Arab World News

Israel’s Death Penalty Law Perpetuates Racial Discrimination, Says UN Watchdog

Arab World Protesters hold placards outside the Red Cross offices in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on March 31, 2026, during a rally against a bill approved by Israel's parliament that would allow the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks. (AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s Death Penalty Law Perpetuates Racial Discrimination, Says UN Watchdog

Israel's new death penalty law permitting the execution of Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks perpetuates racial discrimination against them, a United…

Arab World Protesters hold Palestinian flags during a demonstration to condemn the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla by the Israeli army, in Turin on April 30, 2026. (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP)

Israeli Authorities Taking 2 Activists Who Led a Gaza-Bound Flotilla to Israel for Questioning

Israeli authorities say they are taking two activists who led an aid flotilla bound for Gaza — and who were captured by Israel in international waters of the…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World This handout photograph taken and released by the Iraqi Prime Minister's Press Office on April 28, 2026 shows new prime minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi talking on the phone at his office in Baghdad. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office /AFP)

Trump Congratulates Zaidi on His Nomination to Be Next Iraqi Prime Minister

US President Donald Trump congratulated Ali al-Zaidi on his nomination to be next prime minister of Iraq on Thursday, saying that he looked forward to a highly…

Arab World  A man passes on his scooter in front of a destroyed building that was hit few weeks ago by an Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP)

Israel Responds to Lebanon’s De-Escalation Demand with More Pressure, Attacks

Israel responded on Thursday to Lebanon’s demands for de-escalation with more evacuation warnings for southern towns that will increase internal pressure on…

Nazeer Rida (Beirut)
Arab World The head of Syria's committee for combating illicit enrichment, Basel Al-Suwaidan (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Syrian Authorities Hold Onto Campaign to Root Out Illegal Enrichment

The head of Syria's committee for combating illicit enrichment, Basel Al-Suwaidan, has revealed that settlements reached with prominent businessmen accused of…

Muwafaq Mohammed (Damascus)

Arab World Lebanese President Joseph Aoun receives MP Melhem Riachi (Lebanese Presidency)

Officials Exert Efforts to Unify Lebanon’s Stance on Negotiations with Israel

Efforts are underway to unify Lebanon’s position on negotiations with Israel amid disagreements on how to approach the issue, particularly as Hezbollah objects…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World People fetch drinking water at the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 28, 2026. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)

Asharq Al-Awsat Reveals Details of New Gaza Proposal

Asharq Al-Awsat has obtained details of a new proposal drafted by representatives of the Board of Peace, including the board’s high representative, Nickolay…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Arab World Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at the State Department, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Rubio Says Both Lebanon, Israel Agree on Dismantling Hezbollah

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that both the Lebanese and the Israeli governments want the same thing: peace and Hezbollah gone. In an…

Ali Barada (Washington)
Arab World 
Iraq PM-designate Ali al-Zaidi (INA)

Who Is Iraq’s PM-Designate Al-Zaidi?

Despite his close ties to Shiite party leaders in Baghdad and his extensive financial investments, premiership nominee Ali Faleh Kazem al-Zaidi remains largely…

Asharq Al Awsat (Baghdad)
Arab World Tunisian ‌President Kais Saied. (AFP)

Tunisia President Sacks Energy Minister Ahead of Renewable Energy Projects Vote

Tunisia’s ‌President Kais Saied dismissed Energy Minister Fatma Thabet on Tuesday, amid growing controversy over renewable energy projects set to be voted…

Arab World  Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinian child Adel Al-Najjar, who was killed today in an Israeli strike, according to medics, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill Five, Including 9-Year-Old Boy, Medics Say

Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians, including a 9-year-old boy, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said. Medics said an Israeli drone…

Arab World  Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel Says Has ‘No Territorial Ambitions’ in Lebanon, Despite Evacuations

Israel on Tuesday said it was not seeking to take territory in Lebanon, as its military issued a wave of new evacuation warnings for towns and villages in the…

Arab World A wounded Palestinian girl, evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment, arrives in an ambulance at the King Hussein Bridge in Jordan, April 27, 2026. (Reuters)

Dozens of Gaza Children Arrive in Jordan for Medical Care

A new group of wounded or ill Palestinian children from Gaza have arrived in Jordan to receive medical care, the kingdom's army said on Tuesday. They are the…

Arab World  Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with Ali al-Zaidi, the Coordination Framework’s nominee for prime minister, in Baghdad, Iraq, April 28, 2026. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Media Office/Handout via Reuters)

Iraqi Leaders to Begin Thorny Talks on Forming Cabinet

Iraqi leaders are expected to begin complex talks on Tuesday over forming a government and allocating cabinet portfolios under new prime minister-designate Ali…

Arab World Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 27 April 2026. (EPA)

Israel Spy Chief Hails ‘Groundbreaking’ Ops in Iran, Lebanon

The head of Israel's Mossad has praised the spy agency's "groundbreaking" operations in the war against Iran and Hezbollah, saying it acquired intelligence …

Arab World Fatima Mohamed feed Iqlas Omar Abdi, 1, with nutritious supplementary biscuit at the Daynile hospital as shortages of lifesaving therapeutic foods caused by shipping disruptions due to the Iran war have forced clinics treating severely malnourished children to turn away patients and ration supplies in drought-hit Somalia, in Daynile district of Mogadishu, Somalia April 20, 2026. (Reuters)

Iran War Is Latest Blow to Somalia’s Malnourished Children

For Somalia's malnourished children, already suffering the twin catastrophes of looming famine and radical cuts in foreign aid, the US-Israeli war on Iran…

Arab World  Palestinians walk past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 15, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel Using Water Access as ‘Weapon’ in Gaza, Says MSF

Israeli authorities are systematically depriving people in Gaza of the water they need to live, Doctors Without Borders warned Tuesday, decrying a campaign of …

Arab World A Palestinian worker breaks up concrete while working on rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 19, 2026. (Reuters)

Mladenov Expected in Cairo, Israel to Discuss Gaza Ceasefire

Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's lead envoy for Gaza, is expected to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday as part of renewed political efforts to push forward the…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Arab World  Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi attends the meeting of the Coordination Framework political bloc in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 27, 2026. (Iraqi Presidency Office via AP)

Iraqi President Nominates Ali Al-Zaidi as PM-Designate

Iraq's newly elected president nominated businessman Ali al-Zaidi as the country's prime minister-designate on Monday, after the country's leaders yielded to…

Arab World This picture taken from a position in Upper Galilee in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows smoke rising during Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on April 27, 2026. (AFP)

Four Dead in Lebanon as Israel Says Action Needed on Hezbollah Arsenal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah's rockets and drones were a key threat demanding military action, as Israel's army expanded strikes on…

Arab World A photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency on April 17, 2026, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivering a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of the capital Beirut.  (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)

Lebanon's Aoun: We Won't Accept Humiliating Deal with Israel...Taking Country to War is 'Treason'

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that direct negotiations with Israel were aimed at ending the conflict with Hezbollah, while accusing those who drew…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World  People hold up portraits of Hezbollah leader, Naim Qassem, top, and slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as displaced residents drive back to their villages, in Jiyyeh, near Sidon, southern Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP)

Israel Defense Minister Says Hezbollah Chief ‘Playing with Fire’ That Will ‘Burn Lebanon’

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Monday that Hezbollah's defiance would bring catastrophic consequences for Lebanon, after the group's leader…

Arab World Syrian refugees in Lebanon return to their country through the Masnaa crossing after the fall of the Syrian regime in December 2024. (EPA)

Did Israel’s War on Lebanon Drive Syrian Refugees Back Home?

Israel’s war on Lebanon has accelerated the return of Syrian refugees, but officials and aid agencies say it has not by itself resolved, or fundamentally…

Paula Astih (Beirut)
Arab World Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt meet in Damascus on Saturday. (SANA)

Syria’s Sharaa, Lebanon’s Jumblatt Discuss Sweida Fallout, Reject ‘Alliance of Minorities’

A meeting in Damascus on Saturday between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt focused on containing the fallout from…

Youssef Diab (Beirut)
Arab World Israeli soldiers operate on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 26 April 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. (EPA)

Lebanon Says Israel Strikes Kill 14 in Deadliest Day Since Truce

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country's south on Sunday killed 14 people, the deadliest day since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah…

Arab World Shops operate beneath a war-damaged building in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

UN: Drone Attack Hits Sudan Aid Truck

A drone attack hit an aid truck in Sudan's North Darfur state, destroying all the supplies on board, the UN refugee agency said on Sunday, without identifying…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A Palestinian man votes during the municipal election at a polling station in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip April 25, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Palestinian Leader's Loyalists Win Local Elections, including Some in Gaza

Loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas won most races in Palestinian municipal elections, election officials said on Sunday, in a vote that for the first time in…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Arab Parliament logo

Arab Parliament Condemns Attack Targeting Two Border Posts in Kuwait

Arab Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al-Yamahi has condemned the blatant attack that targeted two sites at the northern land border posts of Kuwait using two…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Judges attend a trial session of Atef Najib, a brigadier general and former head of the Political Security Department in Daraa during Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad's rule, who is accused of committing war crimes, at the Palace of Justice, in Damascus, Syria, April 26, 2026. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Syria’s First Public Trial of Assad-era Officials Opens in Damascus

The first public trial in Syria of officials linked to the rule of former President Bashar Assad opened in Damascus Sunday. Atef Najib, a former Syrian army…

Asharq Al Awsat