Arab World News

Damascus, in Cooperation with Baghdad, Foils Plot to Smuggle Drugs Abroad

Arab World Quantities of Captagon prepared for smuggling abroad- SANA

Damascus, in Cooperation with Baghdad, Foils Plot to Smuggle Drugs Abroad

Syrian authorities said they have thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of drugs out of the country. The Syrian Narcotics Directorate said on…

Asharq Al Awsat (Damascus)
Arab World Security personnel guard trucks carrying aid as they arrive in Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip January 17, 2024. (Reuters)

How Gaza Armed Gangs Recruit New Members

As Hamas moves to strike armed gangs operating in areas of the Gaza Strip under Israeli army control, the groups are responding with defiance, stepping up…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Arab World Palestinians attend Friday prayers in a mosque following an attack that local Palestinians said was carried out by Israeli settlers, in the village of Deir Istiya near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer

Israel Permits 10,000 West Bank Palestinians for Friday Prayers at Al Aqsa

Israel announced that it will cap the number of Palestinian worshippers from the occupied West Bank attending weekly Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Palestinians push a cart past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

EU Exploring Support for New Gaza Administration Committee, Document Says

The European Union is exploring possible support for a new committee established to take over the civil administration of Gaza, according to a document…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A drone view shows the destruction in a residential neighborhood, after the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the area, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City, October 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel Military Says Soldier Killed in Gaza 

The Israeli military announced that one of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Gaza on Wednesday, but a security source said the death appeared…


Arab World People sit outdoors surrounded by nature, with the Tigris river flowing in the background, following a long atmospheric depression, near the Syrian-Turkish border in Derik, Syria, February 16, 2026 REUTERS/Orhan Qereman

Syria: SDF’s Mazloum Abdi Says Implementation of Integration Deal May Take Time

Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the process of merging the SDF with Syrian government forces “may take some time,” despite…

Souad Jarous (Damascus)
Arab World A Palestinian man checks leather belts as people prepare for Ramadan, in the old city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 17,2026. (Reuters)

Israeli Far-Right Minister to Push for ‘Migration’ of West Bank, Gaza Palestinians 

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would pursue a policy of "encouraging the migration" of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank…

Arab World Members of the Coordination Framework hold a meeting. (Iraqi News Agency)

Maliki Can Withdraw as Candidacy as Iraq PM the Easy or Hard Way

Iraqi Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declined at the last minute to attend a meeting of the pro-Iran Coordination Framework on Monday night that was…

Ali Saray (London)
Arab World Members of Australian families believed to be linked to ISIS leave Roj camp near Derik, Syria February 16, 2026. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman

Australia Bars Citizen Held in Syria’s Roj Camp from Returning Home

Australia has barred one of its citizens from returning home from a Syrian detention camp because of security concerns, the government said Wednesday. The…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Socotra power generators restarted after Saudi intervention (X)

Saudi Intervention Ends Socotra Power Crisis

Electricity has returned to Yemen’s Socotra archipelago after urgent Saudi intervention ended days of outages that disrupted daily life and crippled vital…

Mohammed Nasser (Aden)
Arab World Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty speaks during a joint press conference with Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary/Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP)

Egypt’s Prime Minister and FM Head to Washington for Trump Peace Council Meeting

Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly headed to Washington on Tuesday ‌to ‌participate in ‌the inaugural ⁠meeting of a "Board of Peace"…

Arab World Israeli troops conduct a military raid in the village of Al-Yamoun, west of Jenin, West Bank, 17 February 2026. (EPA)

Palestinian Child Dies After Stepping on Mine in West Bank

A Palestinian child died after stepping on a mine near an Israeli military camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, with…

Arab World 29 July 2024, Iran, Tehran: Then Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is pictured during a meeting in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)

Hezbollah Rejects Disarmament Plan and Government’s Four-Month Timeline

Hezbollah rejected on Tuesday the Lebanese government's decision to grant the army at least four months to advance the second phase of a nationwide disarmament…

Arab World TOPSHOT - Members of Syrian security forces march through the entrance of the Al-Hol camp in the desert region of Hasakeh province on January 21, 2026. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

Syria Starts Evacuating ISIS-linked Al-Hol Camp

Syrian authorities began evacuating remaining residents of the ISIS group-linked Al-Hol camp in the country's northeast on Tuesday, as they empty the formerly…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Taxi drivers, foreground, block a main highway with their cars during a protest against the increased taxes and gasoline prices issued by the Lebanese Cabinet on Monday, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Protesters Block Beirut Roads after Cabinet Approves New Taxes that Raise Fuel Prices

Protesters blocked main roads in and around Beirut on Tuesday after Lebanon’s Cabinet approved new taxes that raise fuel prices and other products to fund…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A group of women wait for news as Palestinian civil defense teams work to recover the remains of 67 members of the Abu Nasr family from beneath the rubble of their home after it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza City, 15 February 2026. (EPA)

Under Israeli Cover, Gaza Gangs Kill and Abduct Palestinians in Hamas-Controlled Areas 

Amid heavy Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, armed gangs carried out kidnappings and executions of Palestinians on Monday in areas controlled by Hamas, west of…

Asharq Al Awsat (Gaza)
Arab World Part of previous consultative meetings for Yemeni lawyers in Sanaa (Facebook)

Lawyers in Sanaa Under Houthi Repression

In areas controlled by the Houthi group in Yemen, there is an increasing number of violations targeting lawyers, raising widespread concerns about the future…

Asharq Al Awsat

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Arab World Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stands outside the entrance to his office at Parliament House in Canberra on February 11, 2026. (AFP)

Australia Won’t Repatriate 34 Women and Children from Syria 

The Australian government will not repatriate from Syria a group of 34 women and children with alleged ties to the ISIS group, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese…

Arab World The Neve Yaakov settlement north of East Jerusalem, with the Israeli wall visible separating the Palestinian neighborhood of al-Ram in the West Bank (AFP). 

‘Jerusalem After the West Bank’: Israel Effectively Erases the Land of a Palestinian State

A day after an unprecedented Israeli decision allowing the seizure of land in the occupied West Bank, Hebrew-language reports revealed a settlement plan that…

Kifah Zboun
Arab World LNA commander Khalifa Haftar meets with Egypt’s chief of intelligence Hassan Rashad on Sunday. (LNA General Command)

Will Libya’s Haftar Sever Alleged Association with Sudan’s RSF? 

Senior Egyptian officials have been flocking to eastern Libya, the stronghold of the Libyan National Army (LNA), in what observers have said was increasing…

Jamal Jawhar (Cairo)
Arab World Italy's Minister for Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani speaks to the press during the EPP Leaders’ meeting, in Zagreb, Croatia, 30 January 2026. (EPA)

Italy Says It Stands Ready to Train Police in Gaza

Italy stands ready to help train police forces in Gaza and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories, its foreign minister said on Monday, as ‌Rome aims to…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World A damaged excavator sits on the rubble of a building that was hit in January by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Qannarit, on February 16, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanon Says Army to Take at Least 4 Months for Next Stage of Hezbollah Disarmament Plan 

Lebanon's government said Monday that the army would need at least four months to implement the second phase of the military's plan to disarm Hezbollah in the…

Arab World  Israeli's sit on the roof next to a flag, as they monitor a weekly settlers' tour in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 14, 2026. (Reuters)

Prosecutors Plan to Charge an Israeli Settler with Killing a Palestinian Activist in the West Bank

Israeli prosecutors said Monday that they plan to charge a settler in the killing of a Palestinian activist during a confrontation that was caught on video,…

Arab World  Palestinian Muslim worshipper walks in the grounds of the Dome of the Rock Shrine at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the old city of Jerusalem, during a light dust storm on February 14, 2026. (AFP)

Israel Police to Deploy Around Al-Aqsa for Ramadan, Palestinians Report Curbs

Israeli police said Monday that they would deploy in force around the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week, as…

Arab World A general view of demonstrators during 2019 anti-government protests in central Beirut. (Reuters)

German President Urges Lebanon to Keep up Disarmament of Hezbollah

Visiting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday urged Beirut to keep disarming militant group Hezbollah, saying it would help ensure the withdrawal…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Sudanese vendors wait for customers at a fish market in the al-Mourada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, on February 15, 2026. (AFP)

Drone Attack on Sudan Market Kills 28, Says Rights Group

A drone attack on a crowded market in central Sudan killed 28 people, a rights group reported Monday, as the army and its RSF rivals traded aerial strikes in…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Tunisian police - File Photo/AFP

Sentences of Up to 15 Years for Tunisian Synagogue Attack

Tunisian courts handed down prison sentences of up to 15 years to five defendants tied to a deadly May 2023 attack on a synagogue on the island of Djerba, one…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Royal Armed Forces and civil authorities work together to address flooding risks amid rising waters in the Loukkos River, in Ksar El Kebir, Morocco February 2, 2026. Moroccan authorities/Handout via REUTERS

Morocco Residents Begin Returning to Northwest as Flood Waters Recede

Moroccan authorities began organizing the gradual return of residents to the city of Ksar El Kebir and other flood-hit northwestern areas as weather conditions…

Asharq Al Awsat
Arab World Family members of suspected ISIS militants who are Australian nationals walk toward a van bound for the airport in Damascus during the first repatriation operation of the year at Roj Camp in eastern Syria, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)

Australian Citizens with Alleged ISIS Ties Depart Syria’s Roj for Repatriation

A group of Australian citizens left on Monday a camp in northeast Syria housing people with alleged ties to ISIS militants to begin the journey to their home…

Asharq Al Awsat