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  • What is behind US strategy of keeping troops in post-Assad Syria?

    The administration of United States President Joe Biden has said it is taking a wait-and-see approach to the fledgling government in Syria, with diplomats in recent weeks holding initial meetings with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) head, and the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, as well as the newly appointed Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. But since rebels toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in early December, the US has maintained it will keep its deployment of troops in northeast Syria, where US personnel continue to support the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as part of a decade-long anti-ISIL (ISIS) mission.

  • What’s behind Egypt and China’s ‘golden decade’ of partnership

    The beginning of 2025 marked the end of the “Year of the Egyptian-Chinese Partnership” and closed out the “golden decade”: A ten-year period during which Egypt and China grew their bilateral relationship as part of their efforts to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership. Given the trajectory of the relationship over the past ten years, expect to see a larger Chinese presence in Egypt—a country that has long been one of the United States’ most important allies in the Middle East.  The 2024 partnership year ended with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty visiting Beijing on December 13 for a meeting with his counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This came shortly after Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly’s visit to Beijing in September to attend the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. While there, a delegation from the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) signed one billion dollars’ worth of contracts and memoranda of understanding with Chinese companies.

  • Saudi Arabia condemns ‘greater Israel’ map

    Saudi Arabia condemned and rejected on Wednesday an Israeli map that claimed Jordanian, Syrian and Lebanese territories as part of so-called “greater Israel.” The Kingdom stressed that such extremist allegations demonstrated Israeli intentions to consolidate its occupation, continue blatant attacks on the sovereignty of states, and violate international laws and norms. The Kingdom’s foreign ministry renewed its call for the international community to play its role in stopping Israeli violations against countries and peoples of the region.

  • Saudi Arabia, Already Pumping Money Into Boxing, May Start League With TKO

    The potential investment in TKO follows a Saudi Arabian effort in June to create a multibillion-dollar boxing league that would aim to unite the world’s best boxers, who for decades have been divided by rival promoters and fighting for titles controlled by an alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies. That effort, while not completely abandoned, had proved complicated and expensive, even for a country like Saudi Arabia, which for the past half decade has disbursed billions to become a player across some of the world’s biggest sports.

  • Saudi Arabia taps Islamic banking to shore up mega-project financing

    Saudi Arabia has borrowed $7bn through Islamic loans as it looks to shore up financing to press ahead with costly mega-projects designed to diversify the kingdom’s economy from relying on energy revenue. The kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, or PIF, announced on Monday that it raised $7bn through "Murabaha" loans supported by a syndicate of 20 international and regional financial institutions. Murabaha is a type of Islamic financing mechanism in which the interest on a loan is already built into the final price paid by the borrower to avoid the payment of interest, which is barred by Islamic law. Investment in sectors such as alcohol, pornography and gambling are prohibited.

  • US, Arab mediators make some progress in Gaza peace talks, no deal yet, sources say

    U.S. and Arab mediators have made some progress in their efforts to reach a ceasefire accord between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal, Palestinian sources close to the talks said on Thursday. As talks continued in Qatar, the Israeli military carried out strikes across the enclave, killing at least 17 people on Thursday, Palestinian medics said. The deaths brought to 70 the number of people killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to the territory's health ministry.

  • Saudi leadership offers condolences to Chinese president for earthquake victims

    King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed their condolences in separate messages to Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding the victims of the earthquake that hit Dingri County in the Xizang Region of southwest China. The Saudi leadership extended heartfelt condolences and sincere sympathy to the Chinese president and the families of those who died in the natural disaster, wishing a speedy recovery to the injured. On Tuesday, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit southwest China, leaving more than 120 people dead and over 100 injured.

  • Saudi Aramco and Sonatrach cut LPG prices for January

    Oil producer Saudi Aramco and Algeria's Sonatrach lowered January's official selling prices (OSPs) for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by between 1.6% and 6% from December because of weaker demand for the fuel, traders said on Thursday. Aramco's January OSP for propane decreased by $10 to $625 a metric ton while butane dropped by $15 to $615 a ton, the traders said. Propane and butane are types of LPG with different boiling points.

  • Saudi foreign reserve assets fall 3% to SAR 1.63T in December

    Saudi Arabia's foreign reserve assets declined by SAR 49.1 billion, or 3%, month-on-month (MoM) to SAR 1.63 trillion in December 2024, according to the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). Reserve assets include investments in foreign securities, foreign cash and deposits, reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), special drawing rights (SDRs), and monetary gold.

  • Saudi Oil Exports to China Set for February Decline

    According to a Reuters report citing unnamed trade sources, Saudi oil shipments to China next month would stand at 43.5 million barrels, which would be down from 46 million barrels this month. Aramco is seen reducing deliveries to CNOOC and PetroChina while boosting deliveries to Sinopec and Sinochem. Earlier this week, Aramco raised the price of its flagship crude grade, Arab Light, by $0.60 per barrel to a premium of $1.50 a barrel over the Oman/Dubai average, the benchmark off which Middle Eastern crude oil going to Asia is priced, a price list seen by Bloomberg showed on Monday.