Al Majalla | The Leading Arab Magazine

Special coverage

US-Iran war and the regional repercussions

A visit to Damascus by French President Emmanuel Macron had meaning far beyond trade and investment.

Damascus between two projects: when partnership answers the bomb

The real target of the explosions near President Macron's hotel was the idea of a new, open, trading Syria. The most effective response? To press on with the visit and move towards the future

Ibrahim Hamidi

One of two gold necklaces made from more than 100 separate gold plates, decorated with images of goddesses such as Serapis, dating back to the second century AD.

AFP

Business & Economy

How Sudan’s war reshaped Egypt’s battle for gold

Egypt is cracking down on informal gold prospectors as it seeks to maximise the economic potential of its mining sector and attract new investment

Marcelle Nasr

Olga Aleksandrova

COVER STORY

Iran after Khamenei’s funeral

Politics

The struggle between the Guards and the Speaker

Al Majalla - London

The week that Beirut and Baghdad broke the Iranian crescent

Inferring messages from the Supreme Leader’s funeral

The Guards are dissolving from within, and they know it

Iran's new security doctrine and its old dilemma

Latest

Politics

Syria’s parliament must now earn its legitimacy

Haid Haid

Culture & Social Affairs

Ukraine’s drones: from the frontline to the deep rear

Marco Mossad

Culture & Social Affairs

Artist Shereen Abdel Karim and Gaza’s memory against erasure

Houssam Marouf

Politics

Trump returns focus to Nile dam dispute, but is it too late?

Amr Emam

Culture & Social Affairs

Football in the Arab world: a relationship revealed in seven books

Ibrahim Adel

Popular
Editor's Pick

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Libyan National Army Deputy Commander Saddam Haftar, and Trump advisor Massad Boulos in Washington on 29 June, 2026.

@US_SrAdvisorAF/X

Politics

US plan for Libya: unification or management of division?

26 June 2026

A US envoy wants the institutions of western Libya to accommodate the son of an eastern warlord as Libyan president. Is this another doomed effort to unite the feuding factions, or could it work?

Areig Elhag

Dave Murray

Science & Technology

More than a game: a look inside the mind of a football fan

30 June 2026

As the FIFA World Cup 2026 shows, identity, belonging, and tension combine to make football fandom unlike any other sport. So, what is going on in fans' brains?

Alaa Emara

A fighter loyal to Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan holds up a weapon backdropped by the minaret of a mosque, during a graduation ceremony in the southeastern Gedaref state on 27 May 2024.

AFP

Politics

The quiet push to finally end Sudan's civil war

29 June 2026

External actors and some domestic parties are believed to be working behind the scenes towards a settlement. Why now?

Shawgi Abdelazim

Chinese President Xi Jinping stands in the centre of the hall during the China-Africa forum at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, on 5 September 2024.

AFP

Business & Economy

China doubles down on Africa with its zero-tariff policy

01 July 2026

Beijing's duty-free access for African exports promises mutual economic gains, but more importantly, it deepens its strategic influence across the continent

Rabia Abdul Salam

Eduardo Ramon

Politics

Why siccing Syria's army on Hezbollah is so dangerous

28 June 2026

If Trump's idea is implemented, it would all but certainly further undermine regional stability and US interests in the Middle East

David Schenker

Inferring messages from the Supreme Leader’s funeral

Badia Fahs

Syria and Lebanon: why history will not repeat itself

Ibrahim Hamidi

Shaibani in Beirut: political reassurance and deferred questions

Alia Mansour

Indirect talks in Doha inch fragile US-Iran truce forward

Con Coughlin

Infographics

Cancer therapies in 2026: a new era of hope

Al Majalla

Politics

Iran after Khamenei’s funeral

Al Majalla has chosen Iran for its cover this week because the funeral of Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli airstrike on 28 February 2026,…

Al Majalla - London

A member of Iraq's PMF stands in front of a banner depicting slain Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (L) and Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, on January 2, 2023.

The week that Beirut and Baghdad broke the Iranian crescent

For 20 years the Islamic Republic of Iran measured its power by the number of Arab capitals it could move from Tehran: At one point, it was four:…

Maneli Mirkhan

A picture of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Grand Mosalla during his funeral ceremonies in Tehran on 4 July 2026.

After Khamenei: the security state he built, and the son who inherits it

When it came to the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran this week, the most important man—his son and successor—did not appear…

Alex Vatanka

A member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) participates in a military exercise aimed at 'increasing combat capabilities' in Tehran province on 12 May 2026.

The Guards are dissolving from within, and they know it

In February, the ruling Iranian regime’s daily newspaper Jomhouri Eslami posed a question in print that had been taboo for 40 years: does the Islamic…

Maneli Mirkhan

Profile

Saddam Haftar: Benghazi is the base but Tripoli is the prize

Saddam Haftar’s recent public statements struck all the old tunes: partnership, shared interests, national unity, and weapons placed under the…

Areig Elhag

Greater Manchester Mayor and Labour candidate Andy Burnham speaks to the media outside a pub in Wigan ahead of the 18 June Makerfield by-election, in Wigan, Britain, on 5 June 2026.

Andy Burnham: Britain's premier-in-waiting?

The dramatic resignation of British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer means that Andy Burnham, the charismatic former Mayor of Manchester, is now…

Con Coughlin

Bill Pulte, nominated to be the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, sits on the day of a Senate committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on 27 February 2025.

Bill Pulte: the Trump-friendly acting intelligence director

In keeping with Donald Trump’s tendency to choose loyalists over specialists for his administration, the US President has appointed his friend Bill…

Tarek Rashed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (centre), his military secretary Roman Gofman (left) and Likud MK Boaz Bismuth attend a meeting in Jerusalem on 5 February 2026.

Roman Gofman: Israel's new Netanyahu-friendly Mossad chief

Israel likes to project to the world an image of military and intelligence prowess. It points to its decapitation of Iran’s leadership, its weakening…

Kamal Alam

Documents & Memoirs

Could the US-Iran war spark World War III?

17 Mar 2026

The current conflict is unlikely to go global for now, but the speed at which it has spread regionally is alarming. A look at history shows the geopolitical factors that led to world wars.

Christopher Phillips

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Eduardo Ramon

Documents & Memoirs

How the US got the SDF to capitulate to Damascus

02 February 2026

Al Majalla publishes a full account of what transpired during negotiations, the draft integration framework, and proposed constitutional amendments

Ibrahim Hamidi

Sara Gironi Carnevale

Documents & Memoirs

Could Trump actually buy Greenland?

30 January 2026

If history is any indication, then yes. While much of modern-day America was acquired through conquest, large chunks of the country were also bought from reluctant sellers under pressure.

Steve Hewitt

culture & social affairs

Al Majalla’s Book Watch

09 July 2026

The Arab world has a vibrant and rich literary scene. Al Majalla picks out some choice titles in our fortnightly round-up of the latest Arabic books

Khodr Al Agha

Artist Shereen Abdel-Karim, creator of The Face of the City.

Concorto Film Festival

Culture & Social Affairs

Artist Shereen Abdel Karim and Gaza’s memory against erasure

As war continues to erase the physical landscape of Gaza, the Palestinian artist turns to photography, testimony, and digital media to preserve the city's human fabric

Houssam Marouf

Culture & Social Affairs

Football in the Arab world: a relationship revealed in seven books

The beautiful game cuts across class and conflict, changing relationships and communities. Al Majalla looks at its depiction in Arab literature

Ibrahim Adel

Luke Brookes

From Yves Saint Laurent to Blokecore: fashion in football

Greek researcher Irene Theodoropoulou calls Qatar 2022 “the…

Yasmin Abdallah

Interview with Maxime Prévot - Belgium's Minister of Foreign Affairs

Science & Technology

Ukraine’s drones: from the frontline to the deep rear

Recent upgrades to Kyiv's most important weapon have put Russian infrastructure in the firing line, as the latest attacks on St Petersburg show. Yet it is in Crimea that Ukraine's attention is focused

Marco Mossad

China's increasingly effective spy tactics raise alarm in the West

From sophisticated AI-backed espionage operations to mundane tactics through professional recruitment sites, a new Five Eyes report warns that Beijing's spy capabilities are growing

Marco Mossad

Sara Padovan

More than a game: a look inside the mind of a football fan

As the FIFA World Cup 2026 shows, identity, belonging, and tension combine to make football fandom unlike any other sport. So, what is going on in fans' brains?

Alaa Emara

Dave Murray

The World Cup puts global disease surveillance to the test

As millions cross borders and continents, could stadiums become the epicentre of a new global outbreak?

Mohammed Mansour

Sara Padovan

Business & Economy

How Sudan’s war reshaped Egypt’s battle for gold

Egypt is cracking down on informal gold prospectors as it seeks to maximise the economic potential of its mining sector and attract new investment

Marcelle Nasr

How El Niño is heightening economic risk in the Gulf

Despite being oceans away from the Pacific, climate change is amplifying the harmful effects of the natural sea-warming phenomenon

Abdulfattah Khattab

Al Awir desert farms, Dubai, on 12 January 2021.

AFP

Is Libya entering a gas golden age?

New discoveries and multibillion-dollar investments are redrawing the country's energy map

Rana Freifer

An oil and gas platform off the coast of Libya on February 25, 2022. Türkiye and Greece are at loggerheads over a Turkish-Libyan agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea.

Getty Images

China doubles down on Africa with its zero-tariff policy

Beijing's duty-free access for African exports promises mutual economic gains, but more importantly, it deepens its strategic influence across the continent

Rabia Abdul Salam