Features

Features An Iranian man walks past the map of Iran, with its citizens holding hands, painted on a wall in the capital Tehran on May 9, 2026. (AFP)

Caspian Sea Provides Lifeline for Iran amid Sanctions, Blockade

Amid the regional tensions and western sanctions, a complex network of supply routes is beginning to emerge, underscoring the alliances between Russia, Iran…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Features  Palestinian Mohamad Al-Assi, who was released from Israeli detention six months ago, runs past Israel's separation wall as he trains ahead of the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP)

Marathon Marks Turning Point for Palestinian Runner Released from Israeli Prison

Mohamad Al-Assi ran beneath the concrete wall as the sun rose over Bethlehem. His Nikes pounded the gravel, his breath fogging the air as graffiti and paint…

Features A Popular Mobilization Forces member rides a motorcycle during a patrol in western Iraq.

Iran’s War in Iraq Reveals Militias’ Expanding Grip

“If you must fall, be a meteor.” The phrase was written on a mural inside Baghdad’s Green Zone. Beside it was a drawing of faceless fighters in helmets,…

Ali Saray (Baghdad, London)
Features  06 May 2026, United Kingdom, London: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer helps out in the call center at Labour Party headquarters in London, on the last day of campaigning ahead of the elections on Thursday. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/dpa)

Local Elections Could Hasten the Exit of Britain’s Embattled Prime Minister

British voters will cast ballots Thursday in elections that could hasten the end of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s troubled term and confirm that an…

Features Combat aircraft from a NATO country stand in front of a hangar during a fighter plane maneuver exercise at the American military's Ramstein Air Base, near Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, June 6, 2024. (Reuters)

Trump’s Germany Troop Cuts Show Limits of NATO Efforts to Keep US on Board

European officials have been working on ways to convince Donald Trump to keep the United States in NATO despite severe tensions over the Iran war. But his…

Features  Families of Palestinian refugees who have arrived in Italy from the Gaza Strip through humanitarian corridors due to serious medical reasons, take part in a visit to Rome's Baths of Caracalla offered by the "Guides for Gaza" association, Sunday, May 3, 2026. (AP)

Families Evacuated from Gaza Enjoy a Day to Decompress at Rome’s Ancient Baths

The Baths of Caracalla, the sumptuously decorated public baths complex near the Colosseum, were long a place of leisure, healthcare and relaxation for ancient…

Features An AH-64 Apache attack helicopter stands in front of a Galaxy C-5 transport plane at the US Air Base in Ramstein, western Germany, on February 22, 2017. (dpa/AFP)

European Leaders See Trump’s Troop Drawdown from Germany as New Proof They Must Go it Alone

European leaders on Monday said that US President Donald Trump’s snap decision to pull thousands of US troops out of Germany came as a surprise but is a fresh…

Features This aerial picture shows a general view of the cruise ship MV Hondius stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 3, 2025. (AFP)

What to Know about Hantavirus, the Illness Suspected in a Cruise Ship Outbreak

A hantavirus is suspected of causing an outbreak aboard a cruise ship that has killed three people and sickened others. Studies indicate hantaviruses have…

Features Egyptian Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meets Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation summit in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital in December 2024. (Egyptian Presidency)

Why Israel Fears Military Rapprochement Between Egypt and Türkiye

The growing rapprochement between Egypt and Türkiye is raising concern in Israel, particularly as military cooperation expands through joint training and…

Mohamed Mahmoud (Cairo)
Features Displaced Sudanese students attend a class at an elementary school run by the Sudanese Coalition for Education in partnership with the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), south of Port Sudan, on April 26, 2026. (AFP)

Sudanese Schoolchildren Race to Make Up for Years Lost to War

Sudanese 13-year-old Afrah wants to become a surgeon, and nothing will stop her, not even the war that has ravaged her country and forced millions of children…

Features  Mourners carry coffins during a funeral ceremony of four Hezbollah fighters and two civilians, amid a temporary ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in the village of Maaroub, southern Lebanon, April 26, 2026. (Reuters)

Timeline of Decades of Conflict Between Israel and Hezbollah

The ongoing war between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah is far from the first conflict between them. The two have an enmity that goes back more…

Features People walk in a local market in Tehran, Iran, April 28, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Why Iran’s Oil Industry Is Increasingly Threatened by US Blockade

Even as Iran squeezes world energy supplies with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, its own oil industry is increasingly being threatened by an American…

Features “School trip” for children at a Houthi-run summer camp in Amran (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Houthi Summer Centers: A 'Mandatory' School Passage to the Front Lines

In a corner of the courtyard of a public school in Sanaa, a woman dressed in black stands, once used to seeing her son in the morning assembly line. Today, she…

Asharq Al Awsat (Riyadh)
Features Archaeologist Mohamed Mubarak walks past pyramids standing in the Meroe desert, at one of the archaeological sites of the so-called Island of Meroe on the eastern shore of the Nile River, about 220 km north of Khartoum, on April 22, 2026. (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI / AFP)

Meroe Pyramids Resist Destruction, Guard Sudan’s Heritage

Mostafa Ahmed Mostafa is the heir to a long line of groundskeepers who have guarded Sudan's ancient pyramids of Meroe. Now, three years into the war between…

Asharq Al Awsat (Meroe)
Features Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi briefs the media on elections in Tehran, Iran, March 4, 2024. (AP)

Iran’s Guards Seize Wartime Power, Blunting Supreme Leader’s Role

Two months into a war with the US and Israel, Iran no longer has a single, undisputed clerical arbiter at the pinnacle of power — an abrupt break with the past…

Features Former Israeli Prime minister Naftali Bennett and Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid gesture as they announce their political union ahead of this year's general election, the new party will be called "Together", in Herzliya, Israel April 26, 2026. (Reuters)

Netanyahu’s Rivals Are Joining Forces. Would They Shift Israel’s Security Policy?

Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top rivals announced they would join forces in ‌an upcoming election to oust his coalition government,…

Features Iranian women walk along a busy street in Tehran on April 25, 2026. (AFP)

As Some Hijabs Come Off in Iran, Restrictions Still in Place

Images of bareheaded women sipping coffee in cafes in Tehran, in apparent defiance of the country's strict dress rule, have stirred interest outside Iran --…

Features Dr. Jamal Eltaeb checks a patient at Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP)

How a Surgeon Kept a Sudan Hospital Functioning on the War’s Front Line

For three years, Dr. Jamal Eltaeb made excruciating choices. Who should live and potentially die? Should he operate without the right medicines if it might…

Features This photo taken on April 18, 2026 shows Sudanese Ali Gebbai, a volunteer responsible for handling burial procedures for unidentified bodies in the capital, Khartoum, examines one of the unidentified corpses at the mortuary of Omdurman's Al-Nao Educational Hospital. (AFP)

Dealing with the Dead in the Ruins of Sudan’s War

At a makeshift morgue in Khartoum, engineer turned mortician Ali Gebbai clicked through a spreadsheet of the dead. Thousands of entries, each with a photo and…

Features FILE PHOTO: Strait of Hormuz map is seen in this illustration taken April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

A Lesson from 1915 … Why the Strait of Hormuz Can’t be Taken by Force

The debate over reopening the Strait of Hormuz represents one of the most sensitive issues in politics and security. As questions continue to grow about why US…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Features A satellite imagery taken on February 1, 2026, shows a new roof over a previously destroyed building at Isfahan nuclear site, Iran. 2026 (PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via Reuters/ File photo)

Trump Keeps Talking About Iran’s ‘Nuclear Dust.’ What Is It?

Luke Broadwater, David E. Sanger* In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump has been talking about a substance he says is key to ending the United States’…

Features A member of the Danish Refugee Council and Jasmar Human Security Organization uses a metal probe as he searches for land mines in Al-Mogran Park in Khartoum on April 19, 2026. (AFP)

Khartoum Mines Pose Hidden Threat to Returning Residents

Specialized Sudanese army teams are clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance across Khartoum, amid suspicions the Rapid Support Forces had planted explosives…

Asharq Al Awsat (Khartoum)
Features  24 April 2026, Cyprus, Nikosia: French President Emmanuel Macron arrives at the informal meeting of the EU heads of state and government. (dpa)

Macron Leaves Future Open as Political Curtain Nears

With just one year left in his second five-year term, French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will quit politics in 2027 -- leaving observers and…

Features Iranian Serdar Taghizade speaks to a customer inside his currency exchange business in Istanbul on Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Iranians Have Long Sought Work and Relative Stability in Türkiye. The War Could Force Some to Return

Sadri Haghshenas spends her days selling borek — a layered, savory pastry — at a shop in Istanbul, but her mind is on her daughter in Tehran. The family…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)