Features

Features A drone view shows a circular wheat field in the desert of Basra, Iraq, November 27, 2025. (Reuters)

Iraq’s Dreams of Wheat Independence Dashed by Water Crisis 

Iraqi wheat farmer Ma'an al-Fatlawi has long depended on the nearby Euphrates River to feed his fields near the city of Najaf. But this year, those waters,…

Features Bashar al-Assad with his wife, Asma, walk with their children in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in 2022. (Former Syrian presidency Facebook page/AFP/Getty Images)

Report: Assad Returns to Ophthalmology, His Family Lives in Russian Luxury  

A year after his regime was toppled in Syria, Bashar al-Assad's family is living an isolated, quiet life of luxury in Moscow. A friend of the family,…

Asharq Al Awsat (London) Asharq Al Awsat (Moscow)
Features Soldiers and police officers from the former Syrian regime handing in weapons last year to new security forces in Latakia, Syria. (Ivor Prickett for The New York Times)

Rebuilding the Army: One of the Syrian Govt’s Greatest Challenges

When opposition factions in Syria came to power a year ago, one of their first acts was to dismiss all of the country’s military forces, which had been used as…

Features Palestinians cross a flooded street following heavy rain in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Winter Storm Rips through Gaza, Exposing Failure to Deliver Enough Aid to Territory

Rains drenched Gaza’s tent camps and dropping temperatures chilled Palestinians huddling inside them Thursday as storm Byron descended on the war-battered…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to press before his meeting with President of Cyprus in Kyiv on December 4, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)

Ukraine Hasn’t Held Elections since Russia’s Full-scale Invasion. Here’s Why

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected suggestions that he is using the war as an excuse to cling to power, saying he is ready to hold elections…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features A drone view shows Palestinians walking past the rubble, following Israeli forces' withdrawal from the area, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City, October 11, 2025. (Reuters)

From Israeli-Held Zones in Gaza, Foes of Hamas Seek Lasting Role 

Groups operating from Israeli-held areas of Gaza say they will continue to fight Hamas despite the killing of their most prominent commander, reporting more…

Features Hama residents set fire to a large banner of Bashar al Assad after armed factions seized the city last December (AFP)

What Syria’s Military Map Looks Like One Year After Assad Ouster

Syria’s map of control has been shaken to its core since late 2024, when the Deterrence of Aggression offensive erupted and the Assad government fell,…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Features A defaced portrait of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs on a wall in the capital Damascus on June 2, 2025. (AFP)

Assad’s ‘Trap’: A Night That Shook Tehran’s Allies in Baghdad

A senior Iraqi security official urged his driver to pick up speed as they raced toward Damascus airport. He needed to catch a flight back to Baghdad, while…

Ali Saray (London)
Features People raise the Syrian flag during the one-year anniversary marking the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in Tripoli, Lebanon.

New Political, Military Reality in Lebanon a Year after Assad’s Ouster 

The collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria in December 2024 created major political, security and economic changes in Lebanon. Beirut also rid itself of…

Youssef Diab (Beirut)
Features Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the buffer zone with Syria on Nov. 19, accompanied by senior defense, foreign affairs, and security officials. (Government Press Office)

A ‘New Syria’ Becomes the Clearest Example of Israel’s Hostility Toward Its Neighbors

On a rainy November night in 2025, as Ramallah groaned under an Israeli military assault just meters from the presidential compound, a senior Palestinian…

Nazir Magally (Tel Aviv)
Features Iran's General Qassem Soleimani makes a phone call near the historic Citadel of Aleppo, winter 2016. (Fars)

Four Iranian Narratives on the Collapse of the ‘Resistance’ in Syria  

One hundred and ninety-two days separated the last meeting between Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad in Tehran…

Adil Al-Salmi (London)
Features Amina Beqai holds a photo of her husband, who went missing after he was arrested by security forces under the rule of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, November 23, 2025. (Reuters)

A Year After Assad’s Fall, Families of Missing Detainees Languish without Answers 

A year after dictator Bashar al-Assad's ouster in Syria, little has changed in Amina Beqai's desperate quest. She types her missing husband's name yet again…

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Features  Iran was a staunch backer of Bashar al-Assad but quickly withdrew its forces once as opposition forces took over Syria. (AFP)

‘It’s All Over’: How Iran Abandoned Assad to His Fate Days Before Fall

As city after city fell to a lightning opposition offensive in Syria last December, Iranian forces and diplomats supporting Bashar al-Assad saw the writing on…

Features A member of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham stands guard near an image of Syria's Bashar al-Assad at the fourth division headquarters in Damascus, Syria, January 23, 2025 (Reuters)

Former Spy Chief and Assad’s Cousin Plot Syrian Uprisings from Russia

Two former loyalists to Bashar al-Assad who fled Syria after his fall are funneling millions of dollars to tens of thousands of potential fighters, hoping to…

Asharq Al Awsat (Damascus)
Features A poster of Bashar al-Assad is seen on the ground at the presidential palace in Damascus after he fled Syria on December 8, 2024. (AP)

Report: Assad’s Exiled Spy Chief and Billionaire Cousin Plot Syrian Uprisings from Russia

Former loyalists to Bashar al-Assad who fled Syria after the dictator’s fall are funneling millions of dollars to tens of thousands of potential fighters,…

Features Palestinian couples participate in a mass wedding ceremony in Hamad City in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP)

Mass Wedding in Gaza Celebrates New Life After Years of War and Tragedy 

Eman Hassan Lawwa was dressed in traditional Palestinian prints and Hikmat Lawwa wore a suit as they walked hand-in-hand past the crumbled buildings of…

Features Israeli captive Avera Mengistu stands on the handover platform as part of a prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel in Rafah in February (Reuters)

‘Some Took Part in Israeli Captive Handover’…How Hamas Fighters Hid in Rafah Tunnels ?

A series of Israeli military statements reporting the killing or capture of members of Hamas’s Izz al Din al Qassam Brigades inside Rafah’s tunnel network has…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Features An Israeli settler outpost stands in the middle of a valley next to olive trees in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP)

Israeli Settler Outposts Spread Among West Bank Villages and Fuel Fear of More Attacks

The fear is palpable in this Palestinian village. It’s clear in how farmers gather their harvests quickly, how they scan the valley for movement, how they dare…

Features Russian soldiers are seen in southeastern Ukraine. (Reuters)

How a Jordanian’s Work Trip to Moscow Ended in Death on the Front

The eldest son of Raed Ramzi Sabir Hammad – one of two Jordanians killed after being recruited by the Russian army – revealed the shocking account of his…

Mohammed Khair al-Rawashdeh (Amman)
Features FILE PHOTO: Pavlo Broshkov and Yevhen Yushchenko young recruits of the 28th Knights of the Winter Campaign Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces go to the canteen during a break in exercise, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo

What to Know About this Week’s Diplomatic Efforts to End the War in Ukraine

Diplomats face an uphill battle to reconcile Russian and Ukrainian “red lines” as a renewed US-led push to end the war gathers steam, with Ukrainian officials…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features FILED - 26 September 2025, US, New York: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks during the UN General Assembly general debate at the UN headquarters in New York. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa

What to Know about Netanyahu's Request for a Pardon in Corruption Trial

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a pardon from the president during his trial on corruption charges that has long divided the country…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features A destroyed Israeli military vehicle in the town of Beit Jin in rural Damascus near Mount Hermon, Syria, 28 November 2025. (EPA)

Beit Jin Operation: Is the Israeli Escalation Tied to Syria’s Refusal to Cede Land?

As Israel maintains that its troops carried out a deadly raid in the Syrian town of Beit Jin as part of a counterterrorism operation on Friday, analysts said…

Nazir Magally (Tel Aviv)
Features Palestinian participants Razan Shawar (L), Jehad Abudayyah (R), and Mustafa Assi (C) pose with their robot design for the Future Innovators category at the World Robot Olympiad in Singapore on November 28, 2025. (AFP)

Big Dreams for Palestinian Teens at Singapore Robot Fest

Palestinian student Razan Shawar has travelled for 24 hours to showcase her team's AI-powered invention at World Robot Olympiad in Singapore, telling AFP…

Features FILE PHOTO: A woman stands next to a poster depicting Pope Leo XIV at De La Croix Psychiatric Hospital in Jal el-Dib, Lebanon November 19, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

What to Know about Pope Leo XIV's Trip to Türkiye and Lebanon, the First of his Pontificate

Pope Leo XIV’s first foreign trip, to Türkiye and Lebanon, will be packed with opportunities to advance relations with two of the Catholic Church’s top…

Asharq Al Awsat