Ghassan Charbel

Ghassan Charbel
Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper
Features Relations between Gemayel and Khaddam were highly tense (Getty)

Gemayel to Asharq Al-Awsat: Khaddam was Assad’s Stick to Apply Pressure

Late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad was a masterful negotiator, fiercely protective of his image and reputation. He was known for exhausting his guests with…

Ghassan Charbel (Beirut )
Features Hafez al-Assad and Amine Gemayel during a Non-Aligned Movement summit in India. (Getty Images)

Amine Gemayel to Asharq Al-Awsat: Assad Viewed Lebanon the Same Way Saddam Viewed Kuwait

Former Lebanese President Amine Gemayel said that the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad viewed Lebanon the same way the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein…

Ghassan Charbel (Beirut)
Features A meeting between Assad and Jumblatt, attended by Toufic Sultan (left) and Abdullah al-Ahmar (Toufic Sultan File).

Toufic Sultan: Kamal Jumblatt Was not Impressed by Assad or his Likes

After the 1973 war, former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad realized that reclaiming the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights through military means was impossible…

Ghassan Charbel (Beirut)
Features Arafat and Assad during a celebration of the Libyan Revolution in Tripoli in 1988. (AFP)

Toufic Sultan Recalls to Asharq Al-Awsat Mutual Hatred between Hafez al-Assad and Yasser Arafat

Journalists sometimes hear shocking statements—ones they lock away in their memory, fearing their repercussions. Some are too violent, too damaging, or too…

Ghassan Charbel (Beirut)
Interviews Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat's editor-in-chief Ghassan Charbel. Photo: Asharq Al-Awsat

Lebanon’s President to Asharq Al-Awsat: Decision of War and Peace Lies Solely with the State

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says he wants to build a state that has the decision of war and peace and stressed he is committed to implementing Security…

Ghassan Charbel (Beirut)
Features Marwan Hamadeh speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat. (Aasharq Al-Awsat)

Marwan Hamadeh to Asharq Al-Awsat: Rifaat Assad Mocked His Brother, Called for Partition of Lebanon, Syria

Hafez al-Assad did not settle for ruling Syria with an iron grip—he also sought to control Lebanon, and he got his way. Throughout the 1980s, there was…

Ghassan Charbel (Beirut)
Features Marwan Hamadeh accompanying Walid Jumblatt during a meeting with Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa in December.

Marwan Hamadeh: Hafez al-Assad Told Us, ‘Forget Bachir Gemayel,' and he Was Assassinated 4 Days Later

For half a century, Lebanon lived under the long rule of the two Assads in Syria. Damascus held Lebanon’s fate in its hands, shaping its political landscape by…

Ghassan Charbel (Beirut)
Features Syrians gather outside a prison in Damascus the day after Assad’s fall, hoping to uncover the fate of their missing loved ones (AFP)

‘Caesar’s’ Partner ‘Sami’: I Wept at First When I Saw Pictures, Then Became Emotionally Numb

In the final installment of his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Osama Othman, the man who smuggled the “Caesar Files” documenting Syrian torture victims,…

Ghassan Charbel (Paris)