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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

French nuns living in Israel queue with other foreign residents to receive a dose of COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre for foreign nationals in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on February 9, 2021 during a campaign to vaccinate foreign workers and refugees against coronavirus. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Foreigners in Tel Aviv begin receiving vaccines

Israel continues to lead the world in the percentage of people who have received at least one vaccine dose.

Memebers of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) stand near an old Israeli tank as they look toward the Syrian governorate of Quneitra from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, on February 4, 2021. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Golan 'forever' part of Israel, Netanyahu says after Blinken comments

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to question the previous administration's controversial decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

A member of the French Civil Defence checks an air traveller's documents at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy, north of Paris, on February 5, 2021, after France implemented tough border restrictions as part of new efforts to contain Covid-19 (novel coronavirus) infections. - France on February 1, 2021, curbed international travel by banning most flights outside the European Union. Only urgent reasons for travel are accepted and border police require written proof before allowing passengers to board.

Israel, Greece agree on 'green passports' for citizens vaccinated for COVID-19

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Feb. 9 to adopt a mutual tourism pact, which will enable those already vaccinated against the coronavirus to travel between the two countries freely.

Netanyahu’s fate to be determined by COVID-19, not corruption trial

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fears failure in dealing with Israel's coronavirus pandemic even more than his corruption trial.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) talks to his lawyer ahead of a hearing in his corruption trial at the Jerusalem district court, on February 8, 2021. - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied corruption charges against him in a brief court appearance, as his graft trial intensifies weeks before a fourth national election inside two years. (Photo by Reuven Castro / POOL / AFP) (Photo by REUVEN CASTRO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu pushes for evidentiary stage to be postponed until after election

The legal defense team of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries postponing the evidentiary stage of his trial until after the March 23 election.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement next to the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (unseen) after their meeting in the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on February 8, 2021. (Photo by menahem kahana / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu pleads not guilty in corruption trial

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three separate corruption cases.

French President Emmanuel Macron reacts after a German-French Security Council video conference with German Chancellor, at the Elysee Palace in Paris on February 5, 2021. (Photo by Thibault Camus / POOL / AFP) (Photo by THIBAULT CAMUS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

France, not US, offers to involve Israel in talks with Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not react publicly to the statement by French President Emmanuel Macron over the need to involve Israel and Saudi Arabia in talks with Iran.

An Egyptian soldier stands guard during an organised tour for diplomats to mark the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the Suez Canal, in the northeastern city of Ismailia on November 17, 2019. - One hundred and fifty years after the Suez Canal opened, the international waterway is hugely significant to the economy of modern-day Egypt, which nationalised it in 1956. The canal, dug in the 19th century using "rudimentary tools" and which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, was opened to navigation i

Egypt concerned UAE-Israeli pipeline project will affect Suez Canal

Egyptian officials have been expressing concern over the anticipated competition from the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline project that would transport Emirati oil to Ashkelon in Israel and from there to European markets.

United Arab Emirates

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech at the 5th Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism conference at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, on May 12, 2015. AFP PHOTO / MENAHEM KAHANA (Photo credit should read MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu accuses ICC of anti-Semitism

Israel's prime minister lashed out at the International Criminal Court after it ruled that its jurisdiction includes the West Bank and Gaza Strip, pointing out that the court was created in part to protect the Jewish people.

Israeli Arab women take part in a protest after a student was killed in a reported police shootout this week, in the northern Arab-Israeli town of Umm-Al Fahem on February 5, 2021. - Hundreds of Arab Israelis demonstrated protesters defied coronavirus restrictions on gatherings to demonstrate in front of the police station in the Arab-Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu recycles promises to combat soaring crime in Arab towns

Ahead of the March elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is repeating promises he made nine years ago to control crime rates in Arab towns and villages.

A healthcare worker administers a COVID-19 vaccine at Clalit Health Services, in the ultra-Orthodox Israeli city of Bnei Brak, on January 6, 2021. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Alarming low vaccination rates among Israeli ultra-Orthodox, Bedouins

Washed with fake news and conspiracy theories, anti-corona vaccination rates among the Bedouins and ultra-Orthodox are much lower than in the Jewish sector.

Riot police stand in formation as unseen Turkish protesters demonstrate against Israel's attack on Gaza outside the Israeli embassy in Ankara on November 21, 2012. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, saying the Jewish state's air raids could not be considered self-defence. AFP Photo/ADEM ALTAN (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel still cool to gestures from Turkey

In a positive, yet cautious signal, Israel has nominated senior diplomat ambassador Irit Lillian as charge d’Affairs to its embassy in Ankara.