Features

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 )
Features Passengers stand aboard the Bahamas-registered cruise ship Ambition after they were confined following the outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness onboard, at the Bordeaux port in Bordeaux, southwestern France on May 13, 2026. (AFP)

From Black Death to Covid, Ships Have Long Hosted Outbreaks

A deadly outbreak on a cruise liner is just the latest in a long history of infectious diseases spreading rapidly in the cramped confines of ships, from the…

Features Women mourn during the funeral procession for three Lebanese Civil Defense members killed in an Israeli airstrike on the village of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon. (dpa)

Grief Silenced, Suppressed as South Lebanon, Beirut Suburbs Are ‘Barred’ from Mourning War Dead

Residents of South Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs are caught between grief and resilience, a feeling unlike any other, and one that is suffocating most…

Caroline Akoum (Beirut)
Features Yasser Arafat during a visit to Tehran on February 17, 1979. He was the first official figure to visit Iran after the "Islamic Revolution" (Getty).

Arafat and Tehran: From Revolutionary Embrace to Open Hostility

Yasser Arafat was the first foreign leader to visit Iran after Khomeini’s 1979 Iranian Revolution. At the time, he believed the Palestinian cause was gaining a…

Asharq Al Awsat (London Ramallah Gaza)
Features President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, shake hands after their US-China summit talk at Gimhae International Airport Jinping in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP)

What to Know About Trump-Xi Summit with Trade, Taiwan and Iran on the Agenda

As Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump prepare for a highly anticipated summit, both China and the United States say their ties have been broadly stable in…

Features  The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP)

Why Hantavirus Is Not the New Covid, According to Experts

A deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship has revived bitter memories of when Covid-19 first emerged, but health experts have emphasized the two viruses…

Features Palestinians gather at a wedding in the Al-Nasser neighborhood, west of Gaza City, in April. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Gaza Wedding Cheers Drown Out Sound of Israeli Airstrikes

Since the announcement of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza last October, Israeli violations have continued and the toll of dead and wounded has climbed. Yet, that…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)