Features

Features (FILES) US President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a remembrance event to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel - AFP

Trump Comeback Restarts Israeli Public Debate on West Bank Annexation

When Donald Trump presented his 2020 plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it included the Israeli annexation of swathes of the occupied West Bank, a…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features  The Qadam train station, which was damaged during the war between rebel forces and ousted President Bashar Assad's forces, is seen in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

A Train Station was Once the Pride of Syria's Capital. Some See it as a Symbol of Revival after War

A train station in Damascus was once the pride of the Syrian capital, an essential link between Europe and the Arabian Peninsula during the Ottoman Empire and…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Munir Al-Faqir, co-founder of the Association of Sednaya Prison Detainees and Missing Persons (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Syrian Prison: Bureaucracy of Death, Marketplace of Extortion

From the Raid Department that falls under the Military Security’s Branch 215—commonly referred to as the “Branch of Death”—Asharq Al-Awsat began its tour of…

Bissane El-Cheikh (Damascus)
Features A young Palestinian girl walks along a street on a misty morning in Khan Younis in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17, 2025, as Israel's security cabinet is expected to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. (AFP)

How Long Will It Take and How Much Will It Cost to Rebuild Gaza?

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are eager to leave miserable tent camps and return to their homes if a long-awaited ceasefire agreement halts the Israel-Hamas…

Features FILE - In this photo released by the Tasnim News Agency, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops travel in a plane from Rasht in northern Iran, to Kermanshah in western Iran, during a drill on Jan. 5, 2025. (Hossein Zohrevand/Tasnim News Agency via AP, File)

Russia and Iran Have a Troubled History Despite their Current Alliance

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting his Iranian counterpart Friday for the signing of a broad pact between Moscow and Tehran. The Kremlin says the …

Asharq Al Awsat
Features People searching for bodies in a trench believed to be a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus in December (AFP)

Mass Graves Become Last Resort for Syrians Searching for Missing Loved Ones

At 80, Syrian Abdel Rahman Athab still holds on to hope of finding his son, missing for 11 years. He searched tirelessly—watching former detainees leave…

Asharq Al Awsat (Damascus)
Features Destroyed buildings are seen through the window of an airplane from the US Air Force overflying the Gaza Strip, on March 14, 2024. (AP)

War-Ravaged Gaza Faces Multi-Billion Dollar Reconstruction Challenge

Billions of dollars will be needed to rebuild Gaza after the war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, according to assessments from the United…

Features Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam waves as he arrives to meet with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (not pictured) at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, 14 January 2025. (EPA)

What Is the ‘Shiite Duo’s’ Problem with Salam’s Appointment as Lebanon’s PM?

Several observers have questioned the strong opposition by the “Shiite duo” of Hezbollah and the Amal movement of the appointment of Nawaf Salam as Lebanon’s…

Paula Astih (Beirut)
Features Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters after overseeing the ceremonial certification of her defeat to incoming President-elect Donald Trump, at the US Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP)

An American Tradition: Defeated Candidates Attending the President-Elect’s Inauguration

In January 1981, Jimmy Carter nodded politely toward Ronald Reagan as the new Republican president thanked the Democrat for his administration's help after…

Features Lebanese Ambassador to the United Nations Nawaf Salam speaks to reporters after Security Council consultations on the situation in Libya, March 14, 2011 at United Nations headquarters. (AP)

Nawaf Salam: Lebanon’s Prime Minister ‘Judge’ in Joseph Aoun’s First Term in Office

Years after his name had been suggested by the Lebanese opposition to become prime minister, Judge Nawaf Salam was finally tasked on Monday with the formation…

Caroline Akoum (Beirut)
Features Nawaf Salam, Lebanon's Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks to the media after Security Council consultations on the Palestinian request for full UN membership during the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 26, 2011. (AFP)

Who Is Nawaf Salam, Lebanon’s New Prime Minister-Designate?

President Joseph Aoun summoned jurist Nawaf Salam on Monday to designate him as Lebanon's prime minister, after a majority of Lebanese lawmakers nominated him…

Features FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Lebanese Whose Homes Were Destroyed in the War Want to Rebuild. Many Face a Long Wait

Six weeks into a ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah, many displaced Lebanese whose homes were destroyed in the fighting want to rebuild…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)

Most Viewed

 
 

Features A member of security forces reporting to Syria's interim government checks the identification of a motorist at a checkpoint in Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (AFP)

Fear Grips Alawites in Syria’s Homs as Assad ‘Remnants’ Targeted

In Syria's third city Homs, members of ousted president Bashar al-Assad's Alawite community say they are terrified as new authorities comb their districts for …

Features  A helicopter drops water on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP)

What Ignited the Deadly California Wildfires? Investigators Consider an Array of Possibilities

Investigators are considering an array of possible ignition sources for the huge fires that have killed at least 11 people and destroyed thousands of homes and…

Features  Newly-elected Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reviews the honor guard upon his arrival at the Lebanese Parliament to be sworn in as a new president, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP)

Who Is Joseph Aoun, a Low-Profile Army Chief Who Is Now Lebanon’s President?

Lebanon’s new president and former army commander Joseph Aoun has maintained a low profile. Those who know him say he is no-nonsense, kind and averse to…

Features Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Anas Modamani, one of Germany’s most well-known Syrian refugees (Getty Images)

Syrians Integrated in Germany Face Uncertainty Over Return

Twelve years after his famous selfie with then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Anas Modamani, one of Germany’s most well-known Syrian refugees, appears at…

Raghida Bahnam (Berlin)
Features Türkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) officials Pervin Buldan, Ahmet Turk and Sirri Sureyya Onder, stand for a picture flanked by other Republican People's Party officials, as they meet at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Türkiye, January 7, 2025. Dogusan Ozer/Republican People's Party/Handout via REUTERS

Efforts to End Kurdish Militant Conflict in Türkiye Face Syria Test

Talks aimed at ending a 40-year-old militant conflict have fostered peace hopes in Türkiye but the precarious situation of Kurdish forces in Syria and…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army media office on October 4, 2023 shows locally-made drones during a military drill at an undisclosed location in Iran. (Photo by Iranian Army office / AFP)

Iran Holds Military Drills as it Faces Rising Economic Pressures and Trump's Return

Iran is reeling from a cratering economy and stinging military setbacks across its sphere of influence in the Middle East. Its bad times are likely to get…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Who’s in the Frame to Be Lebanon’s Next President?

Lebanon's parliament will attempt to elect a new head of state on Thursday, with officials seeing better odds of success in a political landscape shaken by…

Features Large icebergs float away as the sun rises near Kulusuk, Greenland, on Aug. 16, 2019. (AP)

Why Greenland? Remote but Resource-Rich Island Occupies a Key Position in a Warming World

Remote, icy and mostly pristine, Greenland plays an outsized role in the daily weather experienced by billions of people and in the climate changes taking…

Features People walk through a corridor of Syria's infamous Saydnaya military prison, just north of Damascus, Syria, on Dec. 9, 2024. (AP)

Long Silenced by Fear, Syrians Now Speak about Rampant Torture under Assad

Handcuffed and squatting on the floor, Abdullah Zahra saw smoke rising from his cellmate’s flesh as his torturers gave him electric shocks. Then it was Zahra…

Features  A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up amid destroyed buildings in the Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP)

Hurdles Remain as Israel and Hamas Once Again Inch toward a Ceasefire Deal

Israel and Hamas once again appear to be inching toward a ceasefire that could wind down the 15-month war in Gaza and bring home dozens of Israelis held…

Features Mariam Kourani removes a toy car from the rubble of her destroyed house after returning with her family to the Hanouiyeh village in southern Lebanon, on Nov. 28, 2024, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

The Fragile Israel-Hezbollah Truce is Holding so Far, Despite Violations

A fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanon's Hezbollah has held up for over a month, even as its terms seem unlikely to be met by the agreed-upon…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

In the Mazzeh 86 neighborhood, west of the Syrian capital Damascus, the names of many shops, grocery stores, and public squares still serve as a reminder of…

Asharq Al Awsat (Damascus)