Arab World News

Syrian Diplomacy Returns to Libya after 14-Year Hiatus

Arab World Dbeibeh, prime minister of the Government of National Unity, meets Syrian Foreign Minister and Expatriates Asaad al-Shaibani on Sunday. (Dbeibeh’s Office) 

Syrian Diplomacy Returns to Libya after 14-Year Hiatus

Syrian diplomacy has ended an absence of nearly 14 years from Libya following talks held Sunday in Tripoli by Foreign Minister and Expatriates Asaad al…

Jamal Jawhar (Cairo)
Arab World A member of Syria's internal security forces in Tartus city. (SANA)

Syrian Authorities Say Killed Assad-Era Officer After Clash

Syrian security forces said on Sunday that they killed an army commander who served under ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, after he opened fire on them as they…

Arab World The sun sets behind apartment buildings in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. (AP)

Iraq Sentences US-Sanctioned Oil Official to Prison

Iraq sentenced a US-sanctioned oil official to seven years in prison after he was arrested as part of a government-led anti-corruption campaign, the country's…

Arab World  Israeli settlers look out through a metal fence, as an Israeli flag flutters nearby, on the day of their weekly tour in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 29, 2026. (Reuters)

US News Agency Says Crew Attacked by Israeli Settlers in West Bank

Israeli settlers attacked an NBC crew in the central West Bank Saturday, as they were interviewing a Palestinian woman who said she’d been driven out of her…

Arab World People wave Libyan flags during a demonstration in Benghazi February 7, 2014. (Reuters)

Libya Rivals Agree Roadmap for Elections Within 24 Months at UN-Led Talks

Representatives of ‌Libya's rival political parties on Sunday signed an agreement on holding long-delayed national elections within two years to resolve…


Arab World Yemeni Forces repel Houthi attacks on several fronts - Military Media

Yemeni Forces Repel Houthi Attacks on Multiple Fronts

The Iran-backed Houthi group has intensified attacks across several fronts in Yemen, striking civilian areas and facilities in Taiz as government forces said…

Asharq Al Awsat (Aden)
Arab World Palestinian firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire after an Israeli military strike targeted a vehicle belonging to Gaza Police Chief Jamal Abu Kamil south of Gaza City, 13 August 2026. (EPA)

Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill Two Including Senior Policeman

Israeli strikes in Gaza killed two people including a senior police officer on Thursday, health officials said, the second straight day of bombardment after a…

Arab World An internally displaced Palestinian man walks past the rubble of buildings destroyed by the Israeli military, in Khan Younis southern Gaza Strip on August 11, 2026. (AFP)

EU Welcomes Israeli Green Light to Extend Gaza Border Mission

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas Thursday welcomed an Israeli decision to extend the mandate of the bloc's border assistance mission at the Rafah crossing between…

Arab World This picture taken from the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh shows Israeli humvees driving through the nearby village of Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh on August 13, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanon Has Not Agreed to Shortlist of Countries That Could Verify Hezbollah’s Disarmament, Official Says

Lebanese official denied on Thursday a Reuters report that Beirut had agreed with Israel to a shortlist of countries that could send troops to Lebanon to…

Arab World A Lebanese army soldier stands on guard by his armoured vehicle in the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyah which was previously badly damaged by the Israeli military on August 8, 2026. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) /

After US Criticism, Israel Ties Lebanon Withdrawal to Hezbollah Disarmament

Israel won't withdraw from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, the defense minister said on Thursday, qualifying remarks he made a day earlier that…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Israeli border police officers search a Palestinian man near the scene of a stabbing attack in Jerusalem's old city, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israel Detains Journalist in West Bank

Israeli forces have detained a Palestinian journalist who has worked for news outlets including AFP, the Israeli military and his family said. Mohammed Awad,…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Palestinian students hoping to study in Italy, Türkiye, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium face unexplained delays, students have told AFP © Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP/File

'Dreams Disappear' as Gaza Students Await Evacuation to Italy

Dozens of Gaza students who won scholarships to universities in Italy are still waiting to be evacuated due to bureaucratic red tape, leaving qualified…

Arab World Israeli soldiers stand guard next to settlers in front of Palestinian homes they besieged in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank (AP)

Israel Reopens Historic Settlement in North West Bank

Israel officially reopened the West Bank settlement of Ganim on Thursday more than 20 years after it withdrew from the community, emblematic of the current…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Israeli soldiers observe Palestinians during a raid in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, West Bank, 13 August 2026. (EPA)

Israel Sends More Troops to West Bank Village Besieged by Jewish Settlers

Israel's military said on Thursday it had sent more troops to a West Bank village where settlers have trapped Palestinian families inside their homes, a siege…

Arab World People clear debris from a mosque that residents said was damaged in a drone strike in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP)

RSF Drones Attack Sudan Capital for Second Day

Paramilitary drones on Thursday attacked the Sudanese capital Khartoum for the second day in a row, an AFP correspondent and witnesses reported. Since April…

Arab World  Israeli soldiers stand guard next to settlers in front of Palestinian homes that they have blockaded in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP)

US Ambassador to Israel Denounces Settler Siege on Palestinians as ‘Terror’

The US ambassador to Israel, a staunch supporter of West Bank settlements, on Thursday denounced as "terror" a siege by settlers against Palestinians that drew…

Arab World People protest in Dhi Qar over frequent power outages. (Social media)

Crisis Looms in Southern Iraq over Water, Electricity Shortages

The worsening electricity crisis in Iraq continues to burden most of the population, amid rising temperatures that have surpassed 50 degrees Celsius in some…

Fadhel al-Nashmi (Baghdad)
Arab World Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi. (AFP)

Iraq PM Aiming for Legislation that Limits Possession of Weapons to the State

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi stressed that October 1 will be a new chapter for the state after the withdrawal of all foreign military forces from the…

Fadhel al-Nashmi (Baghdad)
Arab World Syrians celebrate outside the Omari Mosque in Daraa, where the Syrian uprising began in 2011, after a Syrian court sentenced Atef Najib, the official responsible for the crackdown in the city, to death (dpa)

Syria Forms Committee to Seek Interpol Handover of Assad-Era Figures

Syria has formed a committee to seek the extradition of criminals sentenced to death in absentia, Deputy Justice Minister Mustafa al-Qassem said on Wednesday,…

Badr Al-Qahtani (Damascus, London)
Arab World  Yemeni FM Afrah al-Zouba (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Yemen FM: Houthis and Iran Have a Relationship of 'Mutual Instrumentalization'

What kind of relationship binds the Houthis to Iran? Afrah al-Zouba, the first woman to head Yemen’s Foreign Ministry, has a term for it: “mutual…

Badr Al-Qahtani (Riyadh)
Arab World A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows the Israeli flag as it flutters on top of the nearby Crusaders Cital of Doubieh on August 11, 2026. (AFP)

Israel Defense Minister Vows Troops to Stay in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon on Wednesday, vowing to destroy infrastructure and keep troops in a so-called "security zone" as…

Arab World Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) shakes hands with Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) after a press conference at the presidential palace in Ankara on August 12, 2026. (AFP)

Israel Seeking to ‘Remove Palestine from World’s Agenda’, Says Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to "remove Palestine" from the world's…

Arab World Smoke rises as the Israeli army detonates explosives in the house of slain Palestinian Farouq Ramadan in Tell village, near the West Bank city of Nablus, 11 August 2026. (EPA)

Germany’s Ex-Envoy to Israel Slams ‘Disastrous’ West Bank Policy

Germany's former ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, levelled unusually sharp criticism at the Israeli government and what he labelled its "disastrous"…

Arab World  11 August 2026, Palestinian Territories, Beit Lahia: Extensive destruction is seen in the northeastern area of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, where homes and buildings have been reduced to rubble following months of war and military operations. (dpa)

Israel Carries Out First Gaza Strike in More Than Week, One Killed

Israel on Wednesday carried out its first air strike in more than a week in Gaza, both sides said, breaking a relative lull as the United States pressed a…

Arab World A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows an Israeli flag fluttering over the burnt fields of the border village of Mais al-Jabal, burnt during Israeli military operations on August 11, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanon Condemns ‘Systematic’ Israeli Destruction in South

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Wednesday condemned Israel's "systematic destruction" in the country's south as a violation of international law, as…

Arab World Israeli settlers besiege a Palestinian home for the fourth consecutive day in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, 12 August 2026. (EPA)

Israeli Settlers Keep Up Siege of Palestinian Homes Despite Army Intervention

The Israeli military failed in an attempt on Wednesday to remove occupied West Bank settlers who for days have blockaded Palestinian homes, an eyewitness and…

Arab World A drone view shows a vessel at Berth NO. 4, which was handed over by Russian forces to the Syrian government, at the port of Tartus in Tartus, Syria, August 12, 2026. (Reuters)

Syria Receives First Shipments at Pier Previously Used by Russia

Syria received its first shipments of wheat and cement materials this week at a berth previously used by Russian forces, according to officials at the Tartus…

Arab World A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh shows Israeli tanks as they maneuver in the nearby village of Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh on August 8, 2026. (AFP)

Report: UK, Italy Among States Considered to Verify Hezbollah Disarmament

Israel and Lebanon have agreed on Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia as potential contributors to a proposed mechanism that could see foreign troops…

Arab World A photo released by the Popular Mobilization Forces showing its members in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, south of Baghdad, in 2014.

Baghdad Moves to Encircle Positions Run by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Without Confrontation

Iraqi sources revealed Wednesday details of a government plan to be implemented after the September 30, 2026 deadline for bringing weapons under state control…

Asharq Al Awsat