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August 6, 2026

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Israeli battle tanks deploy in the village of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah (Eastern Zawtar) in southern Lebanon as pictured from the nearby village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyah (Western Zawtar) on August 2, 2026. Under a US-sponsored agreement signed in June, Lebanon's army is to disarm Hezbollah and the Israeli military is to withdraw from "pilot zones" where Lebanese forces will subsequently deploy. The deal came more than three months after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East with rocket fire at Israel in suppo

Israel-Lebanon talks suspended amid escalation, set to resume Thursday

The Israeli delegation asked the American representatives to suspend the direct talks with Lebanon for a few hours over alleged leaks by Beirut.

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.

Latest News

Analysis

Lacking leverage over Trump, Israel stays quiet on US-Iran talks

US President Donald Trump (C) is welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport on Oct. 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Analysis

How strike on Damietta port exposes Egypt's energy infrastructure risks

An Egyptian man looks at the Qatari Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier "Duhail" as its passes through the Suez Canal near the Egyptian port city of Ismailia on April 1, 2008. The vessel has a capacity of 210,100 cu.m making it one of the largest LNG carriers constructed to date. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images)

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Analysis

No Iran commitment, no Trump endorsement: Netanyahu leaves US empty-handed

US President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, on July 31, 2026. President Trump is traveling to Camp David in Maryland to hold a cabinet meeting and later to Bedminster, New Jersey to spend the weekend at his golf club. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

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

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Rina Bassist

Associate Editor (Israel)

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

A Palestinian man gestures near a damaged car in the West Bank village of Burka, near Ramallah October 10, 2013. An Israeli police spokesperson said on Thursday three cars were damaged overnight and the words "Geulat Tzion loves Tomer Hazan" were scrawled in Hebrew on a wall of the mosque. Geulat Tzion is an illegal Jewish settler-outpost in the West Bank where structures were demolished by Israeli forces a day earlier and Tomer Hazan is an Israeli soldier who was killed by a Palestinian on September 21. RE

Why is Israel still blind to settler violence against Palestinians?

Despite resolutions by Israeli administrations to adopt the 2003 Road map for Peace and the Sason report on illegal West Bank outposts, settler violence against Palestinians continues unabated.

Bibi's fantastic feats of flip-flopping

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personality allows him to promise things but not follow through, and at the end of the day, he will always return to his political base on the right.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) holds a plate of fruit during a visit to Mahane Yehuda fruit and vegetable market in Jerusalem March 9, 2015. Israelis will vote in a parliamentary election on March 17, choosing among party lists of candidates to serve in the 120-seat Knesset. Currently, polls show Netanyahu's Likud party and the centre-left Zionist Union opposition running neck-and-neck, with each predicted to win around 24 seats in the Knesset. REUTERS/Noam Moskowitz (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLIT

Israel's unpredictable voters

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other politicians react to polls that indicate a growing trend over the past few elections, where an increasing number of voters remain undecided until they arrive at the ballot box.

Syrian writer and journalist Samar Yazbek poses on September 26, 2014 in Paris. AFP PHOTO JOEL SAGET (Photo credit should read JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

10 Middle Eastern writers you should know

These 10 female writers are challenging conceptions of women in the Middle East.

People walk past a grafitti tag reading "I am Charlie" as they take part in a solidarity march (Marche Republicaine) in the streets of Paris January 11, 2015. French citizens will be joined by dozens of foreign leaders, among them Arab and Muslim representatives, in a march on Sunday in an unprecedented tribute to this week's victims following the shootings by gunmen at the offices of the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the killing of a police woman in Montrouge, and the hostage taking at a kosher

Rina Bassist on why she writes

Al-Monitor contributor Rina Bassist shares her thoughts on journalism.

Ultra-Orthodox scene bursting with kosher fashion

Young Israeli ultra-Orthodox fashion designers prove that a woman can dress stylishly, even within limits of religious modesty.

Israeli police officers stand guard on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City November 5, 2014. As Jordan joins a military campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria, tensions in Jerusalem pose a potentially bigger risk to a nation only slightly scathed by the turmoil sweeping the Middle East. Picture taken November 5, 2014.
To match Insight MIDEAST-CRISIS/JORDAN-STABILITY
REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS RELIGION C

Does Israel's police have a problem with women?

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Erella Shadmi, an academic researcher and retired policewoman, says she was unsurprised by revelations of sexual harassment within the police: ''This phenomenon has been well known for more than 20 years.''

Israeli army soldiers stand guard during a demonstration by Palestinians against the closure of the main road in Jabaa area south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem January 17, 2015. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4LSL6

Political deadlock could lead to security escalation in West Bank

Palestinian officials view Israel's recent military maneuvers in the West Bank and its prediction of an uprising as attempts to escalate the security situation.

Israeli poet Agi Mishol avoids rallying for political causes

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Israeli poet Agi Mishol speaks about the difference between men and women poets.

Turkish Air Force pilots stand in front of an F-4 fighter plane flanked by Turkish and Israeli flags during a ceremony for F-4E fighter planes at an air base in western Turkish city of Eskisehir January 27. Two F-4E 2020 planes were handed to Turkish air force during a ceremony in Eskisehir air base after they were modernised by Israeli air force as part of modernization of 54 Turkish F-4E fighter planes.

FS/GB - RTRPBQ

Turkey's 'flying coffins'

Turkey's loss of six pilots in the crash of three F-4Es has led to a public outcry as the nation awaits answers and the air force works on replacing the fleet.

A man places a Palestinian flag on a fence surrounding the U.S. consulate during a rally in support of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' bid for statehood recognition in the United Nations, in Arab East Jerusalem September 21, 2011. Abbas plans on Friday to submit an application for full U.N. membership for the state of Palestine based in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the coastal Gaza Strip -- lands occupied by Israel in 1967. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2RM9T

One Palestinian's quest for a US visa

After being granted a scholarship to study in the United States, a Palestinian media lecturer struggled to reach the US Consulate in Jerusalem, where he was shocked to see Palestinians and Israelis being treated equally.

Israeli lawmaker Danny Danon (C), a deputy parliament speaker, is surrounded by police officers as he walks on the compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City July 20, 2010. Danon, a lawmaker of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing party, on Tuesday visited the flashpoint religious site in Jerusalem revered by Jews and Muslims, a move that has sparked violence in the past. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTR2GKI0

Danon: Bibi's speech to Congress sent the right message

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon argues that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech succeeded in shifting the international community's focus back to the essential debate on the imminent agreement with Iran.