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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

Alliance with ultra-Orthodox could bring Netanyahu down

Israelis are furious with the ultra-Orthodox, who have opened their education institutions despite high rates of coronavirus infection.

An Etihad Airways plane carrying a delegation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a first official visit, lands at at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, on October 20, 2020. - The UAE delegation left on the country's first official visit to Israel with a string of deals set to be signed after the two countries signed a deal to normalise ties last month. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE delegation arrives in Israel

The first official delegation has arrived from the United Arab Emirates to Israel to sign four cooperation agreements, including a visa-exemption treaty.

United Arab Emirates

Israeli Economy Minister and head of the far-right Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennett gestures as he gives a speech during a debate on economy on March 11, 2015 in the costal Israeli city of Tel Aviv. Six days before Israel votes in a snap general election, the centre-left Zionist Union opened a lead of several points over the ruling rightwing Likud party, a poll showed. Bennett, 42, is a champion of the settler movement and a key challenger of Netanyahu to head Israel's rightwing. AFP PHOTO / GIL COHEN-

Israel’s Bennett in dilemma over his growing popularity

Current polls give the Yamina party and its leader Naftali Bennett excellent results, just three seats short of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.

US to remove Sudan from state sponsors of terror list

President Donald Trump announced the plan to de-list Sudan on Monday.

This picture taken on July 8, 2020 shows an aerial view of the Sheikh Zayed Road section of the E 11 highway and the Dubai Metro flyover in the Gulf emirate of Dubai, during a government-organised helicopter tour, with the Burj Khalifa skyscraper seen in the background. - Dubai reopened its doors to international visitors on July 7 in the hope of reviving its tourism industry after a nearly four-month closure. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE cabinet ratifies normalization accord with Israel

The cabinet's approval came a day before an Emirati delegation is scheduled to make a first official visit to Israel.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (back) attends a signing ceremony between the head of the Israeli delegation, National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat (L) and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani (C), in the Bahraini capital Manama on October 18, 2020. - Israel and Bahrain cemented a deal officially establishing relations and signed several memorandums of understanding, further opening up the wealthy Gulf region to the Jewish state. (Photo by Mazen Mahdi / AFP) (Photo by MAZEN MAH

Israel, Bahrain establish diplomatic relations at a ceremony in Manama

Israel’s Foreign Ministry Director General Alon Ushpiz and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani signed yesterday a joint communique for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Israeli Knesset member (MK) Miki Zohar (C) intervenes between Israeli-Arab MK Ayman Odeh (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) following an argument in the main Knesset chamber in Jerusalem on September 11, 2019. - A rare clash erupted between Netanyahu and Joint List Chairman Odeh on September 11 at the Knesset during a discussion ahead of a vote on a controversial, Likud party-sponspored bill to allow cameras in polling booths. (Photo by Gil COHEN-MAGEN / AFP) (Photo credit should read GIL

Israeli-Arab lawmakers reject normalization deal with Emirates

Many Arab-Israelis disagree with the stance taken by the Joint List against the normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates.

United Arab Emirates

European countries slam Israel over planned settlement expansion

The foreign ministries of France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain called for an immediate halt to settlement construction in the West Bank.

The Bahraini, Israeli and US flags are picture in front of El Al plane ahead of the flight to Bahrain's capital Manama at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on October 18, 2020, after the two states reached a US-brokered normalisation deal last month. - Israel and Bahrain will officially establish diplomatic relations at a ceremony in Manama, an Israeli official said, after the two states reached a US-brokered normalisation deal last month. (Photo by RONEN ZVULUN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by RONEN ZVULUN/

Virus may restrict first UAE visit to Israeli airport

COVID-19 concerns may keep Emirati diplomats in the airport during their first official visit to Israel, which is experiencing an outbreak.

United Arab Emirates

Democratic Presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden participates in an ABC News town hall event at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on October 15, 2020. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden slams Trump's Iran policy at town hall

The Democratic presidential candidate also praised Trump's work on the UAE-Israel deal.

Israeli protesters lift a model of a yellow submarine topped with a representation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an anti-government demonstration in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, on August 15, 2020. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu off the hook on submarine affair

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can breathe easier now that the attorney general has decided not to investigate him in the submarine affair nor in the stock-share dealing case.

A man wrapped in a Trump campaign flag walks in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market during the Jewish holiday of Purim on March 11, 2020. - Israel has imposed some of the world's tightest restrictions to contain coronavirus, but that did not stop ultra-Orthodox Jews from hitting the streets to celebrate a treasured religious custom: drinking on Purim. Sometimes dubbed the "fun" Jewish holiday, Purim typically includes costumes and boisterous public celebrations marking a story dating from fourth-century Persi

Ahead of presidential elections, Israelis cheering for Trump

Israelis love US President Donald Trump — not only for his diplomatic gestures toward the country, but also for his informal, blunt style.