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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)

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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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, to deliver a political statement in Jerusalem, on May 30, 2021.

Netanyahu heads for opposition benches

The next government is not composed yet, but outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already preparing his next campaign for the premiership from the opposition benches.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wearing a mask for protection against the coronavirus, attends a special Cabinet meeting on the occasion of Jerusalem Day at the city's municipality building, Jerusalem, May 9, 2021.

Improbable coalition of three rivals readies to topple Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled Israel for 12 consecutive years, so it took a coalition of strange political partners to finally oust him from his position.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi meets with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo, Egypt, May 30, 2021.

Israel’s FM in Cairo discusses Gaza truce, possible prisoner exchange

While Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi met in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Tel Aviv with Egyptian intelligence service head Abbas Kamel.

Israeli Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar delivers a speech during a UN Human Rights Council emergency meeting on occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem in Geneva on May 27, 2021.

On backdrop of Gaza escalation, Israel-Europe rift widens

On the backdrop of the Gaza escalation and European abstention at the UN Human Rights Council vote, mistrust keeps growing between Jerusalem and Brussels.

Naftali Bennett, leader of the Israeli right-wing Yamina party, blows kisses as he greets supporters at his party's campaign headquarters after the end of voting in the fourth national election in two years, Tel Aviv, Israel, March 24, 2021.

Israel’s Naftali Bennett opts for ousting Netanyahu

Yamina leader Naftali Bennett announced yesterday that he intends to join Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid to form a government of change that will end the yearslong rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

An Israeli buys Bitcoins, at the cryptocurrency "Bitcoin Change" shop, Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 17, 2018.

Israel could get own digital coin

Joining the global race, the Bank of Israel presented last week the model it recommends for the digital shekel coin.

Supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah movement watch as the movement's leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech on a screen in the southern city of Nabatieh, Lebanon, Jan. 12, 2020.

Israel fears Hamas, Hezbollah coordinating attacks

The IDF worries about the simultaneous speeches this week of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas Gaza commander Yahya Sinwar, as both groups could launch simultaneous and coordinated attacks against Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Altalena at the Nachalat Yitzhak cemetery in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on May 26, 2021.

Netanyahu blasts UN right council's probe as 'shameful'

The UN Human Rights Council voted on Thursday to establish a “Commission of Inquiry” to investigate rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images

Israel summons French ambassador over Le Drian's 'apartheid' remarks

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s comments were “far from the reality."

MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images

UN rights chief warns Israel's Gaza strikes could be war crimes

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for Israel to allow for independent investigations into its latest escalation with Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrive for a joint press conference, days after an Egypt-brokered truce halted fighting between the Jewish state and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, May 25, 2021.

Is two-state solution back on Israel’s agenda?

Israel’s leadership must understand that as far as the Biden administration is concerned the two-state solution is back on the agenda.

In this handout image provided by the Israeli Government Press Office, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the first leg of his four-day trip to the Middle East, Jerusalem, May 25, 2021.

Israel sets conditions for talks with Palestinians via Egypt

Reports say Israel is interested in the Egyptian initiative for indirect talks with Hamas, but conditions Hamas on advancing the return of Israeli captives and bodies of soldiers held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.