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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

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 4, 2019. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu’s friendship with Putin benefits Israel, but has limits

Moscow played a central role in the release of the Israeli woman who crossed the border into Syria, but might prove less helpful on Iranian entrenchment in Syria or the Palestinian issue.

Settler movement takes over Jewish National Fund

The decision by the Jewish National Fund to start purchasing land in the West Bank marks another victory for the right-wing and the settlement movement.

Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to the media on the Iranian nuclear issue at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on September 9, 2019. - Netanyahu accused Iran of having a previously undisclosed site aimed at developing nuclear weapons that it destroyed. Iran itself destroyed the site located near the city of Abadeh, south of Tehran, in around July after realising that Israel had detected it, Netanyahu alleged. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Photo c

Former Israeli security officials call on Netanyahu to dialogue with US on Iran deal

For many former senior security officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should work with the Biden administration, not against it, for a rapid nuclear deal with Iran.

One of the several burial chambers of the Tombs of the Kings, owned and administered by the French Consulate of Jerusalem, is pictured on December 28, 2018 in East Jerusalem. - The ancient site, which is considered the grandest burial compound in the holy city and has been closed for years, includes a sophisticated burial cave that has a mechanism for sealing the entrance by means of a stone that rotates on a hinge. (Photo by THOMAS COEX / AFP) (Photo credit should read THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Imag

France maintains order as visitors flock to Jerusalem's Tombs of the Kings

A 2,000-year-old funerary compound in Jerusalem has been marked by controversy since its reopening to the public in 2019.

Lebanese workers use water pressure to clean-up the oil spill which polluted the Rabbit Island, offshore the Nothern Lebanese city of Tripoli, on March 31, 2009. The oil spill was caused by the explosion of fuel reservoirs stationed in the southern coastal town of Jiyyeh during the Israeli offensive on Lebanon in July 2006. At least 10,000 tons of heavy fuel oil have been spilled into the Lebanese sea, causing an environmental catastrophe with severe effects on health, biodiversity and tourism. The oil spil

Oil spill reaches shores of Israel, Lebanon

An oil spill earlier this month is threatening the eastern Mediterranean, but many details on the incident are unknown.

Israel's Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan is seen as he receives Italy's interior minister at a hotel in Jerusalem on December 11, 2018. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli ambassador demands Saturday Night Live apologize over vaccine joke

Israel's ambassador to the United States and United Nations is upset with the comedy show for joking that Israel is only vaccinating Jews.

Palestinians wait to receive doses of the the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine provided by Israel's Magen David Adom medical services at Qalandia checkpoint on the crossing between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, on February 23, 2021. - Israel said its "limited" supply of unused coronavirus vaccines would be sent to the Palestinians and several countries, with Honduras, which plans to move its embassy to Jerusalem, reportedly on the list. The world leader in va

Israel hatches plan to vaccinate Palestinian workers

Israel’s Health Ministry is reportedly awaiting permission to use the country's stock of Moderna vaccines for Palestinians working in Israel.

Egyptian energy minister on rare visit in Israel

Egyptian Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Tarek el-Mulla visited Israel yesterday to advance the regional gas forum, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.

Iranian-born Mongolian judoka Saeid Mollaei competes during the finals of the men's under 81kg category of Tel Aviv Grand Slam 2021 in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, on February 19, 2021. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel cheers for exiled Iranian judo master

Israelis have embraced exiled Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei, who defected for his sport and recently competed in Tel Aviv.

Equatorial Guinea to move embassy in Israel to Jerusalem

The West African state is the second on the continent to announce plans to open an embassy in the holy city, and the first country anywhere to do so since US President Joe Biden took office.

An engineer from the Israeli company "Commun.it" uses his expertise in social media commercial analysis to identify networks of fake users during at the group's office in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv on January 23, 2019. - A coalition of Israeli diplomats, programmers and hackers have joined forces to stave off threats -- including from hostile states -- by identifying networks on social media and getting them removed. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP

Israel develops new regulations for Google, Facebook

Israel is working on regulations similar to European efforts to protect small businesses that advertise on Facebook and Google.

TOPSHOT - An Israeli flag is seen placed on Mount Bental in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on May 10, 2018. - Israel's army said today it had carried out widespread raids against Iranian targets in Syria overnight after rocket fire towards its forces it blamed on Iran, marking a sharp escalation between the two enemies. Israel carried out the raids after it said around 20 rockets, either Fajr or Grad type, were fired from Syria at its forces in the occupied Golan Heights at around midnight. (Photo by JAL

Israeli woman who entered Syria flown home

The Israeli government is withholding some details about the Russia-mediated deal that also involved two Syrians being released from Israeli prison.