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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)

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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, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (not pictured), give a joint press conference at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, on 4 March 2021. (Photo by Olivier Fitoussi / POOL / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER FITOUSSI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Did Jordan generate a crisis, or was it Israel's fault?

It is unclear whether the diplomatic crisis is only the result of poor Israeli judgment, or Jordan actually generating it.

United Arab Emirates

Palestinian women worshippers gather to attend the prayers of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday which starts at the conclusion of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, outside the closed Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem's old city early on May 24, 2020. - Muslims around the world began marking a sombre Eid al-Fitr, many under coronavirus lockdown, but lax restrictions offer respite to worshippers in some countries despite fears of skyrocketing infections. Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site, w

Israeli Arabs wonder how COVID-19 will shape Ramadan 2021

With vaccination rates still relatively low in Israeli-Arab towns and villages, residents there wonder how the upcoming month of Ramadan will look like.

Palestinian fishermen gather their net along a beach in Gaza City at sunset on December 2, 2020. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

Hamas claims Israeli drone, not Palestinian rocket, killed 3 fishermen

Hamas said the fishermen were killed by an explosives-carrying Israeli drone they found at sea, but others say it may have come from Palestinian rocket fire.

This picture taken on December 16, 2020 shows a view above Israel from the window of a plane aboard a flydubai flight from Ben Gurion International Airport to Dubai upon departure. - The first flydubai aircraft landed in Dubai from Tel Aviv on November 26, inaugurating commercial flights between the two cities following the normalisation of ties between the UAE and Israel. The United Arab Emirates in September signed a landmark US-brokered deal to formalise relations with Israel, the first such agreement by

Netanyahu cancels UAE trip over disagreement with Jordan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was forced to postpone today's trip to the United Arab Emirates when Jordan dragged its feet on approval to cross its skies.

United Arab Emirates

netanyahu thaarbin march 7 2021.jpg

Netanyahu’s 'Bibi on the Road' campaign gains momentum

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can no longer organize huge party-convention gatherings, which is why he is constantly on the road, meeting citizens personally and campaigning for their support.

A Israeli police car is park in front of the Egyptian Embassy in the city of Tel Aviv on September 11, 2011, two days after Egyptian demonstrators went on the rampage in Cairo, breaking into the Israeli embassy and forcing the personnel to be evacuated. The trouble followed several weeks of protests outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo after 5 Egyptian border police were shot dead last month by the Israeli military during a search operation for militants who shot at an Israeli bus in Israel, close to their

Israel-Egypt relations advance in baby steps

Cario's openness to warming bilateral ties with Jerusalem has been limited, but recent progress might signal that even Cairo understands that times have changed.

Knesset advances proposal on electronic bracelet for returning Israelis

The Knesset approved a first reading of a bill requiring those returning to Israel to self-isolate at home and wear an electronic bracelet that shows where they are.

<<enter caption here>> on February 5, 2015 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Netanyahu to visit Abu Dhabi, meet crown prince

After the trip was delayed three times, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly set to spend a few hours in Abu Dhabi tomorrow.

United Arab Emirates

Israeli Arab voters desperate over rising crime, police attitudes

Can Arab politician Mansour Abbas harness public anger against crime to the extent that his Raam party can pass the Knesset threshold and win four seats?

Would Israeli ultra-Orthodox bail on Netanyahu, Likud?

Feeling betrayed by their own leadership on the handling of the coronavirus, young, modern ultra-Orthodox might shift their support to Bezalel Smotrich’s radical right-wing religious party.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - NOVEMBER 14: (ISRAEL OUT) Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman smiles during a press conference at the Israeli Parliament on November 14, 2018 in Jerusalem, Israel. Lieberman has announced his resignation as Defense Minister of Israel as a protest against the cease-fire Israel agreed to with Hamas following recent heavy rocket fire targeting Israel from Gaza Strip. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

Avigdor Liberman's life mission: to topple Netanyahu

Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman’s paramount mission is to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even if it means setting aside his prime ministerial ambitions.

First court victory for opponents of Jerusalem cable car project

Israel's High Court has halted the cable car Jerusalem project for now, but opponents of the project fear it will not be blocked indefinitely.