From Riyadh to Taiz, it has been a week of tragedy. While Saudi Arabia faces a wave of deadly attacks by the Houthis, hundreds of thousands of people in the southern Yemeni city are largely cut off from food and fuel.

The fighting continues to intensify between the rebel group and Yemeni government forces, but the most recent attacks on Saudi targets, both inside and outside the country, have tested the kingdom’s patience.

At least 13 people were killed and hundreds injured in a missile strike on Riyadh’s international airport over the weekend. Since then, the Houthis have continued to target airports and oil facilities across the kingdom, as well as the headquarters of Saudi Aramco.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher examines the security options Saudi Arabia could consider in the wake of the most recent escalation, and asks how the country can find a way out without being drawn into a wider war.

She speaks to Nawaf Obaid, senior research fellow at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, and to Mahdi Ghuloom, geopolitics researcher at the Observer Research Foundation Middle East.

When the Gaza ceasefire came into effect a year ago, Palestinians in the enclave hoped that they could start rebuilding their lives.

The truce came in the form of a 20-point plan which specified that aid would enter at scale and the strip would be “redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza”.

It also said there would be a demilitarisation process and gradual Israeli withdrawal.

While the ceasefire brought much-needed respite after two years of full-scale war, many of the terms of the agreement have stalled, leaving 1.9 million people still displaced. Meanwhile, in the past year, about 1,400 people in Gaza have been killed and Israel has occupied more territory.

Humanitarian workers say food, medical supplies, shelters and other lifesaving aid are not being allowed to enter at the capacity needed.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at what, if anything, has changed for residents in the strip a year since the ceasefire.

We hear from Nesma Al-Sallaq. Gaza shelter co-ordinator at the Norwegian Refugee Council, and political analyst Omar Rahman, fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.

The US withdrawal from Iraq this week marked a major milestone, as its anti-ISIS mission officially came to an end.

The government in Baghdad called it Sovereignty Day. More than 20 years since the American invasion of Iraq and 12 years since the start of the US-led coalition against ISIS, the departure was widely celebrated by Iraqis.

But it also comes at a challenging time for the country and the region. The US-Iran war has turned Iraq into a key battleground for competing influences, making it the only country to be attacked from both sides.

Iran-backed militias in Iraq were supposed to disarm by the same deadline as the US withdrawal, but this has been postponed until June 2027. The delay and the withdrawal are being portrayed by Iran and its axis as a victory.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher asks, what will the US exit change for Iraq and what will it mean for American and Iranian influence in the region? She speaks to Iraqi political analyst Sajad Jiyad and The National’s deputy foreign editor Aveen Karim.

The number of people forced from their homes by war, violence and persecution continues to grow, while the international system created to protect them is under increasing strain.

On the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, The National’s Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi speaks to Barham Salih, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and former president of Iraq, about the mounting pressures on the global refugee system.

Mr Salih says protecting those forced to flee is not only a humanitarian and legal responsibility, but also a matter of national interest. With conflicts lasting longer and displacement increasing, he argues that the international community cannot afford to look away.

In this special episode of Beyond the Headlines, they discuss shrinking humanitarian funding, the strain on the asylum system, and the worsening crises in Yemen and Sudan. They also look at what Syria and Iraq can teach the region about displacement and returning to rebuild lives after conflict.

An escalation of attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and the group’s seizure of Yemen’s western coast, comes at a critical time in the region.

The rapid advance in a matter of days has given the group unprecedented access to the Bab Al Mandeb strait, a global maritime chokepoint, while displacing at least 125,000 civilians.

Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz, another critical route for international energy supplies, remains effectively closed because of the war between the US and Iran.

The violence in the two waterways has disrupted the flow of oil, goods and aid.

The fighting only intensified over the past week as the Iran-backed group attacked Saudi targets, including the holy city of Makkah, while the East-West pipeline was struck from Iraq.

In Yemen, pro-government forces have suffered major losses.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks into how the Houthis' capacity to fight has grown enough for them to make such sweeping gains so quickly and whether the confrontation will escalate further before it dies down.

She speaks to Baraa Shiban, political analyst on Yemen at the Royal United Services Institute, and to Gulf expert Cinzia Bianco, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The UK’s decision to ban imports from illegal Israeli settlements, and impose sanctions on entities that are used to build them, has put new pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as the occupied West Bank faces unprecedented land grabs.

It has been more than two years since the International Court of Justice issued its advisory opinion stating that all states are under an obligation not to recognise Israel's decades-long occupation.

The court also obliged Israel to stop building settlements, which are illegal under international law.

Israel began its settlement project when it occupied Palestinian territory in 1967. It has continued expanding under every successive government, and at an accelerated pace since October 7, 2023.

But one project in particular has rung alarm bells. The Israeli government has issued a tender to build 1,200 housing units as part of the E1 settlement. This development would cut the West Bank in half, making the prospect of a Palestinian state unviable.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Mairav Zonszein, senior analyst on Israel at the International Crisis Group. They discuss what the new UK-led measures will change on the ground and whether they will have any bearing on Israel's actions.

When the US announced it was imposing new sanctions on Iran late last month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the aim was to sever every economic lifeline “until Tehran stands alone”.

The burden will also fall on Iran-backed groups across the region. For Hezbollah in Lebanon, the sanctions deal yet another blow after its war with Israel, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the fallout from the US-Iran conflict.

Before the war, Iran’s funding to Hezbollah was about $700 million a year, according to the US State Department. Now, Washington has designated Hezbollah a terrorist group under Iranian control as part of its economic-pressure campaign.

But the consequences could be felt by some southern Lebanese communities that depend on the group for their livelihoods and for reconstruction support after ruinous the conflict.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher asks whether Hezbollah can survive if it loses its Iranian financing and what this means for Lebanon as a whole. She speaks to Randa Slim, director of the Middle East programme at the Stimson Centre.

Israel has been attacking parts of Syria since the fall of the Assad regime and carrying out incursions into the country’s south under the pretext of targeting weapons of the former government.

But its attack last week on the Abu Al Duhur military airfield in the northern governorate of Idlib was different, apparently directed at Turkey as tensions rise between the two countries.

Israeli officials accused Turkey of stationing troops at the airbase, an allegation both Syria and Turkey dismissed.

US special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Ankara Tom Barrack called the strikes unnecessary and deeply concerning. The escalation comes at a time when President Ahmad Al Shara’s government is seeking stability with its neighbours, with Washington’s support.

Stalled talks between Israel and Syria picked up again in Jordan this week as the US pushed to defuse tension. But with Turkey and Israel seeking to secure their influence in a post-Assad Syria, challenges remain.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher discusses the motives driving this showdown between two major regional powers. She speaks to Noah Bonsey, senior adviser on Syria at the International Crisis Group, and Danny Citrinowicz, senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies.