Features

Features An armed ultra-Orthodox Jewish man holds a child by the hand as he walks in the Old City in Jerusalem at the start of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur -AFP

UN Warns against 'Catastrophic' Regional Conflict

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warned Saturday against a "catastrophic" regional conflict as Israeli forces battled Hezbollah and Hamas fighters on two fronts, on…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Ismail Qaani whispers in the ear of IRGC Commander Hossein Salami (IRNA)

Qaani’s Uncertain Fate: A New Angle in the Shadow War

There has been recently a surge of speculation about Ismail Qaani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, with reports presenting conflicting information. …

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Features Emergency teams and military personnel help people mostly Turkish nationals to disembark from a Turkish TCG Sancaktar military ship after being evacuated from Lebanon's capital Beirut to Türkiye, in Mersin port, southern Türkiye, early Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish Citizens Fleeing Lebanon Mourn the Homes and Family Left Behind

Eyup Sabri Kirgiz gathered up his loved ones — both family and pets — and with a heavy heart left his beloved city of Beirut behind, after two weeks of deadly…

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Features An image of Imad Mughniyeh raised alongside Hezbollah missile launchers during a military drill in southern Lebanon. File photo

Hezbollah’s New Strategy: Gradual Escalation, Focus on Ground Combat

Since suffering major setbacks on September 17, the day its communication systems were targeted, Hezbollah appears to have outlined a new military strategy for…

Paula Astih (Beirut)
Features A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above south Lebanon during Israeli bombardment on October 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

What to Know about Israel's Ground Invasion in Southern Lebanon

Israel’s ground invasion in Lebanon stretched into its second week, as the Hezbollah militant group fired hundreds of rockets deep into Israel — with no end in…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Lubana Ismail, a displaced Lebanese woman who fled from her home in Tyre due to Israeli bombardments in Southern Lebanon, holds her newborn baby girl, Zahraa, to whom she gave birth in Iraq, as she sits with her family at a hotel in Najaf, Iraq, October 7, 2024. (Reuters)

With Hospitals Full in Lebanon, Family Flees to Give Birth in Iraq

Lubana Ismail had just fled her village in southern Lebanon with her husband and two children when she went into labor. She had swollen veins in her uterus and…

Features  A Lebanese flag waves on a fishing boat docked at the harbor in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on October 8, 2024. (AFP)

Lebanese Fishermen Stay Ashore after Israeli Warning

Piles of fishing nets lay on land unused in the southern Lebanese port of Sidon on Tuesday as fishermen stayed ashore after the Israeli military warned of…

Features 'People just can't anymore,' said Rami Bou Khalil, head of psychiatry at Beirut's Hotel Dieu hospital - AFP

War Piles Yet More Trauma on Lebanon's Exhausted People

Ask a Lebanese person how they are, and you're likely to be met with a heavy pause or a pained smile. Years of crisis have drained them, and now Israeli air…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Staff unload a medical aid shipment at the Beirut International Airport - AFP

UN Aid Workers Fear Same 'Spiral of Doom' in Lebanon as Gaza

UN officials voiced concern on Tuesday that the same methods of warfare used by Israel that caused high civilian casualties and widespread destruction in…

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Features Lebanese former Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. (Getty Images)

The Truth between Two Wars: July 2006 and October 2023

The dangerous plight Lebanon endured in 2006 and currently enduring since October 8, 2023, share several similarities and vast differences. The moment the…

Fuad Siniora
Features In December, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei led the funeral prayer for Quds Force leader Razi Mousavi. Photo: Khamenei's website

Eight Key Iranian Developments Following ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’

As the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation by Hamas and the Gaza war began, Iran was already dealing with the fallout from protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini,…

Adil Al-Salmi (London)
Features This overview shows a destroyed mosque and other buildings in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2024 on the first anniversary of the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Gaza Is in Ruins after Israel’s Yearlong Offensive. Rebuilding May Take Decades

The Gaza Strip is in ruins. There are hills of rubble where apartment blocks stood, and pools of sewage-tainted water spreading disease. City streets have…

Features  A child walks through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP)

One Year of War in Gaza: Deadliest Conflict for Reporters

Palestinian journalist Islam al-Zaanoun was so determined to cover the war in Gaza that she went back to work two months after giving birth. But, like all…

Features Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grimaces after addressing the 79th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, US, September 27, 2024.  REUTERS/Mike Segar

Iran Confrontation Offers Israel's Netanyahu Path to Erase Oct 7 Stigma, at Least at Home

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, confrontation with Iran and its proxies offers the chance of political redemption at home, even at the risk of a…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features An Israeli fighter jet releases flares as it flies over the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Dec. 9, 2023. (AP)

US Spends a Record $17.9 Billion on Military Aid to Israel Since Last Oct. 7

The United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the…

Features A Palestinian child plays next to empty ammunition containers in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 16, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

UNICEF Chief Warns Gaza Kids Face 'Post-generational Challenges'

After a year of military operations between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the head of UNICEF warned that children there will face "post-generational challenges”…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert in Gaza in 2014 - AFP

Desperate Deja Vu for Foreign War Doctors in Lebanon

In a south Lebanon hospital, Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert peered out of the window after bombardment near the Israeli border, four decades after he first…

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Features  Smoke and flames rise amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon October 5, 2024. (Reuters)

The War in Gaza Long Felt Personal for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon. Now They’re Living It

The war in Gaza was always personal for many Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Many live in camps set up after 1948, when their parents or grandparents fled…

Features  Fajima Kamara, 28, from Sierra Leone poses for a picture at a shelter for displaced migrant workers, in Hazmieh, Lebanon October 4, 2024. (Reuters)

Lebanon’s Migrant Workers Stuck in Limbo as Thousands Flee Conflict

Migrant worker Fajima Kamara came to Lebanon three years ago from Sierra Leone, but when Israeli jets started pounding her neighborhood with airstrikes last…

Features A Lebanese man stands on the rubble of a house that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike Tuesday night, in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (AP)

What to Know About Fighting in Lebanon and Gaza

Relentless Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs overnight and closed off the main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, forcing fleeing civilians…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Demonstrators clash with Palestinian security forces in Nablus in the West Bank (File photo/Reuters)

Deadly Israeli Strike in West Bank Highlights Spread of War

The ruins of a coffee shop in the West Bank city of Tulkarm show the force of the airstrike on Thursday night that killed a senior local commander of the…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Sierra Leone is working to establish how many of its citizens are currently in Lebanon -AFP

'We Don't Want to Die Here': Sierra Leone Migrants Trapped in Lebanon

When an Israeli airstrike killed her employer and destroyed nearly everything she owned in southern Lebanon, it also crushed Fatima Samuella Tholley's hopes of…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Smoke rises over Beirut's southern suburbs and their surroundings after strikes, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Abdelaziz Boumzar

Airlines Avoid Iranian Airspace, Hiking up Flight Times and Fuel Costs

Airlines are largely avoiding Iranian airspace in their flights over the Middle East, according to flight tracker FlightRadar24, lengthening flight times and…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Since 2023, Morocco has built some 44 of these desalination stations, also called "monobloc" -- compact, transportable units © - / AFP

Morocco Mobile Desalination Units Quench Remote Areas' Thirst

In the small fishing village of Beddouza in western Morocco, locals have turned to the Atlantic to quench their thirst, using mobile desalination stations to…

Asharq Al Awsat