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August 25, 2026

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Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (C) watches as US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack prepares to sign an agreement in Damascus on September 16, 2025. Shaibani announced on September 16 a plan backed by Jordan and the United States to restore calm to Druze-majority Sweida province, which witnessed deadly violence in July. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Exclusive

Israel recalibrates Syria policy, explores path to security deal

Israel is rethinking its hard-line Syria policy and seeking to repair ties with US envoy and Donald Trump's confidant Tom Barrack amid a push for a security agreement with Damascus.

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

Palestinian militant group Hamas police officers stand guard as people attend the opening of the Fatah party's eighth general conference at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City on May 14, 2026.

Ex-defense minister: Israel in ‘worst possible’ Gaza situation as Hamas gains strength

Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant criticized the Israeli government for allowing Hamas to retain control over half of the Gaza Strip.

A merchant ship "Jabotinsky" (former "Altalena"), chartered by Jewish military group Irgun Zvaei Leumi to carry weapons for Israeli fighters, burns near Tel Aviv beach, after being shelled by the Haganah, Israel, June 27, 1948.

Wreck of ship sunk by Israeli military in Irgun clash found after 78 years

The wreck of the Irgun underground's Altalena ship, bombed by the Israeli military in 1948 and deliberately sunk in 1949, was located off Israel's coast at a depth of 1,650 feet.

Latest News

Israel tightens election safeguards as public distrust surges: What to know

ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Why Turkey sees Israeli strikes in Syria as warning over its military role, Mecca Pact

A Turkish soldier from the 1st Border Regiment Command looks out over the border wall to Syria during alert drills at a military outpost on the Turkey/Syria border on March 2, 2017 in Kilis, Turkey.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Analysis

Turkey bets on US deconfliction as Israel widens Syria red lines

Turkey/Syria border

Ezgi Akin

Rina Bassist

By Ezgi Akin , Rina Bassist

Analysis

Israel fears Turkey’s Syria ambitions and doubts Trump will stop them

ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 7: U.S. President Donald Trump (L)shakes hands with with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) during a formal arrival at the Bestepe Presidential Palace during the NATO summit on July 7, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Emrah Gurel - Pool/Getty Images)

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

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

Police officers search as they investigate an area where six Palestinian prisoners managed to escape from Gilboa prison overnight on Sept. 6, 2021 near Kibbutz Beit HaShita in the Gilboa region, Israel. The prisoners, who include Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade leader Zakaria Zubeidi, are believed to have escaped through a tunnel overnight.

Israel vows to capture escaped Palestinian prisoners

After the escape of six Palestinian prisoners and following riots in prisons and in the West Bank, Israel expects more violence.

Eritrean children play at an Israeli school.

Israeli parents protest children of migrants in Tel Aviv schools

Some Israeli parents are demanding the Tel Aviv municipality keep the children of illegal immigrants concentrated in one school in the south of the city.

EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images

Chinese-operated port opens in Israel despite American concerns

The Biden administration is relaying to Jerusalem the same fears expressed by former US administrations over Chinese investments in Israel.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Protesters accuse IDF of tying soldiers' hands after deadly clash

In the wake of the death of IDF soldier Barel Hadaria Shmueli, hundreds of Israeli service members have been demanding the rules for live fire engagement be loosened.

Opposition and Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid attends a press conference, Tel Aviv, Israel, May 6, 2021.

Straight talk from Israel's Lapid includes criticism of US

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid does not stop for a minute, including controversial remarks on Poland, on the US Consulate in Jerusalem and on Afghanistan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers during a special session to vote on a new government at the Knesset, Jerusalem, June 13, 2021.

Netanyahu goes after Bennett, with IDF paying the price

In his zeal to attack Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu and associates are even ready to tarnish the IDF and its commanders.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett looks on during a plenum session on the state budget on Sept. 2, 2021.

Boxed in: Bennett, Abbas can’t win despite ‘goodwill gestures’

Domestic politics are complicating any moves toward better ties, and Hamas is seeking an advantage by stoking resistance.

Fatima Shbair/Getty Images

Israel asks Egypt to pressure Hamas to end border violence

In a meeting yesterday between senior Israeli and Egyptian defense officials, Israel asked Egypt to pressure Hamas to stop the ongoing nightly demonstrations by the Gaza border.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Gestures toward Palestinians leave Bennett in bind

With his rightwing base on the one side, the Biden administration and his coalition partners on the other, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place on bettering the lives of Palestinians.

Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman speaks on his cellphone as he attends a plenum session on the state budget, Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2021.

Israeli state budget passes preliminary vote

Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett are satisfied: After a long period without a real state budget, Israel finally got one.

Aviem Sella

Israel’s military promotes handler of jailed US spy to brigadier general

Aviem Sella's promotion was approved by Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

This picture shows containers and cranes on a dock of Haifa port, Israel, June 24, 2021.

Israel opens Chinese-run terminal at Haifa port

Biden's CIA director raised concerns about Beijing's growing investment in Israel, according to a report.