Regions

A drone strike hit Egypt’s Damietta Port on July 29, setting fire to the U.S.-owned Energos Winter floating storage and regasification unit and the nearby GasLog Salem. Security sources examining the wreckage say at least two drones were involved, penetrating several layers of Egypt’s air defenses in the process. No one was injured.

In my trip to Europe last month, I complained a lot about the heatwave I experienced in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. No AC in many places, even in some of the famed establishments. But where I was born and raised, North Africa, the region is living through one of its harshest summers in recent memory. A strong high-pressure system has trapped hot air across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya for weeks, and the consequences have moved well past uncomfortable weather. Power grids are buckling under demand, wildfires are burning across northern Algeria at a pace authorities have rarely recorded, and households and small businesses are absorbing the cost in spoiled food, lost income, and disrupted daily life.

As June 2026 begins, the Middle East finds itself trapped in an increasingly chaotic cycle of military escalation, regional confrontation, and political instability. None of the protagonists appears to control the events.