My piece @TheEconomist ahead of Muhammad bin Salman's White House visit today. He won't normalize ties with Israel. Nor are other Arab leaders clamoring to join the Abraham accords. Trump wants to expand them in his second term—but that will be difficult.

Earlier this month people close to Trump pitched at least one Gulf government on their proposal to start rebuilding Israeli-controlled parts of Gaza. They wanted a financial commitment. But they were rebuffed: Arab governments broadly oppose the idea.

"Even better, it gives Sharaa a powerful new stick with which to warn off rivals on his jihadist flank at home: those who refuse to fall into line may now face the wrath not only of the Syrian state but America and its many allies." https://t.co/RVk1yDiXWa

The Ministry of Interior's kidnapping investigation showed the extent of misinformation on the issue - but also downplayed the degree to which kidnappings are happening. Here I examine recent examples of fake claims & ISC statements for a deeper look https://t.co/XgP3l5G98F

Barrack gets a lot of flak in Lebanon for his brusque style. But on substance he can be pragmatic: he acknowledges, for example, that trying to disarm Hezbollah by force would risk disaster The bigger problem (in both Syria and Lebanon) is that he can only push one side

Bassem Youssef is back from exile. It is unclear whether he will resume his career as a brutal satirist, or become a more emollient talk-show figure whom Egypt’s rulers can tolerate

Great work from Timour and his colleagues:

With Gaza reduced to rubble, the Palestinian Authority pops a quick cyanide capsule: https://t.co/SyBGFzTr3x

The RSF is committing atrocities in Sudan that can be seen from space

CNN's Clarissa Ward traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to track down the man who held missing US journalist Austin Tice captive. Tice, who went missing in 2012, was imprisoned by Bassam al-Hassan, a former Syrian general and top adviser to deposed President Bashar al-Assad. Stream the

The guy offering media criticism here has been a font of misinformation over the past two years, peddling fantasies about a breakaway emirate of Hebron and the population of Gaza being displaced to Puntland and other delusions, all of it on behalf of Netanyahu

Get ready for weeks of speculative talk about normalization from people who haven't listened to a single thing the Saudi government has said over the past two years

Truely thrilling reporting on the flight of Assad's top cronies from @ErikaSolomon and colleagues here: #Syria

The case for Jonathan Powell - he’s part of a vanishingly small group of British officials who has the contacts and nous to actually get things done - worth remembering while a fake outrage is affected over China today

Finally, Hillary Clinton and Condi Rice have a chance to air their views on the Middle East. I'm glad the new management is giving long-ignored voices the opportunity to be heard

https://t.co/ZHNcS5fPef

For the first time in about 70 years, net immigration to America could be zero. Beneath the noise of tariff and budget fights, migration may well be the biggest economic story of 2025. My latest for @TheEconomist: Welcome to Zero Migration America 🧵 + link below

(1/6) ‘I wanted to be dead’: Survivors of Assad’s prisons battle trauma and disease Thousands of political prisoners held in Syria’s detention centres are now dependent on a health system broken by war Dispatch by @aclandoli - free to read 🔓 https://t.co/ipYBYU1IpB

Love all the guys having it out over airport transfer times in the comments here 🤣

Two “non-Arab” countries have agreed to provide troops for the International Stabilization Force included in Trump’s Gaza plan, per a senior Arab official.