Politics & Security - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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Politics & Security

Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos Hessebon meets with Marco Rubio in Washington on May 11, 2026.

Rubio hosts Ethiopia’s FM amid push to boost security ties: What to know

In response to heightening regional volatility, Ethiopia is prioritizing a strategic partnership with the Washington to secure its geopolitical standing.

A picture taken on March 12, 2017, shows an Panamanian tanker docking at the platform of the oil facility in the Khark Island, on the shore of the Gulf.

Breaking | Last Updated: May 11, 2026, 4:31 pm

US hits China-linked Iran oil trade with sanctions ahead of Trump trip

The sanctions come after the United States rejected Iran's latest proposal to end the war.

French Deputy Armed Forces Minister Alice Rufo

After year away, France returns ambassador to Algeria: What to know

France and Algeria have made efforts to improve ties recently, with the strain resulting from disagreements over Western Sahara and their shared colonial past.

Turkish Red Crescent's cars and trucks cross the Turkish border as they leave the Syrian city of Tel Abyad on Oct. 19, 2019, in Akcakale, Turkey.

Turkey's border reopening unlocks new sphere of influence in Syria

Turkey reopened the Akcakale-Tell Abyad crossing on Monday, ending an 11-year closure along the Syria border.

Latest News

Trump calls Iran response 'piece of garbage,' set to meet military advisers

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - MAY 2: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to journalists before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on May 2, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago resort. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

EU ministers agree to sanction violent West Bank settlers: What to know

Two men stand next to the burned remains of a Palestinian vehicle in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Susya village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 1, 2026.

Upcoming Lebanon-Israel talks will see higher-level participation, discuss security ‘framework’

Anwar AMRO / AFP via Getty Images

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

ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images

West Bank violence peaks with 344 killed, nearly 6,000 arrested amid Gaza war

Hundreds have been killed in the West Bank since Israel stepped up its raids and arrests in the territory in conjunction with the war in Gaza.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq, KRG leaders cancel meetings with Iran's FM at Davos over missile row

Tensions between Baghdad and Tehran have flared since the Monday attack, which Tehran claimed targeted an Israeli "spy cell" in the city.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) speaks with Foreign Affairs columnist Thomas Friedman during a meeting as part of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on January 17, 2024.

Davos 2024: Blinken says Palestinian statehood could help isolate Iran

The US secretary of state called former President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal "a big mistake."

Protesters hold a banner and Kurdish flags during a demonstration outside the United Nations (UN) office, a day after several areas in the city were hit by a missile attack launched by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region early on Jan. 16, 2024.

How Iran chose easy targets in Iraq's Erbil to avoid Israeli reprisal

As the Islamic Republic and its hardcore loyalists chanted in triumph, debates heated up as to whether the attack was meant only for domestic propaganda and flexing about a promised "revenge" that seemed to have been exacted on the wrong, easy target.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses a press conference in Tel Aviv on Jan. 9, 2024, during his week-long trip aimed at calming tensions across the Middle East.

Blinken says stay on the job as federal employees protest Gaza

The organizers behind Tuesday’s “Day of Mourning” said federal employees at more than two dozen agencies planned to take off work to protest the administration's handling of the Gaza war.

This handout screen grab captured from a video shows Yemen's Houthi fighters' takeover of the Galaxy Leader Cargo in the Red Sea coast off Hudaydah, on Nov. 20, 2023.

Davos 2024: Red Sea attacks ‘a crisis whole world needs to respond to,’ says US

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that since mid-November, 50 nations have been impacted by nearly 30 attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by the Iran-aligned Houthi militants.

Turkey-backed Syrian fighter sits at a position on the outskirts of the town of Marea.

Turkey's operation in Syria could happen in 'upcoming months': Erdogan

The Turkish president’s comments come after the top Turkish diplomat leveled rare public criticism at Russia.

This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Adayseh during Israeli bombardment, Jan. 14, 2024.

War looms for Lebanon as border escalation intensifies

Cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah have been escalating in recent days amid fear of a full-blown war.

Houthi soldiers stand guard on a missile carrier during an official military parade marking the ninth anniversary of the Houthi takeover of the capital, Sanaa, on Sept. 21, 2023.

US launches new strikes on Houthi missile sites in Yemen as deterrence falters

The US military struck Houthi ballistic missiles on the ground, as the Yemeni faction defied previous allied strikes designed to cripple their ability to attack ships in the Red Sea.

A Shahab-3 surface-to-surface missile is displayed next to a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a street exhibition by Iran's army and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard force to celebrate "Defense Week", marking the 41st anniversary of the start of 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, at the Baharestan Square in Tehran, on Sept. 25, 2021.

Breaking | Last Updated: January 16, 2024, 6:56 pm

Iran strikes inside Pakistan following IRGC missile attacks in Iraq, Syria

Tasnim news agency reported that sites belonging to Jaish al-Adl in Balochistan were struck with missiles and drones.

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed

No jail time for Somali president’s son over deadly crash in Turkey

The Somali president's son was not present at the trial, which Turkey's main opposition slammed as a "sham."

People take part in a protest in the streets of the Yemeni Red Sea city of Hudeida, to condemn the overnight US and British forces strikes on Houthi rebel-held cities, on Jan. 12, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the militant Hamas group in Gaza.

Red Sea escalation threatens US effort to end Yemen's war

Experts say a wave of American-led strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen that are meant to prevent further attacks in the Red Sea could embolden the militants and undermine an already shaky truce.