North Africa

Libyan forces detain 10 Gaza land convoy activists at Sirte checkpoint

Activists from Spain, Poland, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, Portugal, Tunisia, and the USA attempted to cross a checkpoint at Sirte on their way to Gaza, but were allegedly arrested by security forces.

A convoy of jeeps of Israeli travellers drive across the Basalt lands in the Eastern desert of Jordan on November 23, 2018.
The Interpol logo

INTERPOL arrests 201 suspects in largest cybercrime operation to date

Military personnel stand guard on the day of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly's visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt, October 31, 2023.

Egypt-Israel peace accord strains as Sinai militarization grows - opinion

 A column of black smoke rises above buildings as traffic passes the Africa Tower monument in Bamako on April 26, 2026.

Africa's Mali crisis widens as extremist groups advance and state control erodes - analysis


Pascale’s Kitchen: Welcome to Mimouna!

Below, you will find four recipes for cookies that are perfect for serving at Mimouna celebrations. They include cookies made with marzipan, meringue, sesame and jam.

 Marzipan cookies

Six Israeli restaurants makes ‘Top 50’ in MENA region list

A handful of Israeli restaurants were chosen to be on the ranking of the top 50 restaurants in the MENA region.

 Raz Rahav of OCD restaurant and his kitchen crew

Moroccan boy trapped in well dies before rescue

Rayan Awram, aged five, fell into the well at his village of Ighara in the hills near Chefchaouen on Tuesday.

Rescue workers carry 5-year-old child, Rayan Awram, who has been trapped for five days in a well, to an ambulance, during a rescue operation near Chefchaouen, northern Morocco, February 5, 2022.

Case of American detained in Libya shines spotlight on North African country

Libya has become synonymous with the kind of chaos that some countries sunk into after the 2011 Arab Spring.

 Members of the Libyan internationally recognised government forces fire during a fight with Eastern forces in Ain Zara, Tripoli, Libya April 28, 2019.

Book review: Gorenberg demythologizes the ‘Desert Fox’

While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the central theme of this book, it is always lurking in the background because of the threat posed by Rommel and his military ambition.

War of Shadows. Codebreakers,  Spies, and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East Gershom Gorenberg Public Affairs, 2021 496 pages; $34

Ancient synagogue in Libya turned into Islamic center, Jewish group says

Libya once had about 40,000 Jews, who left following the establishment of the State of Israel.

Ancient synagogue mossaic

Arab countries that started off strong against pandemic struggle today

Hospitals in Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan packed far beyond capacity.

A man wears a protective face mask as he walks along the main market in downtown after the government eased the restrictions on movement aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus in Amman, Jordan

One historian saves North African Jewish musical heritage

Silver has amassed a collection of rare phonograph records from the era of Jewish musical stardom in North Africa, a period roughly corresponding with the first half of the twentieth century.

Jewish Music festival 2017

Remembering the the Jews of MENA on Holocaust Remembrance Day

On this Yom Ha’Shoah / International Holocaust Commemoration Day on January 27, we should contemplate what the fate of MENA Jewry would have been had German general Rommel won the Desert Campaign.

DESERT WANDERINGS: The Jewish Nation’s beginnings.

UNESCO announces couscous a world cultural heritage

This new prestigious status of couscous reflects the cultural cooperation and deep connection between the four countries that share its heritage: Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

Moroccan couscous soup with green fava beans