Lebanon is drawing up a controversial plan to deport thousands of Syrian refugees every month. The country is in the midst of an economic meltdown and its government says it can no longer host more than 1 million Syrians. NGOs, though, say forced deportations are illegal and that Syria is not safe for returnees. Our Beirut correspondent Serge Berberi went to meet some refugees who are weighing up the prospects of going back.

Israeli authorities are pushing to impose new restrictions on foreigners who wish to visit or live in the West Bank. Human rights groups say the measures will have serious consequences for thousands of people who are married to or in relationships with Palestinians. The regulations, which were due to come into effect this week, have now been amended and their implementation delayed until October after being challenged in the courts. For more, we hear from one of the NGOs that took up the case: Jessica Montell, executive director of the Israeli NGO HaMoked.

Vladimir Putin works his Middle East connections. For his first international outing since the war in Ukraine, he went to Iran to meet with supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Iran and Russia are seeking closer ties in the face of Western sanctions. Also on the agenda: negotiations over blockaded imports of Ukrainian grain and the situation in Syria.

During his campaign for the US presidency, Joe Biden described Saudi Arabia as a 'pariah state' in the aftermath of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But since taking office, Biden's language has changed. This week, he is making his first trip to the oil-rich kingdom as president, as global energy prices soar in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To discuss the trip (which also includes Jordan and Israel), we talk to Middle East expert and former CIA officer Douglas London, who is adjunct associate professor at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University.

Smuggling is a huge part of the Iranian economy.  All kinds of products change hands illegally in Iran, from contraband items like alcohol and satellite dishes, to washing machines, phones and car parts. However, little is known about these people who operate in the shadows. We're joined by Ershad Alijani from the FRANCE 24 Observers, who presents a special report on the issue.

Every year, some 10,000 low-paid migrant labourers return home to southeast Asia from the Gulf in body bags. Half of these deaths are unexplained, and with no labour laws in place — nor any will from home nations to investigate — the cycle of exploitation continues unabated. These figures are estimates published in a report from the NGO FairSquare. As summer begins, more and more of these vulnerable workers are succumbing to heat-related illnesses. For more, we speak to Nicholas McGeehan, Director of FairSquare Research and Projects.

The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Turkey are turning the page on years of strained relations, exacerbated by the 2018 assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. Face-to-face dialogue is the order of the day between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ahead of bin Salman's visit to Ankara this week, Saudi Arabia ended a travel ban on Turkey, opening the door once again to tourism and investment. To understand what's at stake, we speak to researcher Dorothée Schmid from French think tank IFRI.

This week, Iraq was plunged into more political uncertainty. Lawmakers from the parliamentary bloc of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr resigned en masse at their leader's request. The Sadrist bloc is the largest in parliament and since an election last October, parties have been unable to form a government. The move aims to up pressure in a bid to end the country's political paralysis. We take a closer look.

An ongoing maritime dispute between Lebanon and Israel has re-entered the spotlight after a production vessel docked in an offshore gas field on Sunday. The Lebanese claim the ship is in disputed territorial waters, but the Israelis refute this. Both countries have yet to agree on maritime demarcation lines and have called on the US to mediate new talks. For more analysis, we speak to oil and gas policy expert Laury Haytayan, who is MENA Senior Officer at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).

Israel has signed a free trade deal with the United Arab Emirates – its first with an Arab country. The historic pact builds on the normalisation of ties in 2020 and eliminates tariffs on 96 percent of goods. It aims to bring growth and lower prices to both countries. We take a closer look.