Arab World News

Iraqi Authorities Are Investigating the Killing of Social Media Influencer

Arab World Iraqi TikTok celebrity Um Fahad is pictured at the Basra International Stadium during a match of the Arabian Gulf Cup football tournament on January 19, 2023. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP)

Iraqi Authorities Are Investigating the Killing of Social Media Influencer

Iraqi authorities on Saturday were investigating the killing of a well-known social media influencer, who was shot by an armed motorcyclist in front of her…

Asharq Al Awsat (Baghdad)
Arab World FILE PHOTO: An exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, March 31, 2021. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

Lebanon Moves Towards Accepting ICC Jurisdiction for War Crimes on its Soil

Lebanon has moved towards accepting the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction to prosecute violations on Lebanese territory since October, in what Human…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World A picture taken on April 2, 2024, shows a United Nations peacekeepers observation point near the Quneitra border crossing with Syria in the Israeli annexed-Golan Heights. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Syria Strives to Stay Out of Gaza War: Experts

Syria has avoided getting embroiled in the Gaza war, experts said, despite a strike on Iran's Damascus consulate, blamed on Israel, that threatened to ignite a…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World Fires engulf a livestock market in Al-Fashir, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, as a result of previous battles (AFP)

Sudan’s Al-Fashir on Edge: Fear of Imminent Rapid Support Forces Assault

Al-Fashir, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur, is drawing global attention as it faces a potential crisis. Reports suggest that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)…

Asharq Al Awsat (Port Sudan)
Arab World Debris of more than 400,000 buildings have completely or partially filled the Gaza Strip (Arab World Press)

UN: Debris in War-Ravaged Gaza Could Take 14 Years to Clear

The vast amount of rubble including unexploded ordnance left by Israel's devastating war in the Gaza Strip could take about 14 years to remove, a United…

Asharq Al Awsat (Geneva) Asharq Al Awsat (London)

Arab World King of Jordan Abdullah II speaks while making a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 16 February 2024. (Reuters)

Jordan Sets Sept 10 Date for Parliamentary Election

Jordan's independent electoral commission on Wednesday set Sept. 10 as the date for a parliamentary election after King Abdullah said earlier he hoped the…

Arab World  Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants hold a portrait of US-Israeli Hersh Golgberg-Polin during a demonstration calling for the release of those taken near the residence of the Israeli prime minister in Jerusalem on April 20, 2024. (AFP)

Hamas Issues Video Showing Israeli-American Hostage Goldberg-Polin

The Palestinian movement Hamas released a video on Wednesday apparently showing Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American seized during the Oct. 7 attack on…

Arab World This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Odaisseh during Israeli bombardment on April 22, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)

Israeli Strikes Hit Southern Lebanon as Cross-Border Fire Escalates

The Israeli military said artillery and fighter jet strikes had hit around 40 targets in southern Lebanon on Wednesday as the intense fighting of recent days…

Arab World 19 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: A destroyed United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) school seen after the Israeli army withdrew from the town of Abasan, east of the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. (dpa)

Germany to Resume Cooperation with Palestinian UNRWA Agency 

The German government plans to resume cooperation with the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza, the foreign and development ministries said in a joint…

Arab World A woman and a girl search for items through the rubble of a collapsed building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 24, 2024 following reported Israeli air strikes overnight. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

Israel Says It Is Poised to Move on Rafah

Israel's military is poised to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah and assault Hamas hold-outs in the southern Gaza Strip city, a senior Israeli defense…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A general view shows the Kalso military base after it was hit by a huge explosion on late Friday, in Babil province, Iraq April 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Mystery Still Surrounds Who Carried out Attack on Iraq’s Kalso Base 

An Iraqi military investigations committee announced on Tuesday that the attack on the Kalso base on Saturday was not carried out by jets or drones. It said…

Hamza Mustafa (Baghdad)
Arab World A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential press office shows Former President of Iraqi Kurdistan Region and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud Barzani (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) posing for the media before their meeting in Erbil, northern Iraq, 22 April 2024. (EPA/Murat Cetin Muhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout)

Türkiye's Erdogan Says Iraq Sees Need to Eliminate Kurdish PKK

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks published on Tuesday he believed Iraq saw the need to eliminate the Kurdish Kurdistan Workers' Party …

Arab World  Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa speaks to journalists in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, during his visit to the area in the aftermath of a deadly raid by Israeli forces in the nearby Nur Shams refugee camp, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP)

Palestinian Prime Minister Announces New Reform Package

Newly installed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa announced a package of reforms on Tuesday aimed at strengthening the Palestinian Authority (PA)…

Arab World 10 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians examine the damage to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) buildings on their way back to their homes in the wake of the Israeli army withdrew from North of Gaza City. (dpa)

Norway Calls on Donors to Resume Funding to Palestinian UNRWA Agency

Norway called on international donors on Tuesday to resume payments to the UN agency for Palestinians refugees (UNRWA) after a report found Israel had yet to…

Arab World Mother of Palestinian Shadi Jalaita, 44, cries upon the arrival of her son's body at the family house for the last look during his funeral in the West Bank city of Jericho Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP)

Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Man During West Bank Raid

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man and wounded two people including a child during raids in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho and adjacent refugee…

Arab World Destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip, seen from the southern Gaza Strip, 23 April 2024. (EPA)

Israel Intensifies Strikes across Gaza, Orders New Evacuations in North

Israeli strikes intensified across Gaza on Tuesday in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, residents said, and the army ordered fresh evacuations in the…

Arab World  People walk on a road lined with destroyed buildings in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 23, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas Armed Wing Calls for Escalation across All Fronts

The spokesperson for Hamas' armed al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, called on Tuesday for an escalation across all fronts in a televised speech marking 200 days…

Arab World A photo of the site where an Israeli strike hit a vehicle in the Adloun area (Markazia News Agency)

An Israeli Strike Kills a Hezbollah Air Defense Unit Operative

An Israeli airstrike on a car in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed a Hezbollah official. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had killed Hussein…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Mahdy Zourob

Aid Workers Worried over Looming Rafah Invasion

An expected Israeli assault on Rafah has aid groups scrambling for ways to help the 1.5 million civilians sheltering in the south Gaza city but the uncertain…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Palestinian paramedics carry away bodies of dead people uncovered in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on April 17, 2024 after the recent Israeli military operation there. (Photo by AFP)

UN Rights Chief 'Horrified' by Mass Grave Reports at Gaza Hospitals

UN rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday he was "horrified" by the destruction of the Nasser and Al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and reports of mass…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Naval base soldiers in Port Sudan (AFP)

Ex-Security Official Sparks Tribal Crisis in Eastern Sudan

Comments by a former high-ranking official in Sudan's security and intelligence service, questioning the legitimacy of certain tribal groups, have stirred…

Asharq Al Awsat (Wad Madani )
Arab World (FILES) Supporters of the Sudanese armed popular resistance, which backs Sudan's army, ride on trucks in Gedaref in eastern Sudan on March 3, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the country between the army and paramilitaries. (Photo by AFP)

Truce Crumbles in Sudanese Army's Last Darfur Holdout

Attacks around the Sudanese city of al-Fashir have shattered a truce that protected it from a year-old war, leading to warnings of a new wave of inter-communal…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Gebran Bassil, a lawmaker and former minister stands as Lebanon's parliament convenes in a bid to elect a head of state to fill the vacant presidency, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon June 14, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Lebanon: Bassil Eliminates Bou Saab from FPM after Differences over Presidency

Disputes between leader of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil and Deputy Speaker and FPM official Elias Bou Saab have ended with a rift two years after…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World Displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip (Reuters)

US State Department: Gaza War has Negatively Impacted Human Rights Practices

The war between Israel and Hamas that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis has had “a significant…

Asharq Al Awsat (Washington)
Arab World The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, met Monday with the US Ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, in Riyadh. SABA

Yemen’s Alimi Calls for Int’l Efforts to Stop Arms Smuggling to Houthis

The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, has said it was important for the international community to counter Iranian attempts…

Ali Rabih (Aden)
Arab World FILE - A US military vehicle drives south of the northeastern city of Qamishli, on Oct. 26. 2019 likely heading to the oil-rich Deir el-Zour area where there are oil fields, or possibly to another base nearby, as it passes by a poster showing Syrian President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

Failed Rocket Strike Launched on US-led Coalition Forces Base in Syria

A failed rocket strike was launched at a base housing US-led coalition forces at Rumalyn, Syria, marking the first time since Feb. 4 that Iranian-backed…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A truck, marked with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo, crosses into Egypt from Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, Egypt, November 27, 2023. (Reuters)

Review of UNRWA Found Israel Did Not Express Concern about Staff

An independent review of the neutrality of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found that Israel never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists…

Arab World 02 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians inspect the damage at Al-Shifa Hospital complex, following a two-week military operation by the Israeli army in Gaza City. (dpa)

Gaza Health System ‘Completely Obliterated’, Says UN Expert

Israel's war in Gaza has from the start been a "war on the right to health" and has "obliterated" the Palestinian territory's health system, a UN expert said…

Arab World  French President Emmanuel Macron waits for the arrival of Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (not seen) before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 19, 2024. (Reuters)

Macron Discusses Mideast Crisis with Egypt’s Sisi, Israel’s Netanyahu

French President Emmanuel Macron held phone calls on Monday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to…