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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

An Israeli army vehicle is seen driving along the road parallel to the border fence separating the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and Syria, on July 19, 2017.
Israel is planning for a new field hospital to treat patients from the civil-war hit country, on the Syrian side of the fence but on the Israeli side of the demarcation line in the Golan Heights which it occupied in 1967, its military said on July 19, 2017.
/ AFP PHOTO / MENAHEM KAHANA (Photo credit should read MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Imag

IDF strikes Syrian targets in wake of Golan incident

The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged conducting a series of airstrikes in Syria Aug. 3 after a bombing attempt in the southern Golan Heights.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - MAY 25: Yair Lapid, Blue and White party member speaks at a protest against Netanyahu's 'Immunity Law' on May 25, 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu attempt to push for laws that will give him immunity from criminal prosecution as part of the coalition agreements for the next goverment. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Yair Lapid leading list of Netanyahu’s adversaries

Telem-Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid is probably the strongest adversary that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could face in the next elections.

Intel: Israeli court orders Netanyahu's son to stop tweeting personal details of protest leaders

The son of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ordered by an Israeli court on Sunday to stop harassing those leading protests against his father’s administration.

Israel facing tensions on northern, southern borders

The IDF is now worried not only about escalating tensions on the Syrian and Lebanese borders but also about growing tensions along the border with the Gaza Strip.

Israeli security forces stand guard in one of the alleys of Jerusalem's Old City following a knife attack early on May 31, 2019. - Two Israelis were wounded, one critically, in stabbing attacks in annexed east Jerusalem early in the monrning, one near Damascus Gate and the other near Jaffa Gate, according to Israeli police. Police said the attacker had been "neutralised" without specifying whether he had been killed or wounded. The Old City, where the attack took place, has been the scene of numerous stabbi

Can Jerusalem mayor improve situation of Arab residents?

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon advances two development projects in East Jerusalem — in Issawiya and in Wadi Joz.

A protester wearing a bandana around the mouth stands with others holding up a sign (R) reading in Hebrew "'siege' on Balfour"" (referencing the street near the Israeli Prime Minister's residence) and "on the head of the thief the hat burns" (proverb), during a demonstration against the Israeli government near the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem on July 25, 2020. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Far-right soccer fans attack anti-Netanyahu protesters

Members of Beitar Jerusalem soccer team fan club La Familia are now demonstrating against anti-Netanyahu demonstrators and even chasing them away.

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-

Netanyahu’s decline benefits pro-settler Bennett

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu falling in the polls and facing public discontent, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett is more popular than ever.

Hezbollah, Israel jostle in Syria, Lebanon

Conflict between Israel on the one hand and Iran and Hezbollah on the other have been playing out this month in Syria and Lebanon.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - OCTOBER 20: The golden Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine dominates the Temple Mount on which it stands, and at right, the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest shrine October 20, 2005 in this aerial view of Jerusalem's Old City. The picture is taken facing east. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

Israeli worshipers storm police barricades at Western Wall

More than the 1,000 visitors permitted to visit the Western Wall showed up on the fasting day of Tisha B’Av, leading to scuffles and removal by police.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - JULY 11: Israeli Protester holds a fake bill with a photo of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as she protests against the Government's economy response to the cororna virus crisis on July 11, 2020 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Following a rise in the cases of COVID-19, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered many businesses to shut, causing people to protest about a perceived mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and to call for the compensation promised by the gover

Neo-liberal Netanyahu turning socialist

On the backdrop of the deepening economic crisis and loss of popularity, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abandons his free market vision in favor of handouts to all Israeli citizens.

(L to R) Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center Avner Shalev, and Israel's Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi pose for a picture together after signing an agreement at the ministry headquarters in Jerusalem on June 10, 2020. (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s Foreign Ministry officially back in business

Something good is happening with Israel’s Foreign Ministry, as vacant positions are being filled and a spirit of projects advancing is filling the corridors.

TOPSHOT - Protesters crouch down as Israeli police use water cannons during clashes at a demonstration against the Israeli prime minister outside his official residence in Jerusalem, early on July 22, 2020. - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 70, was indicted in January for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three cases. He denies all the charges and accuses the media and legal officials of a witch hunt. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli protesters attacked again in Tel Aviv

President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Yair Lapid have all condemned yesterday's violence against anti-government demonstrators.