Arab World News

Türkiye Says SDF Has No Option but to Integrate into Syrian Army

Arab World Turkish Land Forces Commander Metin Tokel and Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra meet in Damascus on December 11. (Turkish Defense Ministry)

Türkiye Says SDF Has No Option but to Integrate into Syrian Army

Türkiye said on Friday that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have no alternative but to implement a March 10 agreement requiring their integration into the…

Saeed Abdulrazek (Ankara)
Arab World A member of the Civil Defense stands on the rubble of a house hit by an Israeli airstrike in the town of Jbaa in South Lebanon. (Reuters)

Lebanese State Formally Launches Reconstruction Effort with Modest Public Funding

More than a year after the end of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which caused widespread destruction in South Lebanon, the Lebanese state has formally…

Paula Astih (Beirut)
Arab World British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. (AP)

Britain Imposes Sanctions on RSF Leaders, Including Hemedti’s Brother

Britain on Friday imposed sanctions on senior commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), accusing them of involvement in mass killings, systematic…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Arab World UNRWA headquarters in Gaza (file photo, Reuters)

Arab, Muslim States Say UNRWA Role is Indispensable

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye and Qatar on Friday rallied behind the UN Relief and Works Agency for…

Asharq Al Awsat (Riyadh)
Arab World Two boys shelter from the rain while sitting on a donkey cart in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip (AFP)

Partial Rafah Rebuilding Risks Delaying Cairo Conference

Discussion has intensified over plans for partial reconstruction in parts of Gaza, even as official Arab statements insist that rebuilding must begin across…

Mohamed Mahmoud (Cairo)

Arab World A destroyed house is seen from an armored vehicle of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the village of Blida, near the border with northern Israel, southern Lebanon, 08 December 2025. (EPA)

Israel Reinforces Separation between Negotiations with Lebanon, Strikes on Hezbollah

Israel sharply escalated its military campaign in Lebanon on Friday, carrying out air strikes north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon, including the…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World Prosthetic limb technician Ahmed Al-Ashqar, 34, prepares a leg amputation splint in the first stage of building an artificial leg at Hamad Hospital in Zawaida, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Gaza Amputees Struggle to Rebuild Lives as the Enclave Faces Shortages of Prosthetic Limbs

Sitting in her wheelchair, Haneen al-Mabhouh dreams of rebuilding her family, of cradling a new baby. She dreams of walking again. But with her leg gone, her…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Israeli settlements seen from Bethlehem in the West Bank. (AFP file)

UN: Israeli Settlements in West Bank Growing at Highest Level Since 2017

The expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is at its highest level since at least 2017, when the United Nations began tracking such data,…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Lebanese President Joseph Aoun meets with Egyptian ’s Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa Moussa at the Baabda presidential palace on Friday. (Lebanese Presidency)

Egypt Maintaining Efforts to Avert New Israeli War on Lebanon

Egypt continues to exert efforts to ease tensions and prevent a new Israeli war on Lebanon as part of an initiative kicked off by its foreign minister Badr…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World An Islamic Jihad member looks on as workers dig in search of the corpses of hostages in northern Gaza. (AP file)

Islamic Jihad Denies Withholding Body of Last Israeli Hostage

Palestinian sources dismissed Israeli claims circulating over the past two days that the Islamic Jihad movement is refusing to cooperate with Hamas by handing…

Arab World Heavy machinery operates as Palestinians gather amid a search for victims in a destroyed house that collapsed due to heavy rains, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 12, 2025. (Reuters)

Gaza Civil Defense Says 13 Dead as Heavy Rains Batter Territory

Gaza's civil defense agency on Friday said at least 13 people had died in the last 24 hours, including three children who died from exposure to the cold, as a…

Arab World An Israeli flag flutters, as part of the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim is visible in the background, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel Gives Legal Status to 19 West Bank Settlements, Media Reports

Israel's cabinet has decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under a pullout…

Arab World Former Iraqi President Barham Salih. (Reuters)

Former Iraq President Named UN Refugee Chief, Document Shows

Iraq's former president Barham Salih has been chosen as the next High Commissioner for Refugees for the United Nations, a letter showed on Friday, breaking…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the Congressional Ball in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 11, 2025. (Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP)

Trump: ‘We Actually Do Have a Real Peace in the Middle East’

US President Donald Trump has said that there are prospects for “a real peace in the Middle East.” When asked by a reporter at the White House about…

Asharq Al Awsat (Washington)
Arab World A convoy of Lebanese army vehicles drives near the border with Israel in the village of Alma al-Shaab during a Lebanese army media tour in south Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Series of Israeli Strikes Hit Lebanon

A series of Israeli strikes hit south and east Lebanon on Friday, state media reported, as Israel's army said it was targeting Hezbollah sites, the latest such…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World An orphaned Sudanese child eats at a refugee camp in eastern Chad, November 22, 2025 (Reuters).

Lavrov Offers Russian Mediation on Political Settlement in Sudan

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has renewed Moscow’s offer to mediate efforts aimed at launching a political process to end the ongoing conflict in…

Raed Jaber (Moscow)
Arab World Displaced children gather in a camp in Sanaa. EPA

UN Appeals for $2.5 Billion to Confront Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen

The United Nations has warned of an unprecedented rise in humanitarian needs in Yemen during the coming year, saying the country is heading towards one of the…

Mohammed Nasser (Taez)

Most Viewed

 
 

Arab World Displaced Palestinians make their way on animal-drawn carts through a flooded street following heavy rainfall in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, 11 December 2025. EPA/HAITHAM IMAD

A Winter Storm Chills Gaza and Floods Tent Camps, Exposing Aid Failures

Rains drenched Gaza’s tent camps and dropping temperatures chilled Palestinians huddling inside them Thursday as winter storm Byron descended on the war…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World People gather during a march marking the first anniversary of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Idlib (EPA)

Syria Welcomes Repeal of the ‘Caesar Act,’ Sees Step Toward Economic Recovery and Reconstruction

Syria’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday welcomed a vote by the US House of Representatives a day earlier in favor of repealing the Caesar Act, under which the…

Asharq Al Awsat (Damascus)
Arab World  
Caption: Soldiers loyal to Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council inspect a truck outside the presidential palace complex in Aden (Reuters)

Al-Alimi Calls for Containing Escalation in Eastern Yemen, Praises Saudi Role

Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi on Thursday urged political, tribal and social forces in the eastern provinces of Hadramawt…

Asharq Al Awsat (Riyadh)
Arab World Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqhchi looks on during a press conference in Istanbul, Türkiye, June 22, 2025. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo

Iran’s Araqchi to Visit Beirut After Lebanese FM Declines Trip to Tehran

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said on Thursday he would travel to Beirut for talks after receiving a formal invitation from his Lebanese counterpart…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Lebanon Speaker Berri Receives United States Ambassador Michel Issa (Parliament)

Berri Rejects Threats to the Lebanese

Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed what he called efforts to intimidate the Lebanese and underscored the "fundamental principles” that he says…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Arab World Prisoners stroll through a yard inside Roumieh prison, northeast of Beirut, on April 7, 2006. AFP

Talks Fail on Transfer Mechanism for Syrian Prisoners in Lebanon

A Lebanese judicial delegation has returned from Damascus empty-handed, failing to secure the breakthrough it sought on a new treaty governing the transfer of…

Youssef Diab (Beirut)
Arab World Palestinians walk through the rubble amid stormy weather in Gaza City Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel Insists on Hamas Disarmament, Rejects Freeze Proposal

Israel has held firm to demands that Hamas be disarmed as part of President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza, whose first phase began in October. An…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Arab World A Palestinian man rides his bicycle through the rubble amid stormy weather in Gaza City Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Trump Reportedly Planning to Appoint US General to Command ISF in Gaza

President Donald Trump is planning to appoint an American two-star general to command the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, according to two US…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A Palestinian worker breaks concrete to extract steel bars from destroyed homes, using only simple hand tools amid a severe shortage of construction materials caused by long-standing restrictions on the entry of cement and iron, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 9, 2025. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer

Desperate Gazans Pull Iron Bars from Rubble to Construct Tents and Scratch Out a Living

As winter bites in Gaza, displaced Palestinians set out every day to homes destroyed by Israel. There they rip out iron rods from the walls and use them to…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A meeting between Trump and Netanyahu at the White House, July 2025 (AFP). 

Washington’s Opening Toward Damascus Clashes with Israel’s Ground Strategy

Washington’s recent openness toward Damascus is increasingly colliding with Israel’s assertive on-the-ground approach, highlighting a widening rift between the…

Elie Youssef (Washington)
Arab World Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raji receives his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Beirut in June 2025 (File – IRNA)

Lebanese Foreign Minister Declines Invitation to Tehran, Proposes Meeting in Neutral Country

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raji has declined an invitation from his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi to visit Tehran, proposing instead that the two…

Nazeer Rida (Beirut)
Arab World Houthi gunmen display their strength during a gathering north of Sanaa (AFP).  

UN Condemns Houthi Referral of UN Staff to Court

The United Nations on Tuesday condemned a referral by Yemen's Houthis of some of the dozens of UN staff they have detained to a special criminal court. The…

Asharq Al Awsat (Aden)