Features

Features Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a welcoming ceremony before a meeting with Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana, Kazakhstan May 28, 2026. (Reuters)

With a Stalemate in Ukraine and Discontent at Home, Putin Seems Ready to Escalate His War

Facing a battlefield stalemate in Ukraine and growing war fatigue among Russians, President Vladimir Putin appears ready to try to change the narrative around…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on Wednesday in Gaza City, May 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Iran War Has Complicated Plans for an Int’l Force in Gaza That Has Yet to Materialize

The International Stabilization Force for Gaza was announced with great aplomb at the inaugural meeting of US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace in…

Features Government supporters hold Iranian flags and pictures of Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, during a ceremony honoring the armed forces and those killed in the war with Israel and the US in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP)

What We Know and Don't Know about the Emerging Deal to End the Iran War

A deal appears to be emerging between the United States and Iran to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, and US President Donald Trump over the weekend…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features People wait to be attended at the Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in Mongbwalu, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 23, 2026. (Reuters)

Attacks on Ebola Treatment Centers Are One of Several Problems Affecting Congo’s Outbreak Response

Arson attacks on Ebola treatment centers in eastern Congo show how authorities are faced with a number of serious complications — including a backlash in local…

Features  US President Donald Trump, right, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, Feb. 4, 2025. (AFP)

Report: Netanyahu Relegated from Partner to Passenger in Trump's War on Iran

In the run-up to the February 28 attack on Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was not only in the Situation Room with President Trump, he was…

Features Idris Al-Ridah, center, weeps as he prays during the funeral of his son Mohammed, who was killed in an explosion caused by war remnants while playing with other children in the village of Abu Habbah in eastern Idlib countryside, in Abu Habbah, Syria, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP)

A Grieving Father Buries His 6-Year-Old After a Land Mine Kills 3 Children in Syria’s Idlib

Idris al-Ridah wept as he carried the lifeless body of his 6-year-old son Amir, wrapped in a yellow and brown blanket, in northwest Syria. The father…

Features Kegham Djeghalian, whose work is on display in the French city of Marseille, opened Gaza's first ever photo studio in 1944 © MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP

Archives Interrupted: Vintage Pics Show Gaza 'We No Longer Know'

When Kegham Djeghalian photographed daily life in Gaza last century, the Palestinian territory was synonymous with Hollywood-inspired brides, fancy dress…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features A 2008 photo released by the Pentagon shows David Petraeus briefing Barack Obama, then a US senator, on a plan to secure Sadr City in eastern Baghdad during an aerial tour over the area.

Petraeus Hands Washington 'Executive Plan' to Disarm Iraq's Armed Factions

Iraqi officials said the United States has conditioned the integration of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) on disarming armed factions, sidelining their…

Ali Saray (London)
Features FILE - Former Cuban President Raul Castro looks at the Cuban flag during his speech at the event celebrating the 65th anniversary of the triumph of the revolution in Santiago, Cuba, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Francisco, File)

Timeline of Recent US-Cuba Relations amid Heightened Tensions in Trump's Second Term

Wednesday's US indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro is the latest salvo in the Trump administration’s months-long pressure campaign against the…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (AFP)

Report: Early War Goal Was to Install Ahmadinejad as Iran’s Leader

Washington: By Mark Mazzetti, Julian E. Barnes, Farnaz Fassihi and Ronen Bergman Days after Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and other top…

Features A member of the Revolutionary Guard's volunteer Basij force, left, gives instructions on how to handle a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle during a weapons training class in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In Iran's Capital, Weapons Are Demonstrated and Missiles Adorn Wedding Stage

Iranian Revolutionary Guard members now regularly show the public in Tehran how to handle Kalashnikov-style assault rifles. Parades through the capital feature…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Features Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, April 21, 2026. (AFP)

Netanyahu’s Coalition Alliances with Religious Parties Put His Reelection at Risk

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained in power for most of the past 17 years due in part to a tight alliance with ultra-Orthodox religious…

Features Palestinian Sameh Shtayyeh, the father of 15-year-old Youssef Sameh Shtayyeh who was killed on April 23, by Israeli soldiers in the city of Nablus, hugs his son as they visit his grave at the cemetery in the village of Till, west of Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank on May 12, 2026. (AFP)

Shot for Throwing Stones: Israeli Forces Killing West Bank Teens Weekly

Youssef Shtayyeh came home from school on an April afternoon, dropped his bag in the hallway and headed straight back out to join his friends. Minutes later…

Features Flags of China and Russia are displayed in this illustration picture taken March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights

Russia's Growing Energy Ties with China since the Ukraine War

China has increased purchases of Russian oil and gas since ‌the start of the conflict with Ukraine in 2022, with Moscow and Beijing declaring a "no limits…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Palestinian Hamas fighters stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7 2023 attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 22, 2025. (Reuters)

Mohammed Awda Emerges as New Qassam Brigades Chief after Killing of Al-Haddad

Multiple Hamas sources in the Gaza Strip revealed that the movement’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, is now led by Mohammed Awda, succeeding…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Features  Palestinians attend a mass wedding for 50 couples organized by the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation in Gaza City, May 11, 2026. (Reuters)

In War‑Scarred Gaza, Brides Turn to Refurbished Wedding Dresses

In a small sewing workshop in southern Gaza, Nisreen Al-Rantisi pulls fabric from a pile and reshapes worn wedding dresses, trying to keep a fading tradition…

Features This aerial view shows tourists taking photos at the Ushuaia sign in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Antartida e Islas del Atlantico Sur, Argentina, on May 17, 2026. (AFP)

In Tierra del Fuego, a Hunt for the Rodent Carrier of Hantavirus

A scientific mission was set to kick off the search Monday for rodents that may be hantavirus carriers after an outbreak on a cruise ship departed this region…

Features  An Iraqi shepherd herds sheep and goats as the sun sets in the Iraqi town of Mishkhab south of Najaf, Iraq, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (APl)

Was Israel Secretly Running Two Military Bases in Iraqi Desert for Months?

Israel built two covert bases in Iraq’s rugged western desert for well over a year to aid in its wars with Iran, The New York Times reported Sunday. Iraqi…

Asharq Al Awsat (Baghdad)
Features  Israeli soldiers stand guard during a weekly settlers' tour in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 16, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel Could Wean Itself off US Defense Aid, but Not Yet

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call to gradually end Israel's reliance on US military aid could boost strategic flexibility, analysts said, though a full…

Features Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed during the Israel Hamas war, in Gaza City, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP)

Report: US May Ask Israel to Put Palestinian Tax Money Toward Trump’s Gaza Plan

The US is considering asking Israel to give some tax money it is withholding from the Palestinian Authority to Donald Trump's Board of Peace to fund the US…

Features  Brides waiting to be wed look on during a mass-wedding celebration for Palestinian couples organized by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) in Gaza City on May 11, 2026. (AFP)

‘Happiest Day of Our Lives’: Gazans Hold Mass Wedding Among Ruins

Wearing traditional Palestinian dresses, the white fabric intricately embroidered in a rainbow of colors, dozens of smiling brides clutched red bouquets as…

Features The cruise ship MV Hondius, affected by a hantavirus outbreak, leaves the port of Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, Spain on May 11. (Reuters)

Hantavirus Outbreak Tests Post-COVID Health Communications Playbook

A rodent-borne virus with a scary name. A mid-ocean cruise ship in quarantine. Several people dead and more falling sick. It is no wonder that an outbreak of…

Features This aerial view shows protesters during a protest march against mining at the Aybasti Plateau in Ordu Province, northeastern Türkiye, on May 8, 2026. (AFP)

Mines ‘Draining Türkiye's Water Sources’, Environmentalists Warn

Guney was once a water-rich village fed by 50 springs in Türkiye's western Usak province, but since a gold mine opened 20 years ago, they have all dried up. …

Features Reception sign at the entrance to Mezzeh Military Hospital 601 in Damascus, where torture and killings took place and where Caesar photos were taken (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Syrian Hospitals Turned Into Torture Chambers, with Tishreen Military Hospital as a Model

Asharq Al-Awsat collected harrowing testimonies from survivors of “deliberate liquidation” operations carried out against detained opponents at Tishreen…

Muwafaq Mohammed (Damascus )