Mena Today

The new year began with a scandal. A documentary built on the testimony of twenty-four anonymous Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers won a prize in Venice and set off a fury at home. The chief of staff has ordered a legal hunt for the sources; the culture minister speaks of treason.

Saudi Arabia has cut oil shipments to Europe after drone attacks damaged its key export pipeline to the Red Sea, trade sources told Reuters, prompting top customers such as Poland to rush to seek alternatives as cargo prices topped $120 a barrel. 

Qatar warned Tuesday that a closure of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, following its seizure by Yemen's Houthi rebels, would be "catastrophic" for the global economy.

Italy and Spain on Tuesday extended the suspension of the European Union's border-free arrangement with each other for another 15 days, their interior ministries said.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed the need to ensure freedom and security of navigation in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea during talks on Tuesday, the Egyptian presidency said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a new documentary film which alleges that mass civilian deaths were routinely built into targeting decisions in Gaza was part of a wave of global incitement against Jews.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis launched a new wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia and were digging into positions on the western coast of Yemen along the Red Sea, Yemeni officials said, as urgent deliberations took place in Riyadh over how to respond to their lightning advance. 

Lebanese MP Nadim Gemayel of the Kataeb party said that his party does not oppose Lebanon making peace with neighboring Israel, which still occupies more than 600 square kilometers of Lebanese territory and has razed dozens of border villages in its war against Hezbollah.

As Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants swept through the battered country's Red Sea coastline, thousands of panicked people fled to makeshift camps, adding to an already vast population of internally displaced people.

Lebanese politician Dory Chamoun died on Monday at the age of 94. His easygoing manner and plain, straightforward way of speaking might almost have marked him as an outsider on Lebanon's political scene, born and raised as he was in the shadow of a father who dominated the country's contemporary history for decades with his imposing stature.

Eleven people were injured in an ammonia gas leak at an industrial complex in Jordan's southern city of Aqaba on Monday, an official told Reuters.

I am an artist, not a film critic and not a military researcher. But for years I was involved in the world of film and culture at the highest levels.