Armed Militias and Extremist Groups

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani meets with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, in Ankara, Aug. 6, 2026.

Syria's Shibani updates Turkey on Kurds' integration, slams Israel during Ankara visit

The visit highlighted Ankara's growing influence in post-Assad Syria, with the two neighbors expanding strategic coordination on security and regional affairs.

Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Netanyahu’s Gaza double game: Back Trump, reassure Israel’s right

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to both give the impression that Israel retains total freedom of action in Gaza while allowing the Board of Peace to move ahead with President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Tiziana FABI / AFP via Getty Images

What to know about Lebanon-Israel 7th round of talks held in Rome

The US, Israel and Lebanon have sent expanded delegations to the talks, set to continue for three days and expected to focus on security arrangements, border issues and reconstruction.

Palestinian Hamas militants arrive to secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), search for the last two remaining bodies of hostages -an Israeli soldier and a Thai national- from under the rubble of the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern of Gaza Strip on Dec. 1, 2025.

Analysis

How Hamas disarmament deal may test Iran's regional strategy

A possible Hamas decision to disarm would represent more than a Gaza development, testing Iran's decades-old strategy of projecting power through regional allies.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

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Analysis

Renewed Iraq attacks test Zaidi’s push to disarm Iran-backed militias

Mourners carry one of the bodies of members of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) who were killed earlier in Diyala in central Iraq by US-Saudi strikes, during the funeral in Baghdad on July 29, 2026. The US-Saudi strikes killed at least 20 militants, including Iranians, according to the Hashed al-Shaabi. The US and Saudi Arabia said the strikes were in response to attacks on US forces and Saudi oil facilities. (Photo by murtadha ridha / AFP via Getty Images) /

Mustafa Salim

By Mustafa Salim

Turkey, Pakistan among 14 countries backing Saudi Arabia's anti-Houthi Red Sea alliance

A Saudi navy ship is pictured docked at King Faisal navy base in Jeddah before the departure of a team to Port Sudan to help with the evacuation efforts of people fleeing Sudan, on April 29, 2023.

China cuts deal with Houthis, adjusts for long US war with Iran

This aerial photo shows a tanker unloading imported crude oil at a terminal port in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong province on June 25, 2026. (Photo by CN-STR / AFP via Getty Images) / China OUT

Explainer

Tankers keep sailing Red Sea despite Houthi threats as Saudi oil lifeline faces strains

A commercial vessel passes through an international shipping lane off Yemen's Hanish Island in the Red Sea on July 27, 2026.

Israeli security forces and onlookers gather in front of a car wash, where five Arab Israelis were shot dead, in the village of Yafia, west of Nazareth, on June 8, 2023.

Turkey threatens Israel with 'serious consequences' if it targets Hamas on territory

The rare public warning by Turkish intelligence came after the country's president shrugged Washington’s push to curb Hamas' fundraising activities in Turkey.

A newly released prisoner waves from a bus during a welcome ceremony following the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas since the October 7 attacks, in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank early on November 30, 2023.

Day 55 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Thursday, Nov. 30

Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images

Day 59 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Monday, Dec. 4

In this handout photo provided by the US Navy, The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) transits the Strait of Hormuz as an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the Nightdippers of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 5 lifts off from the flight deck November 19, 2019.

Day 58 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Sunday, Dec. 3

Smoke rises from an explosion in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Dec. 2, 2023.

Day 57 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Saturday, Dec. 2

Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on October 12, 2023 as raging battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day. Washington urged Israel to show restraint in its response to Hamas's surprise attack -- the worst in the country's 75-year history -- which Israeli forces said killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. In Gaza, officials have reported more than 1,200 people killed in Israel's uninterrupted campaign of air and artillery strikes,

As Gaza war resumes, can Israel's plan to limit civilian harm succeed?

Under pressure from Washington, Israeli military officials say they are implementing options to limit further harm to civilians as they expand the military campaign to southern Gaza.

JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

Day 56 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Friday, Dec. 1

BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 17: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media as he stands in front of a flag of the European Union before talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Chancellery on November 17, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. Erdogan is on a one-day visit to meet with German leaders that is taking place following his recent vocal support of Hamas and his labelling of Israel as a "terror state", which is complicating his relation with Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

As it stalls Sweden's NATO bid, Turkey is under scrutiny over Hamas, Russia ties

A US Navy Martin UAV drone hovers mid-air beneath a US Navy SH-60S Seahawk helicopter, while Bahraini Coast Guard ship Deraa 13 (L), US Coast Guard cutter Maui (C), and Royal Bahrain Naval Force (RBNF) Abdulrahman Al Fadhel (R) operate on Gulf waters during joint naval exercise between US 5th Fleet Command and Bahraini forces, on October 26, 2021. - The US and Bahrain navies conducted a joint exercise at sea, launching a series of drills integrating unmanned systems into regional maritime operations. (Photo

Day 54 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Wednesday, Nov. 29

Yahia al-Sinwar (C), the Gaza Strip chief of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, addresses supporters during a rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, a commemoration in support of the Palestinian people celebrated annually on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, in Gaza City, on April 14, 2023. (Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Israel-Hamas truce extension buys Netanyahu and Sinwar time

The Israeli government has pledged to resume fighting once Hamas stops liberating hostages, but the battle against the group could employ other war methods.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images

Day 53 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Tuesday, Nov. 28

Members of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) work at a staging area near the border of Gaza as a four day cease fire between Israel and members of Hamas holds for the release of prisoners and hostages on Nov. 27, 2023 outside of the city of Sedero in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Day 52 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Monday, Nov. 27