Arab World News

Austria to Unblock Funds for UN Palestinian Relief Organization

Arab World Youths gather with jerrycans to fill up water from a tanker truck in the yard of a school of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), housing Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian territory on May 14, 2024. (AFP)

Austria to Unblock Funds for UN Palestinian Relief Organization

Austria will release funds to the UN's Palestinian relief organization UNRWA that were blocked after allegations agency staff were involved in the Oct. 7…

Arab World Hundreds of Tunisia lawyers and activists from civil society organizations take part in a protest against the decline in freedoms (EPA)

UN Denounces 'Intimidation and Harassment' of Lawyers in Tunisia

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) condemned on Friday the recent intimidation and harassment of lawyers in Tunisia after authorities launched a…

Asharq Al Awsat (Geneva)
Arab World A Jordanian army patrol is deployed at the border with Syria to prevent drug smuggling, April 2023. (AFP)

Jordan Foils Major Drug Smuggling Attempt from Syria

The Jordanian army announced on Friday that it thwarted a major drug smuggling operation from Syria. In a statement, it said two smugglers were killed and…

Arab World Black smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Kafar Hamam, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon, Friday, May 17, 2024. (AP)

Israeli Strikes Kill at Least Five in Lebanon Including Two Children

Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon killed at least five people on Friday including two children, security sources and UNICEF said. Israel and…

Arab World File photo: Security forces secure a location after an ISIS attack in Kirkuk, Iraq. Reuters

Iraq's Kurdish Regional Security Council Announces Arrest of Top Aide of Former ISIS Leader

The Kurdish Regional Security Council announced in a statement on Friday that it captured a senior ISIS figure, Socrates Khalil. Khalil was known to be a…

Asharq Al Awsat

Arab World Palestinians walk through destruction in Gaza City on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, as the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect. (AP)

UK's Cameron Says Attacks on Gaza Aid Convoys 'Appalling'

British foreign minister David Cameron said on Tuesday attacks on aid convoys headed for Gaza were "appalling" and that Israel must hold those responsible to…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Photo by SPA

KSrelief's Masam Project Helps Clear 935 Mines in Yemen in a Week

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center's (KSrelief) Masam Project, dedicated to clearing mines in Yemen, dismantled 935 mines in various regions…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)

Nothing Wrong with Gaza Death Toll Figures, WHO Says 

The World Health Organization voiced full confidence in Gaza Ministry of Health death toll figures on Tuesday, saying they were actually getting closer to…

Arab World Egyptian army soldiers at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza at the beginning of May (German News Agency)

Egyptian Military Officials Cancel Meetings with Israeli Counterparts

Egyptian military officials canceled scheduled meetings with their Israeli counterparts, without previous notice, an Israeli source told the Israeli i24…

Kifah Zboun (Ramallah)
Arab World Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP)

UNRWA: More Than Half a Million People Flee Fighting in Rafah, Northern Gaza 

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said nearly 450,000 people have fled from Gaza’s southern city of Rafah since Israel launched an incursion there last…

Arab World  A picture shows Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system launching to intercept rockets being fired from Lebanon, next to the northern Israel city of Kiryat Shmona, near the near the Lebanon border on May 10, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Lebanon: Israeli Airstrike on Southern Town Causes 'Massive' Damages

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said on Tuesday that an Israeli airstrike on the southern town of Kfar Kila has caused “massive damages”. NNA said…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A Palestinian boy looks out his tent in a Rafah displacement camp in the southern Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas group. (AFP)

Talks Over Gaza Ceasefire at Stalemate After Rafah Operation, Qatar PM Says 

Talks over a ceasefire in Gaza have reached a stalemate due to Israel's operations in Rafah, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani…

Arab World A logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pictured in Geneva, Switzerland March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

Red Cross Sets Up Rafah Emergency Field Hospital

The International Red Cross and partners are opening a field hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday to try to meet what it described as "overwhelming" demand for…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to go back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Amnesty International Says Syria Still Not Safe for Returnees to Go Back To

Amnesty International said that Lebanon’s decision to resume the “voluntary return” of Syrian refugees to their homeland is “worrying” in light of the…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 13: Members of the United Nations Security Council listen as Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs Ambassador Robert Wood speaks during a meeting on the war in Gaza on at the United Nations headquarters May 13, 2024 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP

US Calls on Iran to Halt Weapons Transfers to Yemen's Houthis

The United States called on Iran on Monday to halt its transfer of an “unprecedented” amount of weaponry to Yemen’s Houthi militias, enabling their fighters to…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A Syrian refugee camp in the Lebanese town of Arsal in the eastern Bekaa region. (AP)

Lebanon Resumes Trips for Syrian Refugees’ Voluntary Return to Their Country

Lebanon will resume on Tuesday trips for Syrian refugees who have volunteered to return to their country. The General Security directorate will operate two…

Hussein Darwish (Baalbek (eastern Lebanon) )
Arab World Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech via a screen during a rally, in a suburb outside Beirut, Lebanon, 13 May 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

Hezbollah Head: Displaced Israeli Northerners Will Not Return Home if Gaza War Persists

The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Monday that residents of northern Israel would not be able to return home for the start of the next…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World FILE - Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

Palestinians Mark 76 Years of Dispossession as a Potentially Even Larger Catastrophe Unfolds in Gaza

Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg delivers his briefing before the UN Security Council on Monday. (AFP)

UN Yemen Envoy Worried About Threats to Return to War, Houthi Rhetoric towards Marib

United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg renewed on Monday his fear about threats to return to war, also expressing his concern about the Iran…

Ali Rabih (Aden) Ali Barada (Washington)
Arab World A member of the Iraqi security forces. AFP

Five Iraqi Soldiers Killed in ISIS Attack

An Iraqi commanding officer and four soldiers were killed and five others injured on Monday in an attack by suspected ISIS militants on an army post in eastern…

Asharq Al Awsat (Baghdad)
Arab World Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)

White House Sees No Genocide in Gaza, Condemns Aid Convoy Attacks 

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that President Joe Biden's administration does not view the killings of Palestinians in Gaza by…

Arab World A damaged trailer truck that was carrying humanitarian aid supplies is pictured along the Israeli side of Israel's controversial separation barrier with the West Bank near the village of Shekef on May 13, 2024, after it was vandalized by right-wing Israeli activists to protest against aid being sent to the Gaza Strip. (AFP)

Israeli Protesters Block Aid Convoy Headed to Gaza

Israeli protesters blocked aid trucks headed for Gaza on Monday, strewing food packages on the road in the latest in a series of incidents that have come as…

Arab World Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi. (Reuters)

Lebanon: Rahi Says EU Exploiting Syrian Refugee Crisis for Political Ends

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi accused the European Union of exploiting the crisis of Syrian refugees in Lebanon for political ends. Rahi has…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World 12 May 2024, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Tents for displaced people are crowded west of Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip after thousands of Palestinians fled Rafah after the Israeli army announced the start of a military operation there. Photo: Saher Alghorra/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Misery Deepens in Gaza’s Rafah as Israeli Troops Press Operation

Aid workers are struggling to distribute dwindling food and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by what Israel says is a limited…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al-Shammari welcomes his Syrian counterpart, Muhammad Khaled Al-Rahmoun in Baghdad (Iraqi Interior Ministry)

Iraq and Syria Sign Memorandum for Security Cooperation

Iraq and Syria inked on Sunday a memorandum of understanding for security cooperation in various areas, including combating terrorism. “The agreement included…

Fadhel al-Nashmi (Baghdad)
Arab World FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a press conference during his visit, in Baghdad, Iraq April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani/Pool/File Photo

Türkiye Erdogan Says US, Europe Not Doing Enough to Pressure Israel into Gaza Truce

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the United States and European countries were not doing enough to pressure Israel to agree to a ceasefire…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)

At Least 27 Killed in Renewed Clashes in Sudan's Al-Fasher 

Clashes reignited between the Sudanese army and rival paramilitaries in recent days in the key Darfur town of al-Fasher, the United Nations said Sunday,…

Arab World Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Herzi Halevi attends a wreath-laying ceremony marking Israel's national Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, in Jerusalem, 06 May 2024. (EPA)

Israel’s Army Chief Says ‘Fully Responsible’ for Oct 7 Attack 

Israel’s army chief Herzi Halevi said on Sunday he was "fully responsible" for what happened on October 7 when Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on…

Arab World  Palestinian women shop at a roadside stand near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 3, 2024. (Reuters)

Palestinian Public Sector Salaries Squeezed as Israel Withholds Tax Revenue

The Palestinian Authority said on Sunday the Israeli finance ministry was continuing to withhold tax revenues and as a result only a part of public sector…