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August 26, 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

Reuven Rivlin votes March 23

Israel’s president calls for unconventional alliances

Associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lash out against President Reuven Rivlin after Rivlin called on Israeli politicians to consider out-of-the-ordinary alliances.

Mansour Abbas (C), head of Israel's conservative Islamic Raam party, speaks to supporters during a political gathering to congratulate him on the electoral victory in the northern Israeli village of Maghar on March 26, 2021.

Israeli Arab politicians now part of the game for composing next government

After years of being sidelined, Arab politicians are being courted by parties from both the right and the left as they try to convince them to join a coalition.

Lisa Peterson

US rights report keeps Trump language on Israel, Palestinian territories

The Israel section of the annual rights report included a section on “Israel, West Bank and Gaza," rather than "Israel and the Occupied Territories."

Palestinians who work in Israel wait in line to receive the first dose of a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine by Israeli medical workers in Meitar crossing checkpoint between the West Bank and Israel on March 9, 2021 in Meitar, Israel. More than two months after starting a world-leading COVID-19 vaccination campaign for its own citizens, Israel began administering the Moderna vaccine to Palestinian laborers from the West Bank who enter Israel or Israeli settlements for work.

Israel endorses international plan to vaccinate 7,000 Gaza traders

Israel has greenlighted an international operation to vaccinate against the coronavirus 7,000 Palestinian traders from the Gaza Strip who regularly travel through Israel and the West Bank.

Tikun Olam

Stars help peel back curtain from Israeli cannabis industry

Former Minister Tzipi Livni is the latest in a long list of public figures and celebrities joining the rapidly growing medical cannabis industry in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, addresses supporters at the party campaign headquarters in Jerusalem early on March 24, 2021, after the end of voting in the fourth national election in two years.

With Netanyahu vulnerable, Israel again ignored by Washington on Iran

Knowing he is politically vulnerable, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is silent on Washington’s intention to return to the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Yemeni Jew Said Ben Yisrael (C) stands with members of his family after arriving to Israel at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, on Feb. 19, 2009, after leaving Yemen for fear of attack.

Houthis deport some of Yemen's last remaining Jews

Thirteen Jews have been forced by the Houthis to leave their homeland, leaving behind the last four elderly Yemenite Jews.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, where he is ramping up his mission to foil an emerging White House-backed nuclear deal with Iran, in Washington, March 2, 2015.

Chances for Israeli alliance with Saudis against Iran fading

Saudi Arabia is reluctant to showcase any cooperation with Israel, including security cooperation against the Iranian regional threat.

Netanyahu

Once again, Netanyahu could win with a draw

Facing a corruption indictment and seemingly boxed in, Netanyahu is still standing.

Amos Yadlin

Iran suspected of being behind missile that hit Israeli vessel

An unnamed senior Israeli security official suggests that a missile that hit a container ship owned by an Israeli company may have fired by Iran.

Gideon Saar, head of Israel's New Hope party, works at the party's headquarters, a day ahead of the election, Tel Aviv, Israel, March 22, 2021.

Bittersweet victory for Israel’s Gideon Saar

Gideon Saar’s New Hope party garnered only six Knesset seats, but has managed to seriously destabilize the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz attends a Cabinet meeting of the new government at Chagall State Hall in the Knesset, Jerusalem, May 24, 2020.

2021 elections in Israel: The revival of Benny Gantz

Pre-election public opinion polls estimated that Blue and White under Defense Minister Benny Gantz would fail to pass the Knesset-entry threshold, but in reality the party has apparently garnered 8 Knesset seats.