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United States

April 28, 2026

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C), alongside US State Department Counselor Michael Needham (2L) and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (2R), speaks during a meeting.

US seeks to train Lebanon army units to disarm Hezbollah: What to know

Funding for such a program remains unclear, though the Pentagon has requested $36 million for fiscal year 2027 to support Lebanon’s army.

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Despite Trump pressure to limit Israel's Lebanon attacks, Aoun-Netanyahu meeting still unlikely

As President Donald Trump pressures Israel to limit its strikes in Lebanon, Hezbollah is taking advantage of the situation.

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

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to journalists as he arrives for an informal meeting of the European Council in Nicosia, Cyprus, April 24, 2026.

Why US, Israel are freezing France out of Lebanon talks

With talks between Israel and Lebanon being held in Washington, Paris still insists that it must be involved to balance possible American bias and to protect Beirut’s interests.

A person walks past the closed Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center on Jan. 7, 2021, in New York City.

Why did the Met Opera lose its Saudi funding deal?

The deal, announced as a nonbinding memorandum of understanding last September, would have seen the PIF inject up to $200 million into the opera institution over the next eight years.

Latest News

Analysis

Israel fears Trump angling for Lebanon deal to offset Iran missteps

US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (R) holds a signed "Make America Great Again" hat while (L-R) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Lebanon Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad listen to US President Donald Trump speak during a meeting with Lebanon Ambassador to the US and Israel Ambassador to the US, at the White House in Washington, DC on April 23, 2026. US President Donald Trump met Lebanese and Israeli envoys at a new round of peace talks Thursday, with Beirut seeking a one-month extension of a

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

How are Iran-linked tankers still moving through Hormuz blockade?

BAY ISMOYO / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Israel sees chance of US-Iran deal as almost 'non-existent,' readies for war

ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images

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

US boards Iran-linked tanker in Indian Ocean, vows pursuit of 'ghost fleet'

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 14: A US Navy Seahawk helicopter takes off from the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan on July 14, 2017 in Townsville, Australia. USS Ronald Reagan is a 1,092- foot aircraft carrier which carries a crew of 4,539 around 60 aircraft. Exercise Talisman Sabre is the largest combined military exercise undertaken in Australia. The biennial exercise is the principal Australian and U.S. military training activity. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

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

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Rosaleen Carroll

News Reporter and Supporting Editor

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Paul J. Saunders

In Washington, DC, reporting on Russia in the Middle East

Prince Khalid at Pentagon in 2019

Intel: Biden administration receives top Saudi official

Biden administration officials meet with brother of Saudi Crown Prince, reaffirm US-Saudi partnership.

Sudanese and Egyptian armed forces take part in the "Guardians of the Nile" joint military drill in the Um Sayyala area, northwest of Khartoum, on May 31, 2021.

State Department official: There are ‘technical solutions’ to Nile River dam issue

At a House hearing on Tuesday, a Republican congressman made an impassioned plea to consider Egypt’s water security regarding Ethiopia’s megadam on the Nile River.

A child sits near displaced Syrians lining up to collect plates of food prepared by a local charity for the Ramadan fast-breaking meal at a camp for people displaced by conflict in the town of Sarmada in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on April 13, 2021.

Blinken calls Syrian humanitarian situation 'untenable'

At a meeting of the members of the US D-ISIS coalition in Rome, the US secretary of state makes appeal for "stabilization."

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Intel: Blinken urges allies to repatriate IS fighters from Syria

The Syrian Democratic Forces are holding an estimated 10,000 suspected Islamic State fighters, a situation Secretary of State Antony Blinken said is "untenable."

The Pentagon building, located in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

US airstrikes hit Iran-backed militia after drone attacks in Iraq

CENTCOM is trying to deter militia attacks without starting a war.

Yemenis inspect the burning wreckage of a drone in the country's capital, Sanaa, on Oct. 1, 2017.

US-made drones downed over Yemen weren't military's, CENTCOM says

The Houthis said they wrecked two US drones over Yemen's contested Marib province.

AFP via Getty Images

US hopeful but 'realistic' on departure of foreign forces from Libya

Joey Hood, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, also said the United States expects the elections scheduled for December to take place.

people line up for Pfizer vaccine in Ankara

Congress discusses 'strategic opportunity' for US vaccines in MidEast

The House Foreign Affairs Committee's hearing Wednesday focused in part on the reputation of American COVID-19 vaccines in the Middle East versus Russian and Chinese ones.

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) speaks about his experiences during a trip to Israel and Auschwitz-Birkenau as part of a bipartisan delegation from the House of Representatives, Washington, Jan. 28, 2020.

US lawmakers unveil American hostage task force

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) announced the Congressional Task Force on American Hostages and Americans Wrongfully Detained Abroad, a bipartisan working group aimed at helping the families of detained US citizens.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) speaks during a news conference to discuss proposed legislation titled Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act outside the US Capitol, Washington, March 11, 2021.

House votes to repeal 2002 Iraq war authorization

Siamak Nazami (L) and Baquer Namazi (R) are seen in images provided by their family.

Biden urged to secure release of Americans left behind in Iran

Amid intensifying speculation over a prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran, the family of Siamak and Baquer Namazi is appealing to President Joe Biden to secure their release.

US President Joe Biden (R) talks to Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to the US-Russia summit at the Villa La Grange, in Geneva on June 16, 2021.

Biden discusses imperiled Syrian aid at high-stakes Putin summit

The two leaders met ahead of a looming UN Security Council deadline to renew a massive cross-border aid operation that Russia is intent on shutting down.