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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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he shows a slideshow during a briefing to ambassadors to Israel at the Hakirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on May 19, 2021. Netanyahu said today that Israel's aerial bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip was aimed at deterring Hamas, but he did not rule out conquering the enclave's Islamist rulers.

US expects 'significant de-escalation today,' Biden tells Netanyahu

As President Joe Biden appealed for calm, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday there was no timeframe for ending the conflict with Hamas.

Amir Levy/Getty Images

Change government joins casualties of conflagrations around Israel

Yamina head Naftali Bennett must realize that in the worsening security chaos, his base will never support him heading an anti-Netanyahu government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the site of an overnight stampede during an ultra-Orthodox religious gathering in the northern town of Meron, Israel, April 30, 2021.

No victory picture for Israel in Gaza

The IDF success in destroying Gaza underground infrastructure cannot erase photos of Hamas rockets reaching Tel Aviv.

A Palestinian demonstrator stands amidst smoke from burning tires during a protest against the tension in Jerusalem and the Israeli-Gaza fighting, on May 17, 2021, in the occupied West Bank, near the settlement of Beit El next to Ramallah.

Gaza violence sparks debate over conditioning US military aid to Israel

A number of progressive Democrats have called for the United States to reexamine Israel's annual aid package.

Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepts rockets above the coastal city of Tel Aviv on May 15, 2021, following their launching from the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement.

Hamas again threatens to strike Tel Aviv after Israel kills Islamic Jihad commander

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the operation ‘could take some time. I hope it won't take long, but it's not immediate.’

Palestinian journalists stand in shock following the destruction of Jala Tower, which was housing international press offices, by an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on May 15, 2021. The Israeli airstrike demolished the 13-floor building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera television and American news agency The Associated Press in the Gaza Strip.

Intel: Blinken hasn't personally seen evidence that Hamas used the building housing AP, Al Jazeera

Israel says the building was used by the Palestinian militant group, but it has not publicly provided any evidence to back up that claim.

EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images

As rockets, retaliation shake region, Israel silent on global mediation

Egypt, the United States and France are concentrating effort on a cease-fire as Gaza rockets and Israeli retaliation continue.

YOSSI ZAMIR/AFP via Getty Images

Police unable to stem violence in mixed Israeli cities

The Shin Bet has been called in to reinforce Israeli police as they struggle to control the riots in Arab and mixed Jewish-Arab cities.

Al-Jawhara building hit by airstrike

Press watchdog calls on Israel to avoid harming journalists in Gaza

Israeli airstrikes have reportedly destroyed the offices of more than a dozen news outlets in Gaza.

Netanyahu in Lod

Has war on Hamas given Netanyahu a political lifeline?

Conflict with Gaza proving a political winner, so far, for the embattled Israeli prime minister; Arab states may take center stage in mediation efforts; Al-Monitor’s unmatched reporting from Gaza.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a protest rally in Istanbul on May 18, 2018, against the killings of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza-Israel border and the US Embassy move to Jerusalem.

Can Erdogan seize on Israeli-Palestinian crisis to make diplomatic gains?

The flurry of diplomacy over the Israeli-Palestinian escalation has helped Erdogan break his diplomatic isolation, but he could hardly hope for far-reaching gains to help his bid at fence-mending with Arab heavyweights.

Smoke billows from an explosion following an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 13, 2021.

Erdogan: Turkey won't 'remain silent' over Israeli strikes in Gaza

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also called on the UN Security Council to address the worsening bloodshed.