Fool extremely awkard Middle East ruler (5)
I believe the answer is:
assad
'middle east ruler' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'fool extremely awkard' is the wordplay.
'fool' becomes 'ass' (both can mean a stupid person).
'extremely' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (only the extremes of the word are used).
'awkard' with its centre taken out is 'ad'.
'ass'+'ad'='ASSAD'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for assad that I've seen is " Arab leader".)