MUST-READS

• As Yemen’s war intensifies, an opening for al-Qaeda to resurrect its fortunes

  Over the past decade, al-Qaeda has bounced back a few times, regaining territory and recruits by taking advantage of security vacuums arising from the conflicts among Yemen’s myriad warring factions. Now, after a relative lull in the war, fighting is intensifying in at least four provinces, including in or near areas where both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have a presence or support from local tribes.

• Jamming, precision artillery and long range drone strikes on Libyan battlefield offer lessons learned for US military

  Battles with characteristics of near-peer combat are raging in Africa — especially in Libya, where high-tech precision strike weapons are flooding the battlefield. And at a time when the U.S. is considering drawing down troops, the conflict in Libya is providing Pentagon planners with an opportunity to better prepare for any future conflict with China or Russia.

• Netanyahu announces new settlements days before Israeli election

  Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will move ahead with a highly controversial plan to build settlements east of Jerusalem, in an apparent offering to hardline nationalist voters less than a week before a general election. Israel’s prime minister said he would reopen the long-dormant project to build 3,500 homes for Jewish settlers in one of the most sensitive areas of the occupied West Bank.

• American Airlines and Qatar Airways heal rift, renew code-share plans

  “The issues that led to the suspension of our partnership two years ago have been addressed,” American’s Chairman and CEO Doug Parker said in a statement. “We believe resuming our codeshare agreement will allow us to provide service to markets that our customers, team members and shareholders value, including new growth opportunities for American Airlines.”

• Libya conflict: Turkey confirms first soldiers killed

  Two Turkish soldiers have been killed in Libya, the first casualties the nation has confirmed since it sent troops to the oil-rich state. "We have two martyrs in Libya," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, without giving further details. Last month, Turkey sent soldiers and Syrian fighters to Libya to bolster the UN-backed government in Tripoli.

  • AP - Losses from Libya's oil shutdown surpass $2 billion
• Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak is dead at 91

  Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled as president in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising after 30 years of authoritarian rule, died Tuesday, state television said. He was 91 and had been hospitalized for several weeks. Mubarak spent six years in jail following the protests, but was released in 2017 by Egypt’s highest appeals court, which cleared the majority of charges against him, including inciting the killing of nearly 900 protesters. He was initially sentenced to life in prison in 2012, but an appeals court dismissed that sentence in 2014.

• Saudi Crown Prince directs 400km of road development in Riyadh

  The Crown Prince’s directives are also in line with development projects that aim to address the city’s increasing population growth and boost the city’s economic, urban, environmental, cultural, and tourism status.

• IHS Markit and Tadawul launch Saudi government Sukuk index

  The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) has partnered with IHS Markit for the launch of an index tracking the performance of Arabic government bonds named Sukuks. A Sukuk is similar to a western government bond but complies with Islamic Sharia laws.

• Bystander captures locust swarms coating the skies of Saudi Arabia

  A bystander in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, captured the moment when swarms of locusts coated the sky above him on Feb. 21. According to National Geographic, locusts are sometimes solitary insects with lifestyles much like grasshoppers. But they have a behavioral stage called the gregarious phase, where they can congregate into thick, mobile, ravenous swarms when environmental conditions produce many green plants and promote breeding. Watch the rare congregation above.

• Laser or erosion? Find out what caused the perfect split in Saudi Arabia’s Al Naslaa rock

  Deep in the Tayma Oasis in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk province lies a 4,000-year-old rock formation with an unusual feature: It is split down the middle by a straight cut with the precision of a laser beam.

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