Arab World News

In a First, Armed Gang in Gaza Forces Displacement of Residents

Arab World  A Palestinian woman receives donated food at a community kitchen in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP)

In a First, Armed Gang in Gaza Forces Displacement of Residents

In an unprecedented development, an armed gang active in Gaza City forced inhabitants of residential bloc to evacuate their homes under threat of arms. Field…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Arab World A photo of a Public Security operation in Aleppo against an ISIS cell (File – Facebook)

Syria Says Kills Senior ISIS Leader, Arrests Operative Near Damascus

Syrian authorities on Thursday said forces killed a senior leader in the ISIS group and arrested another operative in fresh operations near capital Damascus in…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Israeli settlers attacked farmers and volunteers harvesting olives on a Palestinian farm in Burin, near Nablus, on November 8, 2025. © Observers

Israeli Settler Attack Injures Palestinian Baby, Five Arrested

Israeli security forces announced on Thursday the arrest of five Israeli settlers over their alleged involvement in an attack on a Palestinian home that…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Syrian pounds are pictured inside an exchange currency shop in Azaz, Syria February 3, 2020. Picture taken February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/File Photo

Syria to Start Currency Swap on January 1st, Central Bank Governor Says

Syria will start swapping old banknotes for new ones under a ​plan to replace Assad-era notes starting from January 1, 2026, Central Bank Governor Abdelkader…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Libyan national flags fly at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)

Türkiye Begins Black Box Analysis of Jet Crash That Killed Libyan Military Chief and 7 Others

The technical analysis of the recovered black boxes from a jet crash that killed eight people, including western Libya’s military chief, began as the…


Arab World President Joseph Aoun between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri (Lebanese Presidency file photo)

Lebanese President: We are Determined to Hold Parliamentary Elections on Time

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated on Thursday that the country’s parliamentary elections are a constitutional obligation that must be carried out on…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Newly constructed buildings are pictured in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on October 24, 2025. (AFP)

Israel Calls Countries Condemning New West Bank Settlements ‘Morally Wrong’

Israel reacted furiously on Thursday to a condemnation by 14 countries including France and Britain of its approval of new settlements in the occupied West…

Arab World A photo circulated on social media shows a 24-year-old Iraqi who traveled to Russia to join its armed forces. (AFP)

Iraq Criminalizes Volunteering in Russia-Ukraine War

The Iraqi judiciary warned on Wednesday that people involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine will face jail as it attempts to crack down on the…

Fadhel al-Nashmi (Baghdad)
Arab World Members of the Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP) campaign in the streets as they share their political aims with voters in Mogadishu, Somalia, 22 December 2025. EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME

Somalia's Capital Votes in First Step toward Restoring Universal Suffrage

Residents of Somalia's capital Mogadishu will vote on Thursday in municipal elections meant to pave the way for the East African country's first direct…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Sudanese refugee girls carry water supplies near a polling station in the refugee camp of Zamzam, on the outskirts of el-Fasher, Darfur, Sudan, on April 13, 2010. (AP)

Sudan's RSF Says Captured Areas Near Chad Border

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced on Wednesday that it had seized full control of areas bordering Chad in North Darfur in western Sudan. The RSF…

Mohamed Amin Yassin (Nairobi)
Arab World Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani attend a meeting in Moscow, Russia December 24, 2025. (Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

Shaibani: Syrian-Russian Ties Entering New Phase

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani stressed on Wednesday that relations between Damascus and Moscow were entering a new phase based on mutual respect. …

Asharq Al Awsat (Moscow)
Arab World Prisoner swap success hinges on Houthi commitment, seriousness (Gov’t Media)

Muscat Detainee Swap Deal Tests Houthi Credibility

The agreement reached by the Yemeni government in Muscat with the Houthis to exchange about 2,900 prisoners and detainees from both sides marks a new test of…

Mohammed Nasser (Taiz)
Arab World Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Brother Details to Asharq Al-Awsat Luring, Disappearance of Lebanese Retired Officer

Shock still grips the family of retired Lebanese General Security captain Ahmed Shukr, who was abducted days ago, as Lebanese security and judicial assessments…

Hussein Darwish (Baalbeck (eastern Lebanon))
Arab World A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)

UK, Canada, Germany and Others Condemn Israel’s West Bank Settlement Plan

Countries including Britain, Canada and Germany and others on Wednesday condemned the Israeli security cabinet's approval of 19 new settlements in the occupied…

Arab World A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Syria State Media Says 3 Dead in Clashes in Latakia Province

Syrian state media said three people were killed Wednesday in clashes with security forces in coastal Latakia province, the heartland of the country's Alawite…

Arab World A picture taken on September 30, 2025 shows the demolished house of Yahya Abu Ghaliyeh, a Palestinian from a Bedouin village near the town of Al-Eizariya, also known as Bethany, east of Jerusalem. (AFP)

Israel Demolishes Home of Palestinian Accused of Attack

The Israeli army demolished on Wednesday the home of a Palestinian accused of carrying out a stabbing and shooting attack that killed an Israeli earlier this…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A woman sits next to her tent on an alley of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israel Accuses Hamas of Violating Gaza Truce, Says It Will Respond

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Wednesday of violating the Gaza ceasefire by refusing to disarm, and said Israel would retaliate…

Asharq Al Awsat

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Arab World Members of the committee drafting the law criminalizing colonialism (File Photo/ Algerian Parliament)

Algeria Passes Law Declaring French Colonization a Crime

Algeria's parliament unanimously approved on Wednesday a law declaring France's colonization of the country a crime, and demanding an apology and reparations. …

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Palestinian children play next to tents in a makeshift camp for displaced people set up on the beach in Gaza City, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP)

Türkiye, Hamas Discuss Gaza Ceasefire Deal’s Second Phase, Turkish Source Says

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday ​met with Hamas political bureau officials in Ankara to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza and advancing the &zwnj…

Arab World Buildings destroyed during Israeli ground and air operations stand in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP)

Israel Says It Killed Hamas Financial Officer in Gaza

The Israeli army said Wednesday that it had identified a Hamas financial official it killed two weeks ago in a strike in the Gaza Strip. Abdel Hay Zaqut, a…

Arab World  Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam heads a cabinet meeting in Beirut, Lebanon December 23, 2025. (Reuters)

Lebanon Central Bank Governor Expresses Reservations Over Draft Law on Deposit Recovery

Lebanon’s Central Bank governor has expressed some reservations over a draft law allowing depositors to gradually recover funds ​frozen in the banking system…

Arab World Search and rescue team members and emergency services try to reach the wreckage after a plane crash as five people including Libyan Chief of General Staff Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad were killed at Haymana District in Ankara, Türkiye, early 24 December 2025. (EPA)

Libya Army Chief of Staff Killed in Jet Crash Near Ankara After Fault Reported, Turkish Official Says

A private jet that crashed overnight, killing Libya's army chief of staff and seven others on board, had reported an electrical fault and requested an…

Arab World An Israeli settler strikes an olive tree near the Palestinian village of Beita, following a rise in violent settler attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 12, 2025. (Reuters)

How Israel’s Hilltop Settlers Coordinate Attacks to Expel Palestinians

The Jewish settler outpost of Or Meir is small. A handful of prefabricated white shelters, it sits at the end of a short dirt track on a hill leading up from…

Arab World A woman arriving from Syria walks with her luggage into Lebanon through the northern crossing of Al-Arida on December 10, 2024. (AFP)

Former Syrian Officer Killed in Mysterious Circumstances in Lebanon

Lebanese security agencies discovered the body of former Syrian officer Ghassan Naasan al-Sakhni in the Keserwan region. Authorities are investigating whether…

Youssef Diab (Beirut)
Arab World Israeli pilot Ron Arad, who went missing in southern Lebanon in 1986. (Israeli Air Force)

Lebanon Probe Points to Israel's Abduction of Officer Tied to Arad Case

A senior Lebanese judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that investigations into the disappearance of a retired General Security officer a week ago are…

Youssef Diab (Beirut)
Arab World  This picture shows sheep grazing on a field in Kafr al-Labad with the Israeli settlement of Avnei Hefetz seen in the background, near the city of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on December 18, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli Settlers Forcibly Enter Palestinian Home and Kill Sheep in Latest West Bank Attack

Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian home in the south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank overnight, breaking in and killing sheep, a Palestinian official…

Arab World Israeli bulldozers level land at the evacuated Israeli settlement of Sanur, near the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 December 2025. (EPA)

Palestinian Authority Says Israel Tightening Control Over West Bank with New Settlements

The Palestinian Authority condemned on Tuesday Israel's recent approval of 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing it of tightening its control over…

Arab World People attend a protest against reelection of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, near Syria's embassy, Berlin, Germany May 26, 2021. (Reuters)

Germany Deports Man to Syria for First Time Since 2011

Germany deported a man to Syria for the first time since the civil war began in that country in 2011, the interior ministry in Berlin announced on Tuesday. A…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Lebanese soldiers secure the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted a truck in the village of Sibline, south of Beirut, on December 16, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

Lebanese Soldier Among Those Killed in Monday Israeli Strike

Lebanon's army said Tuesday a soldier was among those killed in an Israeli strike a day earlier and flatly denied the Israeli military's accusation that he was…

Asharq Al Awsat