Features

Features An Iranian woman walks next to an anti-US mural in Tehran, Iran, 29 January 2026. (EPA)

How Far Will He Go? Trump’s Options for US Action Against Iran

US President Donald Trump has threatened military action against Iran over its crackdown on protesters, while still for now appearing to leave the door open…

Features Military equipment, including helicopters, on board the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln (AP)

Deal or Strike: Is Military Action Against Iran Drawing Closer?

Despite reports of mediation and back-channel exchanges between Washington and Tehran, what is being described as “negotiations” so far looks more like a bid…

Elie Youssef (Washington )
Features US President Donald Trump waves as he walks upon arrival on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, US, January 27, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

Unmentioned but Present, Trump is a Common Denominator in Efforts to Strengthen Asia-Europe Ties

Stability. Consistency. Ever-changing complexity. With language like that, deployed in separate meetings in three Asian capitals this week, government…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Iranians walk along a street in Tehran, Iran, 27 January 2026. (EPA)

‘Too Dangerous to Go to Hospital’: A Glimpse into Iran’s Protest Crackdown

Young protesters shot in the back, shotgun pellets fired in a doctor's face, wounded people afraid to go to hospital: "Every family has been affected" by the…

Features US fighter jets aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln (AFP)

Trump Balances War Threats and Brinkmanship with Iran

All indications suggest that US military action against Iran may be imminent. Yet the paradox is that edging toward the brink of confrontation may itself be…

Elie Youssef (Washington )
Features A gate at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, January 27, 2026. (Reuters)

Gazans Long for Reopening of ‘Lifeline’ Rafah Crossing

With Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing expected to soon reopen, residents of the war-shattered territory are hoping to reunite with family members, or are…

Features This picture taken on August 27, 2023 shows a view of the entrance of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP)

The Rafah Crossing Is Gaza’s Lifeline to the World and Could Open Soon

Palestinians are eagerly awaiting the reopening of the Rafah border crossing, which is Gaza’s lifeline and only gateway to the outside world that wasn’t…

Features Israeli police officer Ran Gvili (Bring Them Home Now/Handout via REUTERS)

Behind Israel’s Recovery of Last Hostage Body in Gaza

In an unexpected move, Israeli forces carried out a direct search operation to recover the body of the last Israeli hostage in Gaza, police officer Ran Gvili. …

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Features  Sunlight reflects off the windows of homes set against snow covered mountains in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 24, 2026. (AFP)

Trump’s Greenland Ambitions Strain MAGA Ties with Europe’s Far-Right

Tensions over US President Donald Trump's plans to take control of Greenland have driven a wedge in the once iron-clad link between MAGA and Europe's far-right…

Features US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (AFP)

US Buildup Balances Iran Deterrence, Day-After Risks

As the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, several destroyers, and fighter aircraft, are expected to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days, a familiar…

Mohamed Mahmoud (Cairo)
Features Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack in Baghdad, January 22, 2026 (Reuters)

ISIS Detainees at the Crossroads of Security Pressures and Politics in Iraq

The issue of ISIS detainees transferred from prisons in northeastern Syria to Iraq has moved to the forefront of Baghdad’s security and political agenda,…

Hamza Mustafa
Features Apartment buildings and houses light up the city of Nuuk, Greenland on January 22, 2026. (AFP)

Greenland Galvanizes Europe to Confront New US Reality

Europe may have rallied to see off President Donald Trump over Greenland, but its leaders recognize the confrontation is unlikely to be the last in dealings…

Features An Iraqi man carrying the Iranian flag passes in front of security forces outside the Iranian embassy in Baghdad during a demonstration to show solidarity against US threats (DPA). 

Possible ‘Emergency Exit’ for Iraqi Factions, But Not for Everyone

Since protests erupted in Iran, political elites in Iraq have quietly debated whether the “Islamic Revolution” in Tehran might be nearing a rapid collapse. Yet…

Ali Saray (London)
Features In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows people blocking an intersection during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Thursday Jan. 8, 2026. (UGC via AP)

'Too Dangerous to Go to Hospital': A Glimpse into Iran's Protest Crackdown

Young protesters shot in the back, shotgun pellets fired in a doctor's face, wounded people afraid to go to hospital: "Every family has been affected" by the…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features  Syrian government forces patrol inside the al-Hol camp as smoke rises from an arms depot explosion in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP)

A US Shift Marked Kurdish-Led Forces’ Fall from Power in Syria

Two tumultuous weeks saw the fall from power in Syria of the Kurdish-led force that was once the main US partner there, as Washington shifts its backing to the…

Features Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, center, strides through the newly-legalized Jewish settlement of Yatziv, adjacent to the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour, in the West Bank, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP)

Israeli Settler Outpost Becomes a Settlement within a Month

Celebratory music blasting from loudspeakers mixed with the sounds of construction, almost drowning out calls to prayer from a mosque in the Palestinian town…

Features A Palestinian man carries the body of his three-month-old daughter on Tuesday after she died from the cold in Gaza City. (AFP)

Respiratory Virus Claims Lives in Gaza amid Limited Capacity for Testing

Gaza resident Yusra al-Hajjar, 32, went through harrowing moments after she was shocked by a sharp rise in the temperature of her five-month-old infant, Nidal,…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Features Men walk along a street past destroyed high-rise building, as efforts to restore the city's infrastructure resumes after nearly three years of devastation caused by war, in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on January 17, 2025. (AFP)

Khartoum Markets Back to Life but 'Nothing Like Before'

The hustle and bustle of buyers and sellers has returned to Khartoum's central market, but "it's nothing like before," fruit vendor Hashim Mohamed told AFP,…

Features FILE - President Donald Trump is illuminated by a camera flash as he gestures while walking across the South Lawn of the White House, Nov. 2, 2025, in Washington, after returning from a trip to Florida. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Trump Heads into Davos Storm, with an Eye on Home

Donald Trump returns to the Davos ski resort next week after unleashing yet another avalanche on the global order. But for the US president, his main audience…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features A man stands by the wreckage of a burnt bus bearing a banner (unseen) that reads "This was one of Tehran’s new buses that was paid for with the money of the people’s taxes,” in Tehran's Sadeghieh Square on January 15, 2026. (AFP)

Russia, China Unlikely to Back Iran Against US Military Threats

While Russia and China are ready to back protest-rocked Iran under threat by US President Donald Trump, that support would diminish in the face of US military…

Features People stand outside the closed Commodore hotel, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP)

Beirut’s Commodore Hotel, a Haven for Journalists During Lebanon’s Civil War, Shuts Down

During Lebanon’s civil war, the Commodore Hotel in western Beirut's Hamra district became iconic among the foreign press corps. For many, it served as an…

Features Houses covered by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP)

Key Details of Greenland’s Rich but Largely Untapped Mineral Resources

The Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers will meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday after President Donald Trump…

Features Israeli army bulldozers pass buildings during a military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 12 January 2026. (EPA)

The West Bank Football Field Slated for Demolition by Israel

Israeli authorities have ordered the demolition of a football field in a crowded refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, eliminating one of the few ​spaces…

Features In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows people blocking an intersection during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Thursday Jan. 8, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In 'Big Trouble'? The Factors Determining Iran's Future

Over two weeks of protests mark the most serious challenge in years to Iran's theocratic leadership in their scale and nature but it is too early to predict…

Asharq Al Awsat