Herzl military cemetery, Jerusalem, Oct. 5, 2026.

By Ben Caspit

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

Analysis

Why Trump-Xi summit did not move the China needle away from Iran

US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping hold a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office

By Yun Sun

In Washington, DC, reporting on China-Middle East ties

Analysis

Gulf oil exports are back, but how durable is recovery?

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Analysis

Iran’s execution drive intensifies as war provides cover for repression

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

People gather during protest on Jan. 8, 2026 in Tehran

Dispatch from the New Syria: Opportunities and Challenges

October 1, 2026

1:00:54

The Iran War Widens: Yemen, Hormuz and What Comes Next

September 17, 2026