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Politics & Security

Palestinian Hamas militants arrive to secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), search for the last two remaining bodies of hostages -an Israeli soldier and a Thai national- from under the rubble of the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern of Gaza Strip on Dec. 1, 2025.

Analysis

How Hamas disarmament deal may test Iran's regional strategy

A possible Hamas decision to disarm would represent more than a Gaza development, testing Iran's decades-old strategy of projecting power through regional allies.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Mourners carry one of the bodies of members of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) who were killed earlier in Diyala in central Iraq by US-Saudi strikes, during the funeral in Baghdad on July 29, 2026. The US-Saudi strikes killed at least 20 militants, including Iranians, according to the Hashed al-Shaabi. The US and Saudi Arabia said the strikes were in response to attacks on US forces and Saudi oil facilities. (Photo by murtadha ridha / AFP via Getty Images) /

Analysis

Renewed Iraq attacks test Zaidi’s push to disarm Iran-backed militias

An attempt by Iraqi government forces to seize weapons belonging to an Iranian-backed faction encountered resistance, raising questions about Prime Minister Ali Zaidi’s pledge to disarm militias by Sept. 30.

Mustafa Salim

By Mustafa Salim

Fighters lift flags of Iraq and paramilitary groups, including al-Nujaba and Kataib Hezbollah, during a funeral in Baghdad for five militants killed a day earlier in a US strike in northern Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2023.

Analysis

Iran-linked militias seek to draw Iraq into regional war

“Iran’s logic is the logic of war,” a Gulf regional official tells Al-Monitor.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Latest News

Explainer

Estimated 60,000 migrants cross from Morocco into Spanish territory: What we know

Ceuta

Analysis

No Iran commitment, no Trump endorsement: Netanyahu leaves US empty-handed

US President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, on July 31, 2026. President Trump is traveling to Camp David in Maryland to hold a cabinet meeting and later to Bedminster, New Jersey to spend the weekend at his golf club. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Ezgi Akin

Associate Editor (Turkey)

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

JOHANNA GERON/AFP via Getty Images

Egypt seeks middle ground between US, Russia as Ukraine fighting rages

Cairo remains torn in its position on the Ukraine crisis for compelling financial and other reasons.

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

Israel needs long-term plans to absorb Ukrainian immigration wave

Israel’s government has made short-term housing plans for the thousands of Ukrainian and Russian Jews expected to immigrate to Israel, but absorption will be a long and difficult road.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett welcomes a group of orphans from the Alumim orphanage in the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr, on arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel, March 6, 2022.

Germany’s Scholz behind Israel’s Bennett shuttle diplomacy on Ukraine

Associates of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett emphasize that his traveling to Moscow and Berlin and his contacts with all the parties were conducted with the US administration in the picture and with its blessing.

Libyan interim Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha.

Libya turns on Russia over Ukraine war, but does it matter?

Libya’s incoming prime minister initially avoided commenting on Russia’s war in Ukraine. But after Russia welcomed his new government, he turned against Moscow.

The Nile River flows from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Guba, Ethiopia, Feb. 19, 2022.

Ethiopia tries to divide Sudan, Egypt in talks over Nile Dam

Ethiopian and Sudanese officials have met separately over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, but Cairo and Khartoum are still mostly united in their concerns.

Church of All Nations and Mary Magdalene Convent on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, Israel.

Jerusalem churches fight new settlement plan

Church heads and officials in Jerusalem are fighting an Israeli plan to expand a national park on the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem, where dozens of churches and Christian sites are located.

Qurashi

Islamic State names new leader after prior chief's death

An audio statement from IS confirmed previous reports that Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi is its new leader, but his real identity and background is not clear.

Khamenei

Khamenei defends Iran's regional strategic influence

In defiance of western criticism over Iran's controversial regional activities, the country's leader defended its interventions in the wider Middle East as a tool that deepens strategic influence.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid meets with Jordanian King Abdullah II, Amman, Jordan, March 10, 2022.

Bennett government shakes off Netanyahu’s shadow on foreign policy

The coalition government's foreign policy on Russia, Iran, the United States, Turkey and the Palestinians differs significantly from that of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Ukraine, Russia make no progress in cease-fire talks in Turkey

The discussions fail to achieve a cease-fire or a humanitarian corridor for the port city of Mariupol, but Cavusoglu says Turkey’s diplomatic efforts would continue as Erdogan braces for top level meetings with Azerbaijan, Greece and Germany.

Israeli Minister of Immigration and Absorption Pnina Tamano-Shata (3rd-R) and Yaakov Hagoel (2nd-R), head of the World Zionist Organization, hand out Israeli flags to immigrants from Ukraine disembarking from their aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, Israel, Feb. 20, 2022.

Israel seeks to contain flood of Ukrainian refugees

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced yesterday a framework plan for welcoming 5,000 Ukrainian refugees and for temporarily regularizing some 20,000 Ukrainian nationals residing in Israel mostly illegally.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli court cancels eviction of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah

The Israeli Supreme Court has cancelled an eviction order, siding with the residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.