MUST-READS

• Saudi - Pakistan
  The Dangerous, Delicate Saudi-Pakistan Alliance

  Sharif’s moral support for the Saudis is clear. And he has tilted his country toward the regional Saudi-led Sunni bloc. But the costs for direct involvement are greater for Pakistan than for any other coalition member. Pakistan shares a 565-mile-long border with Iran and relations between the two countries have long been rocky. If Iran starts to view Pakistan as an active adversary, it has many opportunities to cause trouble across the border that Sharif cannot afford.

• Anti-ISIS Campaign: Foreign Fighters
  UN says ‘25,000 foreign fighters’ joined Islamist militants

  More than 25,000 foreign fighters from 100 nations have travelled to join militant groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS), a UN report says.

  • NYT (paywall) - Activist Links More Than 26,000 Twitter Accounts to ISIS
• Anti-ISIS Campaign: Tikrit
  In Tikrit, a celebratory mood but lingering concerns

  Although the government’s declaration that Tikrit was completely liberated may be somewhat premature — with Islamic State militants still holed up and fighting in neighborhoods to the north — the advances are considerable. On a two-mile journey across Tikrit, from the western side to the sprawling palace complex on the Tigris River, there were no signs of resistance in the wake of the Iraqi forces’ ground offensive.

  • CNN - ISIS' legacy in Tikrit: booby traps, IEDs and fear
  • Washington Post - Iraq’s former leader still looms large months after his ouster
  • Al-Arabiya - Looting in Iraq’s Tikrit after city retaken
• Saudi Energy Policy
  Saudi Influence On Oil Markets Slipping?

  “This is the type of change we expect to see as a state moves to a more advanced stage of development,” Jim Krane, the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute, told Rice’s Office of Public Affairs.

  • Seeking Alpha - Crude Oil: The Fundamental Bottom Is In
  • WSJ (paywall) - Why $30 a Barrel Oil Is Unlikely
  • Forbes - Busting The Myth Of Oil Storage Hitting 'Tank Tops'
• Iran Negotiations
  Double overtime: Faltering Iran nuclear talks extended again

  With even a vague outline of an Iran nuclear deal eluding their grasp, negotiators went into double overtime Wednesday night and Thursday morning in a marathon attempt to find common ground for a more important task — forging a final deal by the end of June.

  • Stratfor - Opinion: In the Iran Talks, Does a Missed Deadline Matter?
  • Guardian - Nuclear talks negotiators meet again as Iran hints at flexibility over sanctions
  • Washington Post - Why Obama chose the Iran talks to take one of his presidency’s biggest risks
  • Reuters - Ancient battle on UN Security Council 'trigger' bogs down Iran talks
• Yemen
  Saudi Arabia and Yemen: The test for a new monarch

  SAUDI ARABIA’S recently enthroned King Salman pulled off a striking diplomatic coup last month when he gathered a ten-country coalition of Sunni states to bomb the upstart Shia rebels in Yemen known as Houthis. Even Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, rivals in regional politics, put aside their differences to confront a perceived Iranian proxy. Egypt sent planes and ships. Countries as far apart as Morocco and Pakistan pledged help, too.

  • Arab News - Decisive Storm: US stepping up logistics support
  • CBS News - Amid Yemen chaos, al Qaeda stages prison break
  • BBC News - Yemen crisis: Where does Saudi offensive go next?
  • AP - Analysis: Yemen ground operation carries major risks
  • Reuters - Unidentified troops land in Aden after Houthis seize centre
• Saudi-Egypt
  Saudis Warm to Muslim Brotherhood, Seeking Sunni Unity on Yemen

  Ever since the Arab Spring began four years ago, Saudi Arabia waged a two-front campaign against its Shiite nemesis Iran, and against the Sunni Islamists—led by the Muslim Brotherhood—whose rise across the region had challenged the kingdom’s legitimacy.

• Debt
  Sfakianakis: First Saudi Sovereign Debt Since ’07 Seen This Year as Oil Bites

  Saudi Arabia may issue sovereign debt for the first time since 2007 this year after oil’s decline sent its cash reserves plunging, according to Ashmore Group Plc.

• Sandstorm
  Riyadh schools forced to close due to severe sandstorm

  All schools in the Riyadh region, including the ones run by expat communities, will remain closed Thursday.

  • Gulf Business - Video, Pictures: Sandstorm In UAE, Saudi Arabia
  • Emirates 24/7 - Sandstorm forces Qatar, Saudi to shut schools; what's UAE's status?
• Rail
  GCC rail progress full steam ahead

  Detailed engineering and design for the next sections of the 2177km Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) rail network will be completed this year, said Ramiz Al-Assar, senior transport specialist for the Middle East and North Africa with the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Department.

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