Features

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
Features  A banner depicting Pope Leo XIV hangs from a building ahead of his planned visit to Lebanon, in Annaya, Lebanon November 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Lebanese Living Abroad Seek Hope as They Return for Pope Visit

Rachelle Mazraani is traveling from Sydney to Beirut for Pope Leo XIV's visit this week, one of many Lebanese at home and abroad who hope the trip will revive…

Features Amani Bazzi and her daughter Aseel survived an Israeli strike in south Lebanon that killed four members of their family © Joseph EID / AFP

Lebanon Mum Seeks Justice After Israel Raid Kills Family

In one afternoon, Amani Bazzi went from being a doting mother-of-four to a widow grieving three young children. An Israeli strike in south Lebanon killed them…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Shoppers crowd a market in al-Manaqil, Sudan (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Sudan’s Al-Manaqil Survives War, Holds Out Under Siege

Residents of al-Manaqil in central Sudan say their city came close to falling after the Rapid Support Forces seized Wad Madani in December 2023, raising fears…

Asharq Al Awsat (Khartoum)
Features A picture taken on September 30, 2025 shows the demolished house of Yahya Abu Ghaliyeh, a Palestinian from a Bedouin village near the town of Al-Eizariya, also known as Bethany, east of Jerusalem. (AFP)

Palestinians Fear New Israeli Settlement Will Wreck Their Town 

In a town near Jerusalem, a growing number of houses and businesses are receiving demolition and evacuation notices, and Palestinian residents link the drive…

Features Sudanese who fled El-Fasher in Darfur fill jerrycans with water at the Al-Afad camp for displaced people in the town of Al-Dabbah, northern Sudan, on November 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

Sudan's Displaced Doctors Treat Fellow El-Fasher Survivors

Overwhelmed health workers rushed from patient to patient in makeshift tents in Sudan, trying to help even though they too had barely escaped the fall of El…

Asharq Al Awsat (Al-Dabbah )
Features  Civil Defense workers inspect the damage after an apartment was hit during an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut, Sunday Nov. 23, 2025. (AP)

Who Was Tabtabai, Hezbollah’s Military Leader Killed by Israel?

The Israeli military on Sunday killed Hezbollah's top military official, Haytham Ali Tabtabai, in a strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital that came…

Features A Palestinian girl carries her toys amid the rubble of a destroyed Ministry of Awqaf building that had sheltered displaced families in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood (AFP)

Escalation in Gaza: Will it Spur Mediators to Hasten Gaza Administration Committee?

Israel has returned to its policy of escalation as mediators work to resolve the issue of the three remaining bodies in the first stage of the Gaza ceasefire…

Mohamed Mahmoud (Cairo)
Features Noah Zeiter. (circulated photo)

Three Tumultuous Years that Led to Noah Zeiter's Arrest

Noah Zeiter, one of Lebanon’s most wanted men on charges of drug trafficking and opening fire at security forces, was not arrested in a routine operation. …

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Features A general view of the G20 South Africa 2025 logo ahead of the G20 leaders summit at the Nasrec Expo Center in Johannesburg on November 18, 2025. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)

What to Know About this Weekend's G20 Summit in South Africa that Trump is Boycotting

Leaders from the Group of 20 countries will meet for a summit in South Africa this weekend without any US representatives after President Donald Trump…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Paramedics at the site of a Tuesday night Israeli strike in Ain al-Hilweh camp in Sidon (Reuters)

Israel Abandons Civilian Shielding in Strikes Across Lebanon

Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon widened in recent hours from calculated strikes on alleged military sites to heavy bombardment inside crowded civilian…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Features A displaced Palestinian girl sits on a wall of a damaged school where she has taken shelter in Gaza City, November 11. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Gaza Storms Bring Flooding, Sewage and Misery in Tent Camps

Crammed into flimsy tent camps hard up against the seashore, Gazans have been flooded by heavy rain and storm surges in recent days, destroying some shelters,…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features This photograph shows a Rafale jet fighter with Ukraine's and France's national flags in the background before the arrival of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Villacoublay air base, in Velizy-Villacoublay, near Paris on November 17, 2025. (AFP)

What Are the Rafale Fighter Jets Ukraine Wants from France?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday said he had signed a letter of intent with France to acquire up to 100 Rafale F4 fighter jets as his country…

Features Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, Nov. 10 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Outrage in Israel as Netanyahu Says Government Will Oversee Oct. 7 Inquiry

After repeated delays, Israel’s government has agreed to launch an investigation into the government failures that led to the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023,…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features This undated photo from winter 2023 provided by Breaking The Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, shows blindfolded Palestinian prisoners captured in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces at a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP, File)

Palestinian Deaths in Israeli Custody Have Surged. A Prison Guard Describes Rampant Abuse

The number of Palestinians dying in Israeli custody surged to nearly 100 people since the start of the war in Gaza, according to a report published Monday by a…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Palestinian students attend class inside a tent set up on the beach in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP)

Most of Gaza’s Schools Are Destroyed and Hundreds of Thousands of Children Cannot Go Back to Class 

Bissan Younis looked dejected as she stood outside a cluster of tents surrounded by rubble and debris, a wasteland that is a common sight across the Gaza Strip…

Features Some shops reopen despite extensive damage (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Sudanese Return to Khartoum, Reviving a Shattered Capital

Thousands of displaced Sudanese are returning to Khartoum, where destruction is widespread, explosive drones fill the skies, disease is spreading, and basic…

Asharq Al Awsat (Khartoum)
Features Palestinians use donkey carts to cross a rain-flooded street in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Saturday (DPA)

Gaza Residents Face ‘Winter War’ with No Aid

Palestinian territories, particularly the Gaza Strip, were hit by a winter storm that piled new hardship on residents, especially those living in tents that…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Features Supporters of the incumbent Iraqi prime minister celebrate following the announcement of preliminary election results in Baghdad on November 12, 2025. (AFP)

What Lies Ahead in Iraq: The Hard Task of Forming a Govt

Following Iraq's parliamentary election this week, the complex and often lengthy task of choosing the country's next leader is set to begin. Incumbent Prime…

Features The success of Turkish shows in Bangladesh, challenging the popularity of Indian television dramas, shows signs of shifting alliances. Syed Mahamudur RAHMAN / AFP

TV Soaps and Diplomacy as Bangladesh and Türkiye Grow Closer

In a recording studio in Dhaka, voiceover artist Rubaiya Matin Gity dubs the latest Turkish soap opera to become a megahit in Bangladesh -- a pop-culture trend…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features People shop water storage tanks following a drought crisis in Tehran, Iran, November 10, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Tehran Taps Run Dry as Water Crisis Deepens Across Iran

Iran is grappling with its worst water crisis in decades, with officials warning that Tehran — a city of more than 10 million — may soon be uninhabitable if…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features A Syrian man inspects cells at the prison of Sednaya, north of Damascus, Syria, Dec. 16, 2024. (AFP)

Exiled Syrian Opens up About Death-Defying Smuggling Operation That Showed Proof of Assad’s Cruelty

He waited for his brother-in-law to cross the front line smuggling documents stolen from the Syrian dictatorship’s archives. Detection could mean dismemberment…