NEED TO KNOW The Tiger’s Stripes EGYPT Ten years ago on July 3, the Egyptian military under Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi launched a […]

NEED TO KNOW Welcome Back SYRIA The Arab League recently welcomed Syria back into the fold after suspending the country’s membership 12 […]

NEED TO KNOW New Kids on the Block WEST BANK/ GAZA For years, Fatah and Hamas have vied for control of Palestine. […]

NEED TO KNOW Israeli Spring ISRAEL Civil unrest in Israel has prompted many observers to wonder if the same pro-democracy impulses that […]

NEED TO KNOW Books, Traffic and Trauma IRAQ Twenty years after the American invasion of Iraq, the booksellers of Mutanabbi Street are […]

NEED TO KNOW A Hatchet in the Ground SAUDI ARABIA/ IRAN/ CHINA It’s hard to say which is more remarkable about the […]

NEED TO KNOW The Proxy Peace YEMEN The civil war in Yemen kept a rusting supertanker off the coast of the Middle […]

NEED TO KNOW Nintendo and Synagogues PERSIAN GULF The Arab nations of the Persian Gulf are normalizing relations with Israel, loosening some […]

NEED TO KNOW A People, Betrayed LEBANON After losing their jobs and selling their cars and other assets, parents in Lebanon are […]

NEED TO KNOW When the Earth Moves TURKEY/ SYRIA Two brothers rationed protein drinks to survive under the rubble of a collapsed […]

NEED TO KNOW Oiling the Hinges MIDDLE EAST Natural gas is changing the Eastern Mediterranean. It could also shake up the Israeli-Palestinian […]

NEED TO KNOW The Prodigal Leader ISRAEL Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister of Israel again in late December, his sixth time in […]

NEED TO KNOW Won’t Back Down IRAN The Iranian government’s crackdown on free speech and the free flow of information has led […]

NEED TO KNOW It’s the Little Things QATAR The World Cup was supposed to be Qatar’s crowning achievement, its entry into the […]

NEED TO KNOW A Difficult Friendship SAUDI ARABIA Saudi Arabia recently told American officials that Iran was planning an attack on the […]

NEED TO KNOW Back Again ISRAEL When Israeli voters cast their ballots for parliament on Nov. 1, they will arguably be making […]

NEED TO KNOW All Aboard MIDDLE EAST /NORTH AFRICA France’s national railroad company, SNCF, hoped to build a high-speed train in California […]

NEED TO KNOW The Best, the Worst, of Times SAUDI ARABIA It was a time of lavish spending on ambitious projects. It […]

NEED TO KNOW Twisting and Turning IRAQ From 2003 to 2009, the Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr waged an insurgency against American troops […]

NEED TO KNOW A Tiger’s Tail WEST BANK & GAZA Palestinian lawyers took to the streets in Ramallah in the Israel-occupied territories […]

NEED TO KNOW Same Old, Same Old IRAN Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, a conservative former judge, won office a year ago promising […]

NEED TO KNOW Oozing Wounds SYRIA Recently, some British tourists in Aleppo marveled at how rebel snipers a few years ago fired […]

NEED TO KNOW Pride and Politics ISRAEL Israel is set to hold its fifth election in less than four years, a surfeit […]