Which MENA countries still change their clocks as daylight saving ends?

As many parts of the world prepare to return to standard time, the Middle East and North Africa remain divided. While a few countries will turn clocks back this weekend, most now keep a fixed time all year.

Only Egypt, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories still make the autumn switch from summer to winter time. Egypt's 2025 schedule runs from 25 April to 31 October, after the government reinstated daylight saving time two years ago to reduce electricity use during the hottest months.

Lebanon began summer time on 30 March and will end it on 26 October, in line with most European countries, while the occupied Palestinian territories will do so a day earlier, on 25 October.

For Lebanon, time changes have occasionally caused political drama. In 2023, the government announced a last-minute delay to the clock change, citing religious reasons in a move that split the country into two time zones for several days until officials were forced to reverse it. Since then, Beirut has stuck to a fixed annual schedule.

Across most of the region, however, clocks will stay put. Jordan, Syria, and Turkey all adopted permanent daylight saving time in recent years and remain on UTC+3 throughout the year. Officials in these countries argue that keeping a single time zone avoids confusion and provides longer daylight hours without the disruption of biannual changes.

In the Gulf, daylight saving time has never been used. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman all maintain fixed time zones year-round, citing stable daylight hours and limited benefit from seasonal shifts. Iraq and Yemen also keep a constant schedule.

Iran, meanwhile, abolished daylight saving time in 2022 and remains on UTC+3:30 all year - one of the few countries in the world to use a half-hour offset.

Morocco follows a hybrid system. It keeps daylight saving time (UTC+1) for most of the year but pauses it during Ramadan to shorten fasting hours. After Eid, the country moves clocks forward again and stays on summer time through autumn.

For most residents, these variations affect little beyond travel, work calls, and television schedules. But for governments, timekeeping reflects practical and political choices, whether to follow global patterns, save energy, or simply avoid the complications of changing clocks twice a year.

This weekend, as countries across Europe and a handful in the Middle East return to standard time, most of the MENA region will stay exactly where it is.