Arab World News

Western Companies Accuse Baghdad, Erbil of Blocking Kurdistan Oil Exports

Arab World An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media

Western Companies Accuse Baghdad, Erbil of Blocking Kurdistan Oil Exports

Despite the renewed optimism over the past two weeks regarding the potential resumption of Kurdish oil exports to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, a new setback…

Fadhel al-Nashmi (Baghdad)
Arab World Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)

US Seeks to Persuade Lebanon to Start Talks with Israel

Israel’s response to the launch of two unidentified rockets marks a shift as it coincides with the planned return of US Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle…

Mohamed Choucair (Beirut)
Arab World Palestinians sit amid rubble of houses, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 29, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

Hamas Says it Accepts New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal

Hamas said Saturday it has accepted a new Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar, but Israel said it has made a counter-proposal in “full…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Operational challenges limited WFP's ability to reach around 1.5 million people only in 32 districts by mid-March (UN)

UN Expects Food Security to Worsen in Yemen's Houthi-Controlled Areas

The World Food Program (WFP) expects the food insecurity crisis in Houthi-controlled areas of northern Yemen to worsen in the coming months as a result of…

Mohammed Nasser (Taiz)
Arab World 29 March 2025, Syria, Damascus: Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during the ceremony announcing the new Syrian government at the People's Palace. Photo: Moawia Atrash/dpa

Syria Swears in New Transitional Government

Syria’s new transitional government was sworn in Saturday nearly four months after the Assad family was removed from power and as the new authorities in…

Asharq Al Awsat

Arab World Smoke rises over buildings following US airstrikes, in Sana'a, Yemen, early 27 March 2025. EPA/OSAMAH YAHYA

Suspected US Strikes Pummel Houthi-controlled Areas of Yemen

Suspected US airstrikes pummeled sites across Yemen controlled by the Houthi group early Friday, including neighborhoods in the capital, Sanaa. The extent of…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A banner in support of detained Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, is displayed on a bridge in Beziers, southern France on March 26, 2025. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

French-Algerian Author Boualem Sansal Handed Five-year Sentence

A court in Algeria on Thursday sentenced an award-winning French-Algerian writer to five years in prison. The case against 76-year-old Boualem Sansal has…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World An ambulance and a police vehicle stand in front of The Egyptian Hospital in Hurghada, Egypt, 27 March 2025. EPA/STRINGER

Six Killed as Tourist Submarine Carrying Russians Sinks Off Egypt's Hurghada

Six foreigners were killed on Thursday when a submarine carrying Russian tourists sank off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada, the local governor's office…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepts a projectile over Jerusalem, 27 March 2025. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

Israel Intercepts 2 Missiles Launched by Yemen's Houthis

The Israeli military said on Thursday it had intercepted two missiles launched from Yemen before they crossed into Israeli territory, after sirens sounded in…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Internally displaced Palestinians travel with their belongings as they move towards the city center after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for areas in northern Gaza, in Gaza City, 25 March 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

WFP: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Malnutrition in Gaza

Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are at risk of severe hunger and malnutrition again as an expansion of military activity severely disrupts food…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Palestinians in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, call for an end to the war and chant anti-Hamas slogans (Reuters)

Will Israel’s ‘Voluntary Departure’ Plan Derail Gaza Reconstruction?

Israel’s announcement of a new body to facilitate the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from Gaza has triggered widespread condemnation across the Arab and…

Asharq Al Awsat (Cairo)
Arab World Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks during the presentation of the Action plan for exports to non-EU markets, at Villa Madama in Rome, Friday, March 21, 2025 (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)

Italy Pledges 68 Million Euros in Aid for Syria

Italy has earmarked some 68 million euros ($73.20 million) to finance humanitarian projects and rebuild infrastructure in Syria, Rome's foreign minister told…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A woman walks on debris at the site of a US strike in Sanaa, Yemen March 24, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Yemen's Houthis Say Two Killed in US Strikes

Yemen's Houthi militias said on Thursday that two people were killed in overnight airstrikes near Sanaa that they blamed on the United States. The Houthis' Al…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Martyrs Square, Tripoli, July 5, 2021. REUTERS/Hazem Ahmed

Western Countries Issue Statement on Libya’s Audit Bureau

The US and four Western countries have issued a joint statement on the independence of Libya’s Audit Bureau, whose chairman, Khalid Shakshak is under suspicion…

Khaled Mahmoud (Cairo)
Arab World 27 March 2025, Jordan, Amman: Nancy Faeser (L), Germany's acting Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, and Gerhard Karner, Austrian Minister of the Interior, inform the members of their delegations a hotel in Amman that their trip to Syria has been canceled. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

German, Austrian Ministers Break Off Planned Syria Trip Because of Possible Threat

The German and Austrian interior ministers broke off a planned trip to Syria on Thursday because of a possible threat to their delegation, German authorities…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A handout photo provided by the Lebanese Presidency on March 26, 2025, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) meeting with France's envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian (C) at the Presidential Palace in Baabda. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)

Lebanese President Calls for Pressuring Israel to Implement Ceasefire Agreement

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called on the US and France to press Israel to uphold its commitments under the ceasefire agreement announced between Israel…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World The Houthi-ignited war has destroyed the country's economy, its health system and its infrastructure (local media) 

UN: Half of Yemeni Population Relies on Humanitarian Aid to Survive

More than half of the population in Yemen, one of the world’s worst protracted humanitarian crises, relies on humanitarian aid to survive, the UN said on…

Mohammed Nasser (Taiz )
Arab World People walk amid the rubble of a building destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Hamas Spokesperson Qanoua Killed in Israeli Airstrike

Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, Hamas-affiliated media said early on Thursday, the latest…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World  Palestinians walk next to a tent camp for displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in west of Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)

Israel Strikes a Charity Kitchen and a Tent in Gaza, Killing at Least 9

At least nine Palestinians were killed Wednesday in two separate Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza, medics said. One strike hit a group of Palestinians…

Arab World Palestinian children wave white flags during an anti-Hamas protest, calling for an end to the war with Israel, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on March 26, 2025. (AFP)

UN Says Israel’s Blockade of Gaza Causes Shortage of Maternal Health Supplies

The United Nations Population Fund said Israel’s ongoing aid blockade into Gaza is creating a critical shortage of maternal health supplies. They include…

Arab World Palestinians gather to protest against the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, 26 March 2025. (EPA)

Gaza Hospital Director Ordered Held Another 6 Months

Lawyers representing a Gaza hospital director detained in an Israeli raid late last year say an Israeli court has extended his detention for another six months…

Arab World Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan at the presidential palace in Khartoum. (Sovereignty Council/X)

Sudan’s Burhan Declares Khartoum’s Liberation from RSF

The Sudanese army drove its rival Rapid Support Forces from most of Khartoum city, residents said on Wednesday, as army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan toured the…

Arab World Palestinians walk amid the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive at Al-Shati camp, Gaza City, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)

Netanyahu Says Israel Could Seize Territory in Gaza if Hostages Not Freed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated threats on Wednesday to seize territory in the Gaza strip if Hamas failed to release the remaining hostages…

Arab World A Yemeni man inspects the damage in the Al-Rasul Al-Aazam cancer and oncology hospital's unfinished building, a day after it was hit in a US strike in Yemen's northern Saada province on March 25, 2025. (AFP)

US Warplanes Carry Out 17 Strikes in Yemen 

Houthi media in Yemen reported Wednesday at least 17 strikes in Saada and Amran, blaming the United States for the attacks. The group's Ansarollah website…

Arab World A member of Syria's security forces mans a gun in the back of a truck during the funeral of three people killed in Israeli strikes a day earlier, in the southern town of Daraa on March 18, 2025. (AFP)

Syria Is at a Crossroads: It Can Return to Violence or Transition to Peace, Says UN Envoy 

Three months following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria is at a crossroads, the top UN envoy for the country said Tuesday. Geir Pedersen…

Arab World Fighters loyal to the army patrol a market area in Khartoum on March 24, 2025. (AFP)

Sudan Aid Groups Say 54 Killed in an Airstrike Blamed on the Military in Darfur 

Aid groups in Sudan said on Tuesday at least 54 people were killed in a military airstrike on a local market in the country’s western region. The strike on…

Arab World Palestinians attend an anti-war protest and against Hamas in a rare show of public anger against the group that rules the territory, in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP)

Palestinians Protest Hamas in a Rare Public Show of Dissent in Gaza

Thousands of Palestinians marched between the wreckage of a heavily destroyed town in northern Gaza on Wednesday in the second day of anti-war protests, with…

Arab World Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)

Trump’s Nominee for Ambassador to Israel Avoids Direct Answers on West Bank Annexation

Mike Huckabee, facing a US Senate hearing for his confirmation as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, is facing close questioning from Democrats on…

Arab World Members of Syria's security forces. (Idlib Governorate)

Damascus Arrests Drug Trafficker Linked to Maher al-Assad, Others Held Over Tadamon Massacre

Security forces in the Damascus countryside announced the arrest of Shadi Adel Mahfouz, describing him as one of the individuals involved in recent attacks on…