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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

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

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 5: (AFP OUT) Wife of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sara Netanyahu looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet in the Oval Office of the White House March 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. The prime minister is on an official visit to the US until the end of the week. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

Netanyahu’s wife on the attack: blames protesters for sexual harassment

Sara Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, is again on the attack, with a complaint filed by the police against demonstrators allegedly sexually harassing her and threatening her life.

Israeli-Arab bereaved mothers protest pandemic of violence, crime

Israeli-Arab bereaved mothers started marching this week from Haifa to Jerusalem, to raise awareness of violence in Arab society.

Mossad chief reportedly in contact with Qatar over Gaza escalation

According to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, Mossad chief Yossi Cohen has been in contact with Qatari officials to renew financial aid to the Gaza Strip.

A ball of fire is seen following an Israel airstrike at Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip early on June 27, 2020. - Two rockets were fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory on June 26, the army said. It was the first reported rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since early May. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Hamas test-fires rockets escalating tensions with Israel

Hamas test-fired missiles toward the sea in the Gaza Strip in a warning to Israel that the calm along the border might not last.

What are vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris' views on the Middle East?

Joe Biden's running mate has views on Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Syria that fall in line with the Democratic party establishment.

Netanyahu leverages international support against Hezbollah after Beirut blast

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called French President Emmanuel Macron to praise him for his leadership after the Beirut blast and to campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel-Lebanon Border, ISRAEL: Israeli tanks roll towards Israel-Lebanon border, 11 August 2006. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered the army today to prepare for launching its expanded ground offensive in Lebanon after diplomatic efforts stumbled, a senior government official said. AFP PHOTO/DENIS SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli tanks deploy to Lebanese border

Conflicting reports have emerged on whether Israeli tanks entered Lebanese territory amid high tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman wearing a protective face mask, returns from shopping in Jerusalem's neighbourhood of Mea Shearim, on April 12, 2020, during the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli women excluded from decision-making on coronavirus

Israeli women are excluded from the government’s decision-making process on the coronavirus, even though they are the first ones to suffer the social and economic consequences of the pandemic.

RAFAH, GAZA STRIP NOVEMBER 15: A Palestinian security man checks a passport of a traveller as she comes back from Egypt November 15, 2005 at the border crossing of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian and Egyptian security officials opened the Rafah border as an exception for travel in coordination with the Israeli Army. Palestinians and Israel have reached an agreement today under strong U.S. pressure to open borders of Gaza starting November 25, 2005 as an attempt to turn the economically cripple

Egypt-Gaza border crossing opens for first time in months

The Rafah border crossing has been mostly shut to travelers since March.

Netanyahu challenged from the right, not from the left

Israel’s political left is doing so badly that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most serious challenger currently is right-wing politician Naftali Bennett.

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-

Is Israel ready for a religious prime minister?

Israel never had a religious prime minister, but popular Yamina leader Naftali Bennett is adamant in trying to get hold of the job.

Balloons carrying an incendiary device floats after being released by masked Palestinians near Gaza's Bureij refugee camp, along the Israel-Gaza border fence, on February 10, 2020. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

After barrage of explosive balloons, Israel closes crossing point with Gaza

Signaling to Hamas it won’t tolerate more incendiary balloons, Israel announced it will close the Kerem Shalom goods crossing for an undetermined period, allowing only the entry of fuel, food and humanitarian supplies.