English Newsletter September 28

Are the Houthis the new Hezbollah? Al Majalla unpacked this question in last week’s cover story. Alex Vatanka argues the Yemeni rebel group has become Iran’s new bargaining chip amid its ongoing war with the US, while Ibrahim Jalal mapped out the Houthis’ territorial gains and laid out the most effective ways to confront the group. Meanwhile, other writers weighed in on the implications of the latest developments in Yemen and its near abroad.

Switching gears, Con Coughlin unpacked the US-China summit in Washington in his piece titled  Xi-Trump meet: big smiles, little progress. “The lack of trust between the US and China was evident during talks, which only resulted in the two sides agreeing to extend their trade truce,” he said. And on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Ravi Agrawal interviews Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand on how Ottawa is handling Trump’s trade and tariff war against it.

On to Israel, Stephanie L Freid examines Israelis’ eroding trust in government and why this will be a key election issue come October, while James Jeffrey speculates how a change in leadership could affect Israel’s near abroad. In Business, Amr Emam’s piece, Egypt’s export dream meets an import reality, describes boosting exports as a “do-or-die” priority.

And last but not least, in Culture, Mimoza al-Arrawi looks at Iraqi painter Falah Al-Saidi’s recent works that transform memory into a space where reality is reshaped and reimagined, while Antoine Jockey explains why the works of a New Zealander poet who died young over 100 years ago gain more admirers every day in his piece titled Katherine Mansfield poetry collection reclaims the moment.