Features

Features A person votes at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Kirkuk, Iraq, November 11, 2025. (Reuters)

What’s at Stake in Iraq’s Parliamentary Election 

Iraqis were voting on Tuesday in a parliamentary election that comes at a crucial moment for the country and the region. The outcome of the vote will influence…

Features  
Al-Bashir and al-Turabi (right) after the coup (AP)

El-Mahboub Abdul Salam to Asharq Al-Awsat: Al-Turabi Tasted the Betrayal of his Disciples, Foremost Among them Omar al-Bashir

Dr. Hassan Abdullah al-Turabi once tasted a bitter truth: that a man’s own disciples may one day betray him. It is almost a law of political life that students…

Ghassan Charbel (Cairo)
Features An undated photo from 2023 provided by a whistleblower shows Palestinian prisoners captured in the Gaza Strip at the Sde Teiman detention facility. (AP)

Palestinians Recount ‘Black Hole’ of Israeli Detention

Denied contact with his lawyer for months, now freed Palestinian prisoner Shady Abu Sedo said he lost all sense of time while he was held in Israeli jails…

Features Carlos' wanted photos as released by Interpol. (AFP)

El-Mahboub Abdul Salam to Asharq Al-Awsat: Al-Turabi Viewed Carlos as a Poisonous Present from Jordan

An attractive foreigner once entered a store in Khartoum. The owner never once imagined who it could possibly be. The foreigner noticed the portrait of a…

Ghassan Charbel (Cairo)
Features A young Iraqi worker walks past election campaigning posters ahead of the parliamentary elections in Baghdad, Iraq, 07 November 2025. (EPA)

What’s at Stake in Iraq’s Parliamentary Election?

Iraqis will elect a new parliament on November 11, in a key test for Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and for a system seen by the country's young…

Features Salah Abu Ali, 52, official guardian of Palestinians alleged oldest olive tree, between 3,000 and 5,000 years old poses for a portrait under it in Al-Walajah, occupied West Bank on November 4, 2025. (AFP)

West Bank’s Ancient Olive Tree a ‘Symbol of Palestinian Endurance’ 

As guardian of the occupied West Bank's oldest olive tree, Salah Abu Ali prunes its branches and gathers its fruit even as violence plagues the Palestinian…

Features A circulated image shows the Ghuraba camp in Harem in Idlib’s countryside

French Migrant Unit Faces Quiet Standoff With Damascus

The latest clashes in Idlib’s countryside between a French armed faction known as the Ghuraba and Syrian government forces have revived one of the most…

Sultan al-Kanj
Features A view shows electricity pylons in Kiswah, Damascus suburbs, Syria September 8, 2021. Picture taken September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo

Syrians Furious at Major Hike in Electricity Prices

In his workshop near the Syrian capital, Ghassan Aama is at a loss following a recent decision to massively hike electricity prices, even as much of the…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Palestinian detainees at Israel’s Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, winter 2023 (AP)

Israel’s Notorious Prison: Survivors Speak of ‘Cemetery for the Living’

by Bahaa Melhem After hearing and reading much about the horrors taking place inside Israel’s Sde Teiman detention center, Palestinian journalist Shadi Abu…

Features Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference at the Unisphere on November 05, 2025 in the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)

Mamdani Victory Fires up Europe’s Left Against Right-Wing Surge at Home

The blistering rise of Zohran Mamdani to become mayor of New York City has offered encouragement to left-wing parties across Europe that an unabashedly radical…

Features People walk past an anti-US billboard on a street in Tehran, Iran, November 5, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

'Hostage Diplomacy': Longstanding Iran Tactic Presenting Dilemma for West

Iran since the revolution has employed the tactic of arresting Westerners in a bid to extract concessions from its foes, in a strategy of "hostage diplomacy"…

Features Supporters of the Association Mouv'Enfants hold placards in front of French police during a protest against the opening of the first physical space of Chinese online fast-fashion retailer Shein at the Le BHV Marais department store, the Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville, in Paris, France - The AP news

Fast-fashion Giant Shein Draws Shoppers and Protesters as it Opens its First Store in Paris

Crowds of shoppers — and protesters — turned out Wednesday for the opening of fast-fashion giant Shein's first permanent store in Paris inside one of the city…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Al-Shabaab fighters display weapons as they conduct military exercises in northern Mogadishu, Somalia, October 21, 2010. (AP file photo)

'Blood Emirate' Expands Across Sahel in Hunt for Gold, Power  

In the Libyan city of Sabha, known as the “Bride of the South,” authorities dismantled three terrorist networks in August, revealing links stretching across…

Jamal Jawhar (Cairo)
Features Democratic candidate for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani waves to his supporters after winning the 2025 New York City Mayoral race, at an election night rally in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, US, November 4, 2025. (Reuters)

Zohran Mamdani’s Rise: From Queens Lawmaker to New York City Mayor 

When he announced his run for mayor last October, Zohran Mamdani was a state lawmaker unknown to most New York City residents. But that was before the 34…

Features France's Army personnel from the combat engineering corps maneuver a motorized floating bridge (PFM) across the Mures River during the "Dacian Fall" military exercise in Santimbru on November 3, 2025. (AFP)

NATO Tests War Preparedness on Eastern Flank Facing Russia

On the Mures river in central Romania, French armored vehicles and Romanian trucks board a motorized floating bridge, part of a large military exercise to…

Features  Palestinian children watch a cartoon movie during an activity held by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, aimed at easing the psychological stress caused by the war, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Gaza’s Psychological Trauma Brings Large Numbers to Seek Help

Gaza residents are suffering "a volcano" of psychological trauma from Israel's devastating military campaign that has become clear since last month's truce,…

Features A Palestinian boy pushes a cart loaded with water containers in a displacement camp in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on Saturday (AP Photo)

A Rosy Life on Social Media Masks Gaza’s Bleak Reality

Anyone scrolling through social media and seeing the posts of some Gaza residents, including activists, influencers, and shop owners, might think the enclave…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Features An Israeli missile lays on the rubble in the middle of a street next to destroyed houses in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 30 October 2025, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. (EPA)

Unexploded Bombs Sow Fear Among Gazans Under Fragile Truce

Moein al-Hattu's home has been ripped apart, its cinder block walls blown out into the street and a dusty grey bomb hangs menacingly from a damaged pillar, its…

Features FILE - An M-48 tank which fired uranium-tipped shells in the 1970s sits at the Nevada Test Site on Aug. 24, 1999. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch, File)

Trump's Big Nuclear Reactor Push Raises Safety Concerns

A huge nuclear deal announced by the Trump administration earlier this week provides a multi-billion-dollar incentive for the US government to issue permits…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features A Saudi Anti-Narcotics official displays bags of Captagon pills seized in Jeddah hidden inside a shipment of pomegranates, April 25 (AFP)

Lebanon’s Drug Empire Faces Beginning of Its End

A sense of optimism is growing within Lebanon’s security establishment that 2026 could mark the end of the country’s “drug world,” a shadow economy born out of…

Thaer Abbas (Beirut)
Features Lebanese army soldiers stand next to the wreckage of a vehicle targeted by an Israeli drone in the village of Harouf in the Nabatieh Governorate, southern Lebanon, 25 October 2025. EPA/STRINGER

Lebanese Army Walks Political Tightrope to Disarm Hezbollah

Lebanon's army has blown up so many Hezbollah arms caches that it has run out of explosives, as it races to meet a year-end deadline to disarm the Shi'ite…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Sudanese residents gather to receive free meals in el-Fasher, a city besieged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for more than a year, in the Darfur region, on August 11, 2025. (AFP)

El-Fasher's Fall to RSF Risks New Sudan Split, Warn Analysts

Paramilitary forces' claimed capture of el-Fasher, a city in Sudan's Darfur, could mark a turning point in the country's two-year war and stoke fears the…

Features  President-elect Catherine Connolly reacts as she stands on a stage at Dublin Castle, on the day of the announcement of the results of the Irish presidential election in Dublin, Ireland, October 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Ireland’s President Elect Is a Left-Wing, Anti-Establishment Figure Who Is Outspoken on Gaza

Ireland's president for the next seven years is an independent lawmaker who has long spoken in support of Palestinians and has been vocal about her distrust of…

Features A woman votes during the 2022 parliamentary elections in Tripoli, Lebanon. (AP)

Lebanese Parties Eye Alliances in Preparation for Next Year’s Parliamentary Elections

The majority of Lebanon’s political parties have kicked off their preparations for next year's parliamentary elections as debate continues to rage over how…

Caroline Akoum (Beirut)