Middle East Near You

This Saturday marks a year since Libya’s Khalifa Haftar ordered his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) to march on Tripoli to expel the Government of National Accord (GNA). On...

The only man to be convicted of the infamous Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, died in 2012 and protested his innocence until his final breath. His fellow Libyan and co-defendant,...

Of all Libya’s neighbours Egypt stands out as the most dangerous. Cairo now holds huge sway over Khalifa Haftar’s camp as his main regional backer to take the capital...

Last Monday, the French government hosted Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar on a brief, unannounced, visit to Paris. Accompanied by his top political advisor, my ex-academic colleague turned politician Fadel...

The UN Envoy and head of its Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has resigned after two-and-a-half years in the job. A UN spokesperson confirmed that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has...

Fathi Bashagha is the Interior Minister in Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), although many observers believe that he is the real power behind the throne. He rarely misses...

On 12 February, the UN Security Council adopted its long-awaited resolution 2510 on Libya endorsing the recommendations made by the Berlin Conference last month. International and regional powers met...

Next Monday marks nine years since the start of the foreign-backed uprising in Libya that toppled and then killed Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, plunging the country into ongoing chaos...

On 17 December 2015, the Libyan Political Accord (LPA) was signed in Skhirat, Morocco to the cheers of major powers, regional actors and Libya’s immediate neighbours; it was hailed...

The United Nations Security Council was scheduled to meet yesterday to consult about Libya but the meeting was re-scheduled for today. The meeting was agreed to during 19 January’s...

Twelve world leaders, the UN, the EU, the Arab League and the African Union attended the Berlin Conference on Libya last Sunday. They produced a very detailed communique of...

Diplomatic activities between Moscow, Ankara, Tripoli and Benghazi finally yielded some kind of lull in the nine-month war over control of Tripoli, the Libyan capital. On Sunday 12 January,...

Last Monday marked a turning point in the ongoing battle for Tripoli. The Libyan National Army (LNA) entered the coastal city of Sirte, the home town of former ruler...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is submitting a bill to the Turkish parliament seeking approval for its plans to send troops to Libya. The parliament is expected to approve the...

Millions of Algerians cast their votes on 12 December and chose 74-year-old former Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune as their country’s first freely-elected President since independence from France in 1962....

Last Tuesday, 17 December, marked four years since the Libyan Political Accord (LPA) was signed in Skhirat, Morocco creating the Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Fayez Al-Sarraj....

Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) signed on 27 November two documents with Turkey. One deals with security while the other draws out the maritime boundaries between the two...

On Tuesday the United States House Intelligence Committee, investigating President Donald Trump, issued its report on the impeachment of the republican. Yesterday, the process of impeaching him moved to...

This month marked 15 years since Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat passed away in what remain suspicious circumstances. Arafat came to symbolise not only the Palestinian struggle for independence but...

It appears that Libya’s Minister of Justice, Mohamed Lamloum, underestimated the public reaction to his statements before the International Criminal Court (ICC) last Tuesday. The ICC was hearing an...

On Monday and Tuesday this week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) held a hearing for Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi’s challenge to the admissibility of his case before the court. Gaddafi...

Sixty-five years ago, the people of Algeria rose in great numbers and picked up arms against France, the local colonial power. Thus began one of the bloodiest national struggles...

Better late than never sums up Moscow’s newfound interest in Africa. While Russia is no stranger to the continent, Moscow’s African policy stalled after the collapse of the Soviet...

In February 2017, after less than a year in office, Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti managed to reduce the flow of illegal migration out of Libya by 87 per...

Kais Saied is the new President of Tunisia after a landslide election victory with 72.71 per cent of the votes cast. Saied received 2.7 million votes while his rival,...

World oil supplies have been at the centre of every major crisis in the Middle East for the last seven decades. Having nearly 67 per cent of world oil...

Germany is to host an international meeting on Libya sometime before the end of October – some say before the end of the year. This is the latest attempt...

Since they took to the streets in their thousands earlier this year, the people of Algeria have achieved very little. Their demands, meanwhile, have multiplied despite being, occasionally, unattainable...

Now it is official; Kais Saied, hardly known outside the university walls made it to the second round of presidential elections in Tunisia with 18.4 per cent of the...

Is the United States withdrawing from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, or it is just missing the magical focal policy that it occasionally had in years...

Many believe United States President Donald Trump is helping Israel in an unprecedented way and the son of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu, Yair, is one of them....

Friday 30 August is the 11th anniversary of the treaty signed by Libya and Italy on Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation bringing to an end a long, turbulent chapter of...