Arab World News

Hezbollah Unhappy with Political Negotiations with Israel but Unlikely to Confront the State

Arab World A joint patrol of UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese Army in the Marjayoun area near the border with Israel (AFP)

Hezbollah Unhappy with Political Negotiations with Israel but Unlikely to Confront the State

Hezbollah officials have avoided commenting on the Lebanese government’s decision to appoint former ambassador Simon Karam as head of the Lebanese delegation…

Paula Astih (Beirut)
Arab World Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Nabatieh area in May 2025 (Archive – EPA). 

Israel Meets Lebanon’s Diplomatic Overture with Strikes on the South

Israel on Thursday ended days of ambiguity over whether the recent “positive atmosphere” created by civilian negotiations with Lebanon might ease tensions…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World AFP visited Ahmed Kaabneh weeks before he was forced to flee his home in the al-Hathrura area. Menahem Kahana / AFP

'Land Without laws': Israeli Settlers Force Bedouins from West Bank Community

As relentless harassment from Israeli settlers drove his brothers from their Bedouin community in the central occupied West Bank, Ahmed Kaabneh remained…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World President of Syria's interim government Ahmed Al-Sharaa (C) attends a reception with the UN Security Council delegation at the presidential palace in Damascus, Syria, 04 December 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED AL RIFAI

Security Council Delegation in First Visit to Damascus Since 1945

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa received on Monday a UN Security Council delegation and several UN officials at the People’s Palace in Damascus. “Al…

Asharq Al Awsat (Damascus)
Arab World Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani beside Nouri al-Maliki during a religious event in Baghdad (Government Media)

Iraq ‘Mistakenly Lists’ Iran Allies as Terrorists, Unsettling Coordination Bloc

Iraq on Thursday stunned observers by abruptly adding Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi movement to a terrorism list that triggers immediate asset freezes, only to…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)

Arab World Sudanese displaced people who fled El-Fasher after the city fell to the Rapid Support Forces on 26 October (AFP)

Sudan's RSF Detains El-Fasher Survivors for Ransom

Witnesses, aid workers and researchers said the Rapid Support Forces, which surrounded El-Fasher in Darfur before capturing it in late October, have been…

Asharq Al Awsat (Chad)
Arab World (FILES) This undated handout photograph released on June 30, 2025, shows Christophe Gleizes, a prominent French sports journalist, at an unknown location. (Photo by Handout / SO PRESS - RSF / AFP)

‘Deeply Worried’ Macron to Work to Free French Journalist Held in Algeria

France’s President Emmanuel Macron will work toward the release of a French journalist in jail in Algeria “as soon as possible,” his office said Thursday, a…

Asharq Al Awsat (Paris)
Arab World The building damaged in the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha last September (Reuters)

New Hamas Security Measures amid Fears of Overseas Assassinations

Hamas is increasingly bracing for what it sees as a looming Israeli assassination attempt against senior figures operating outside Palestinian territory. …

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Arab World Yasser Abu Shabab (Social Media)

Sources to Asharq Al-Awsat: Tribal Clashes Behind Killing of Yasser Abu Shabab

Sources in Gaza said the killing of Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of an armed militia opposed to Hamas, unfolded against the backdrop of a tribal confrontation…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Arab World Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of al-Mjadel on December 4, 2025. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU / AFP)

Israel Strikes South Lebanon Towns

Israel's military said it struck targets in two southern Lebanese towns on Thursday after ordering the evacuation of two buildings it alleged were being used…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World A person holds a flag with an image of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, as people wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV, during his first apostolic journey, in Beirut, Lebanon, November 30, 2025. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

Iraq to Correct Asset-freeze List that Included Hezbollah and Houthis, Citing Publication Error

Iraq will correct a list of groups whose funding it has frozen, the state news agency reported on Thursday, after Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Houthis were…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A circulated photo shows part of the destruction caused by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drones in the city of El-Obeid in the Kordofan region. 

After Oil-Rich Babanusa, What Will the Rapid Support Forces Target Next?

After more than two years of intense fighting, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced on Monday that they had seized full control of the Sudanese Army’s 22nd…

Mohammad Amin Yassin (Nairobi)
Arab World Palestinian children warm their hands over the fire on a rainy day in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, November 25, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Xi Says China to Provide $100 Million Humanitarian Aid for Gaza

China will provide $100 million in aid to the Palestinians to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and support reconstruction efforts, President Xi…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Members of the Yemeni Coast Guard in the Red Sea (Military Media). 

International Committee Launched to Oversee Maritime Security Partnership with Yemen

Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union, Germany, and Japan have announced the formation of a Steering Committee to guide the…

Asharq Al Awsat (Aden)
Arab World A vehicle carrying the remains of a person whom Hamas claims is a deceased hostage, transferred earlier today by Hamas to Israeli authorities, arrives at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israel Identifies Body of Returned Hostage, Remains of Israeli Officer Still in Gaza

Israel has identified the remains of the hostage it received from Hamas on Wednesday as Thai agricultural worker Sudthisak Rinthalak, the prime minister's…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the Nasrec Expo Center in Johannesburg on November 21, 2025, ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit. (Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA / AFP)

UN Chief Guterres Says Israel's Conduct of War in Gaza 'Fundamentally Wrong'

There was something "fundamentally wrong" with how Israel conducted its military operation in the Gaza Strip and there are "strong reasons to believe" that war…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Banners marking the liberation and the fall of Assad’s regime in Damascus streets (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Syria Tightens Security Ahead of First Liberation Anniversary

A charged and fast-moving atmosphere is taking hold across Syria in the days leading up to the first anniversary of the liberation of Damascus from Bashar al…

Souad Jarous (Damascus)

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Arab World A UNIFIL military vehicle bearing the United Nations emblem moves ahead of a Lebanese army car during a joint patrol (UNIFIL)

Karam Steers South Lebanon into New Phase as Mechanism Chief

South Lebanon is bracing for a new political stage after President Joseph Aoun appointed former ambassador to the United States, attorney Simon Karam, to head…

Mohamed Choucair (Beirut)
Arab World A UNIFIL patrol near the Israeli border in Naqoura, southern Lebanon (AFP)

Lebanon Appoints Civilian for Israel Talks to Avert Escalation

Lebanon on Wednesday made its most significant shift in the way it negotiates with Israel by assigning a civilian to lead indirect talks for the first time…

Nazir Reda (Beirut)
Arab World (FILES) A truck loaded with humanitarian aid awaits permission on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip, to drive toward the besieged Palestinians territory on July 27, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Egypt Denies Coordinating with Israel to Reopen Rafah Crossing

Egypt's State Information Service denied on Wednesday that the country is coordinating with Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing for Gazans in coming days, al…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World  Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam speaks to journalists at the government headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, December 3, 2025. (Reuters)

Lebanon PM Says Truce Monitor Negotiations with Israel Not Peace Talks

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Wednesday said new negotiations with Israel taking place under the auspices of a ceasefire monitoring mechanism were not…

Arab World  An aerial view shows Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdish region, on December 13, 2021. (AFP)

US Opens New Mega Consulate in Iraq's Kurdistan

The United States inaugurated a new mega consulate on Wednesday in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. The US has had a…

Arab World People walk amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Nuseirat camp for displaced Palestinians, in the central Gaza Strip on December 2, 2025. (AFP)

Netanyahu’s Coalition Skips Parliamentary Vote Backing Trump’s Gaza Plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition skipped a parliamentary vote on Wednesday endorsing US President Donald Trump's plan to end the…

Arab World Israeli soldiers operate in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights near the border with Syria, December 28, 2023. REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu/ File Photo

General Assembly Adopts Resolution Asking Israel to Withdraw from Golan

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights. The resolution, titled “The Syrian Golan,” was…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World People stand in front of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing during the first hours of a four-day truce in the battles between Israel and Hamas on November 24, 2023. (AFP)

Rafah Crossing to Open Soon to Let Gazans Cross into Egypt, Israel Says 

Gaza's main gateway will open in the next few days, Israel said on Wednesday, allowing thousands of Palestinians who are in need of medical care to leave the…

Arab World FILE PHOTO: Hezbollah supporters hold images of late former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and current leader Naim Qassem at a ceremony held by Hezbollah to commemorate the first anniversary of Hassan Nasrallah's killing by Israel, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, September 27, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Syria Says Killed Man Caught with Landmines Intended for Hezbollah

Syrian authorities said on Wednesday they had killed a man and arrested four others who were attempting to smuggle hundreds of landmines to Lebanon's Hezbollah…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Israel said it will send a representative to meet officials in Lebanon in a bid to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation. (AFP file)

Lebanon, Israel Send Civilian Envoys to Ceasefire Committee for Expanded Talks

Israel and Lebanon sent civilian envoys to a military committee monitoring their ceasefire, top officials from both said on Wednesday, in a move set to expand…

Arab World A displaced Palestinian child stands atop the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza (AFP)

Egypt in Talks with US to Co-chair Gaza Reconstruction Conference

Egypt is in talks with Washington to co-chair an international conference on “early recovery and reconstruction” in the Gaza Strip. The diplomatic push…

Mohamed Mahmoud (Cairo)
Arab World A vehicle carrying the remains of a person whom Hamas claims is a deceased hostage, transferred earlier today by Gaza militants to Israeli authorities, arrives at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP)

Israel Says Received Presumed Remains of Gaza Hostage

Israel announced Wednesday it had received hostage remains found in Gaza from the Red Cross, which were being transported to the morgue for identification. …