Arab World News

New Hamas Security Measures amid Fears of Overseas Assassinations

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 take notes as they attend a class in the historic Al-Kamaliya al-Othmanya school in Gaza City's Old Town, as part of a volunteer initiative organized by displaced teachers, in Gaza City. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP/File

Schools But No Books: Gaza's Children Return to Makeshift Classrooms

With no backpack, books or uniform, 11-year-old Layan Haji navigates the ruins of Gaza City and heads to a makeshift classroom after two years of war halted…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Houthi gunmen display their strength during a gathering north of Sanaa (AFP). 

Houthi Condolences Signal Call for Hezbollah to Resume Fight

Condolence messages sent by Yemen’s Houthi movement to Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Naim Qassem, after the killing of senior commander Haytham Ali…

Asharq Al Awsat (Aden)
Arab World Lebanese people return to Beirut’s southern suburb on 27 November 2024 following the implementation of the ceasefire agreement (Archive – EPA). 

Lebanon Drawn into Israeli–Iranian Tug of War over Hezbollah’s Weapons

Lebanon on Wednesday found itself pulled deeper into the emerging confrontation between Israel and Iran over the future of Hezbollah. Tehran declared that…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, August 29, 2013. Reuters/Mohamed Abdullah  

Syria Pledges Full Cooperation With OPCW

Syria pledges full cooperation with the chemical-weapons watchdog, the country’s permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical…

Asharq Al Awsat (Damascus)
Arab World Funeral of Hezbollah chief of staff Haitham Tabtabai and others killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs (AFP)

Western Advice Urges Lebanon, Iraq to Shift from Factions to State

A senior Western diplomat in Beirut urged regional states to recognize the gravity of the moment the Middle East is navigating in order to prevent the…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World  Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, Army Chief Eyal Zamir (Israeli Defense Ministry

Israel Watches Katz-Zamir Feud as Netanyahu Gains Ground

Despite a reconciliation meeting between Defense Minister Israel Katz and military chief of staff Eyal Zamir in the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…

Nazir Magally (Tel Aviv)
Arab World Patrick Simonnet, head of the EU Delegation to Yemen (Photo Credit: Saleh al-Ghannem)

EU to Asharq Al-Awsat: No Leniency Toward Houthis, We Aim to Bring Yemenis Back to Talks

Whenever claims resurfaces that Europe is being lenient with the Houthis, the same question reemerges over whether the European Union is easing its stance…

Abdulhadi Habtor (Riyadh)
Arab World Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Swiss Increase Aid to Gaza in Support of US Peace Plan

The Swiss government said on Wednesday it would commit 23 million Swiss francs ($28.5 million) to support the US peace plan for Gaza, bringing its total…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A demonstrator waves the Syrian opposition flag, also known as the revolution flag, during a gathering with other supporters and members of the Syrian community called by the Syria Solidarity Campaign group in Trafalgar Square, central London, on December 8, 2024, to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime. (AFP)

Blast at Arms Depot Kills Five in Northwest Syria, Say Security Forces

An explosion at a weapons depot in northwest Syria's Idlib province killed five people and wounded nine others on Wednesday, security forces said in a…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport Sept. 3, 2024. © Florence Lo, AP

Sudan Army Chief Calls on Trump to End Country's War

Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at war with rival Rapid Support Forces group since April 2023, called on US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides and Fayez Rasamny, Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transport, hold the maritime demarcation agreement documents after signing it, alongside Lebanese President Jospeh Aoun, at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon November 26, 2025. (Reuters)

Lebanon, Cyprus Sign Maritime Demarcation Deal, Paving Way for Possible Energy Exploration 

Lebanon and Cyprus signed a long-awaited maritime demarcation deal on Wednesday, paving the way for potential exploration of offshore gas fields and energy…

Arab World Israeli troops move between destroyed houses, in the south Lebanon village of Mais al-Jabal, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, 04 December 2024. (EPA)

Israeli Army Fortifying Positions in South Lebanon 

One year after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Israeli army still maintains five positions in south Lebanon, with fortifications and widened…

Arab World Israeli troops take positions during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Nablus, 20 November 2025. (EPA)

Israeli Army Announces New Operation in Northern West Bank 

Israeli security forces on Wednesday launched what the military described as a counter-terrorism operation in the northern West Bank, which Palestinians said…

Arab World Alawites gather during a protest to demand federalism and the release of detained members of their community, in Latakia, Syria November 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Damascus Warns of Strife after Protests Demanding ‘Decentralization’ Erupt on Coast

Syrian authorities warned on Tuesday against attempts to spark sectarian strife in the country in wake of protests in some coastal regions that demanded …

Asharq Al Awsat (Damascus)
Arab World Hezbollah members carry the coffin of Chief of Staff Haitham Tabtabai during his funeral on Monday in Beirut’s southern suburbs (AFP)

Tabtabai Killing Shakes Hezbollah’s Leadership Structure

The assassination of Haitham Ali Tabtabai, Hezbollah’s top military commander, deep inside Beirut’s southern suburbs has dramatically reshaped Lebanon’s…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World Masked Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen search for bodies in Nuseirat in central Gaza (AFP)

Egypt Source Says ‘Gaza Reconstruction Conference’ Will Not Be Held on Time

A well-informed Egyptian source told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday that the Cairo conference on early recovery and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, which had…

Mohamed Mahmoud (Cairo)
Arab World A man pushes a trolley in floodwaters at a makeshift camp housing displaced Palestinians following heavy rain in Gaza City on November 25, 2025. (AFP)

Sources to Asharq Al-Awsat: Hamas Weighs Proposal to Transform into Political Party

Sources within the Hamas movement said leaders from inside and outside the Gaza Strip have opened an internal debate on the group’s political future under the…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Arab World Sudanese women who fled el-Fasher line up to receive humanitarian aid at the Al-Afad camp for displaced people in the town of Al-Dabba, northern Sudan, on November 25, 2025. (AFP)

Sudan Army Says Repels RSF Attack on Key City

Sudan's army said on Tuesday it had repelled a Rapid Support Forces attack on a strategic city in southern Kordofan, a day after the RSF declared a unilateral…

Arab World  The tents of Palestinian families surrounded by destroyed buildings during a rainy day in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 25 November 2025. (EPA)

Gaza Truce Mediators in Cairo to Discuss Second Phase

Delegations from Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, mediators along with the United States of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, met on Tuesday in Cairo to discuss the…

Arab World  Saja Fayyad, 7, tries to clear water from her family's flooded tent at a temporary camp for displaced Palestinians after heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (AP)

‘Everything Is Soaked’: Winter Rains in Gaza Bring New Misery for Palestinians

Children and families in Gaza scooped muddy water from their tents on Tuesday, trying to protect the few belongings that remain after two years of war. …

Arab World People who fled the Zamzam camp for the internally displaced walk in a makeshift encampment in an open field near the town of Tawila in war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region on April 13, 2025. © AFP

MSF Pulls Out of Darfur Hospital after Fatal Shooting

Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres said on Tuesday it has withdrawn its staff from a Darfur hospital after a stretcher-bearer was shot dead, calling on…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Red Cross vehicles carrying the bodies of three people believed to be deceased hostages handed over by Hamas make their way toward the border crossing with Israel, to be transferred to Israeli authorities, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel Says It Has Received Another Set of Human Remains from Gaza

Israel on Tuesday said it received human remains that Palestinian fighters handed over to the Red Cross, but it was not immediately clear if they were one of…

Arab World The one-time popemobile used by Pope Francis during a 2014 visit to Bethlehem and was repurposed into a mobile health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip, an initiative approved by the Pope before his death, is displayed in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (AP) 

Pope Francis’ Popemobile Transformed into Mobile Clinic for Gaza Children 

A vehicle used by the late Pope Francis during a visit to Bethlehem more than a decade ago has been transformed into a mobile health clinic that Christian…

Arab World US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, speaks during a press conference on the ongoing conflict in Sudan, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, November 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Sudan’s Warring Factions Have Not Yet Accepted Peace Plan, Trump Advisor Says 

The United States presented the warring Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with a strong text for a peace plan but neither side has…