United States Ambassador to Lebanon, Maura Connelly, met with Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss the upcoming elections in Lebanon, which are currently scheduled for June 2013. Connelly said the U.S. supports "efforts to implement an ...

A series of suspected drone strikes underscored a tense week in Yemen as various factions threatened to pull out of the upcoming National Dialogue and three kidnapped European tourists remained in captivity. ...

Kuwaitis have spent much of the last two months protesting changes to the parliamentary electoral law. According to Human Rights Watch, Kuwaiti security personnel used excessive force to disperse largely peaceful protests. Interviewed protesters said, "Masked riot police used tear ...

Egypt’s president Mohamed Morsi signed an executive order enacting Egypt’s new constitution on December 25. The referendum vote still remains under dispute however, as the National Council for Human Rights reported 1,073 complaints from civil society ...

Following a stroke last week, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s questionable health led to uncertainty about Iraq’s future. Peter Galbraith addressed these concerns in an opinion piece in Foreign Policy, noting that Iraq currently lacks a successor that could wield ...

Egypt concluded the second round of its constitutional referendum on December 22 and unofficial results indicate that the draft successfully passed. The Muslim Brotherhood suggested that the initiative garnered a 64 percent "yes" vote, although officials numbers will ...

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah proclaimed earlier this week, “Anyone who thinks that the armed opposition is capable of the military battle is very mistaken,’” referring to the conflict in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin on the ...

At a Foreign Relations Committee briefing to discuss findings of the Accountability Review Board report on the September 11 Benghazi attack, Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns lamented that "we have to do better." Also speaking at ...

Omanis abroad began voting earlier this week in Oman's first municipal council elections, which will conclude with the official voting day of December 22. Omanis have a choice of 1,475 candidates, including 46 women, to fill ...

President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi issued a sweeping decree on Wednesday night aimed at consolidating and reforming Yemen's security sector, removing two of Yemen's most influential players from their current military posts in the process. The "presidential decision," ...

The United States Institute of Peace released a report entitled "Middle East in 2013: Promise and (Lots of) Peril," written by Robin Wright and Garrett Nada. The report examines the state of the uprisings in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, as well as the potential ...

An independent review board released a report on the Benghazi attack of September 11, 2012 that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens. The report placed blame on "systematic State Department management and leadership failures for gross security lapses." The report also found however, ...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad cancelled a scheduled trip to Turkey 12/17, citing a scheduling conflict. With Turkey calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and Iran remaining a vocal ally of the Syrian regime, the cancellation comes at a time ...

The U.S. Department of State called on both sides of the Syrian conflict to “stop unlawful attacks on civilians and comply with international law” on December 17. The call came after reports that a number of civilians had ...

To mark the 2nd anniversary of the Arab Spring, the Woodrow Wilson Center released a report, titled "Has the Arab Spring Lived up to Expectations?" The report features opinions from 39 experts from the Middle East, North Africa, ...

Libya's General National Congress announced that it would temporarily close the country's borders with Niger, Chad, Sudan and Algeria. Additionally, the GNC passed legislation designating the areas around Ghadamis, Ghat, Awbari, Al-Shati, Sebha, Murzuq and Kufra as closed ...

Large protests in Bahrain came to an abrupt end on Monday as police fired tear gas into the crowd and made a "number of arrests." The marches today in Manama followed a weekend of unrest in ...

Egypt held the long awaited referendum for its highly contentious draft constitution on December 15.  The first round of voting took place in ten of Egypt's 27 districts, including Cairo and Alexandria, while a second round will take place on ...