Background The current study reports on the development of an Arabic version of the Revised version of the Impact of Events Scale (IES‐R). The IES‐R was developed to assist in exploring the relationship between posttraumatic growth (PTG) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among a sample of 40 Middle Eastern participants from a refugee background. Method The psychometric properties were investigated on two recently translated Arabic versions of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) and the adapted IES‐R. The current IES‐R was developed using World Health Organization (WHO) principles in establishing the comprehensibility, reliability, and validity of translated scales. Results Good discriminant validity and good reliability for the scale were identified. Factors analysis supported a four‐factor solution for the PTGI and a three‐factor solution for the IES‐R; however, the small sample size suggests the obtained factor structure is likely unstable. Conclusion The Arabic version of the IES‐R is a promising scale to assess posttraumatic stress symptoms in Middle Eastern Refugees.