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June 24, 2026

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Lebanese army forces deploy in the village of Bir al-Salasel in southern Lebanon on June 15, 2026. Iran's foreign ministry on June 15 said the US must ensure that Israel commits to stopping the war in Lebanon under a deal agreed upon with the US to end the Middle East war. Lebanon was pulled into the conflict in early March when Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader, prompting Israeli strikes and a ground invasion. (Pho

Analysis

Pilot zones at center of Israel-Lebanon talks as Trump pressures Netanyahu

With the fifth round of talks set to begin Tuesday, Israel is prepared to withdraw from at least one “pilot zone,” allowing the Lebanese army to take control of the area.

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

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, Lebanon, on June 9, 2026.

Analysis

As US reshapes Lebanon strategy, Israel finds itself sidelined

The deal advanced between Washington and Tehran sees a linkage between the Iranian and Lebanese theaters and creates a deconfliction mechanism — without consulting Israel beforehand.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Former Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot gives a press conference in Tel Aviv, on December 4, 2018.

Can political novice Eisenkot defeat Netanyahu in upcoming elections?

The former military chief of staff is emerging as the prime minister's strongest rival in upcoming elections, overtaking former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in recent polls.

Latest News

Analysis

How Netanyahu used Lebanon strikes to push back on Trump’s Iran deal

US President Donald Trump holds a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Palm Beach, Florida, Dec. 29, 2025.

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

'Let Syria take care of Hezbollah': Trump criticizes Israel, leans on Sharaa to help in Lebanon

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE - JUNE 16: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the G7 summit, on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. Leaders from the Group of 7 (G7) countries convened in Evian, France, near the Swiss border, for their annual summit to discuss challenges to peace and security for Ukraine and Europe, the situation in the Middle East, and other geopolitical issues. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Get

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

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

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a conference in Tel Aviv University October 29, 2013. A planned release of 26 Palestinian prisoners has provoked feuding within Israel's governing coalition, already under strain from U.S.-brokered peace talks. Jewish Home, led by Naftali Bennett, then tried to get a proposal to freeze further prisoner releases past a ministerial committee, where members Netanyahu's Likud party voted it down on Sunday. REUTERS/ Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX

Prisoner-settlement exchange means no free lunch

Negotiations are slated to last nine months, but if by the end of the year no progress is made, the Obama administration will present an American final status agreement draft.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat gestures during his interview with Reuters in the West Bank city of Ramallah August 11, 2013. Erekat said on Sunday Israel's plans for new homes in Jewish settlements on occupied land were aimed to scupper peace talks that resume on Wednesday. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX12H3R

How Netanyahu pushed Erekat into a corner

The resignation of Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat reflects the disappointment within Palestinian public opinion following Israel's decision to continue settlement construction.

Former Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman is seen in Jerusalem's magistrate court at the continuation of his trial, April 25, 2013. Lieberman was indicted on charges relating to the promotion of an Israeli diplomat who had illegally given him information about a police investigation against him. The allegations led Lieberman, a key ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to resign from cabinet last December. REUTERS/Uriel Sinai/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTXYZEJ

Netanyahu's coalition stable — with or without Liberman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feels confident about the stability of his coalition, whatever the outcome in Avigdor Liberman's trial or Labor Party primaries.

Palestinians wait for the release of prisoners from Israeli jails, near Erez crossing between Israel and northern Gaza Strip October 30, 2013. Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday, the second stage of a limited amnesty designed to help U.S.-sponsored peace talks that have been dogged by divisions on both sides. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX14T9I

Israel traps Palestinians in negotiations with prisoner card

Israel is using the release of Palestinian prisoners as a means to keep the Palestinians in peace talks that are going nowhere.

A Palestinian relative of Hamas militant Rabee Baraka mourns as he takes a farewell look at Baraka's body, at a hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 1, 2013. On Thursday, Baraka was killed and five Israeli soldiers wounded in a clash that broke out after Israeli forces detonated part of a different Gaza tunnel. Hamas said it had dug the tunnel, which Israel said ran into its territory and was intended for carrying out attacks on its soldiers and civilians. Separately, an Israeli air s

Gaza-Israel Clashes Unlikely to Escalate

Israel and Hamas are both preoccupied with other more pressing regional concerns, and have no interest in flaring a crisis of their own.

A general view of Dubai's cityscape September 25, 2013. A stampede by competing apartment buyers in Dubai this week may have obscured signs that Dubai's latest real estate boom is more restrained than the last one, which pushed the government close to default. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Tags: REAL ESTATE BUSINESS CITYSCAPE) - RTX145A9

The Al-Monitor Debate on Gulf Cities

The Wall Street Journal reports on the Al-Monitor debate on Gulf cities; former Israeli, Palestinian negotiators differ on whether Palestinians should recognize Israel as a Jewish state; hope for Syrian bishops' release; a new Al-Monitor design.

Israeli soldiers (R) and a Jewish settler (L) stand at the entrance to the West Bank Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin, near Hebron April 2, 2009, after an attack. A Palestinian with an axe and a knife killed a 13-year-old Israeli boy and wounded a seven-year-old boy in Bat Ayin on Thursday, two days after a right-wing government took power.
REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (WEST BANK POLITICS CONFLICT IMAGE OF THE DAY TOP PICTURE) - RTXDJ9O

Israeli Army Avoids Confronting Settler Violence

West Bank settlers have once again attacked Palestinian residents and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, and once again the army and police showed no attempt to apprehend the lawbreakers.

Aryeh Deri (C), leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, attends an annual pilgrimage to the gravesite of Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, a Moroccan-born sage and kabbalist also known as the Baba Sali, in the southern town of Netivot January 14, 2013. Powerful political players for years, Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties must now reckon with a new force ushered in by voters bent on stripping them of perks they have relied on for decades. Picture taken January 14, 2013. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS

Shas Leader Deri Fails In Municipal Elections

Since his political comeback after 13 years of exile, Shas Party Chairman Aryeh Deri is committing every imaginable mistake, jeopardizing his stand within the party.

An Ultra-Orthodox protester protects himself as Israeli police (not pictured) fire a water cannon to disperse protesters during clashes in the town of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem August 14, 2013. Ultra-Orthodox protesters clashed on Wednesday with police and other security forces in the town of Beit Shemesh after a group of them broke into a construction site to prevent work from taking place at the site they believe contains ancient graves. REUTERS/ Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: RELIGION CIVIL UNREST POLITIC

Israeli Municipal Elections Amplify Ultra-Orthodox, Secular Conflict

Municipal elections in Jerusalem and in the declining town of Beit Shemesh testify to the intensity of the cultural war within Israeli society, where ultra-Orthodox and secular clash over Israel's image.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a conference in Tel Aviv University October 29, 2013. A planned release of 26 Palestinian prisoners has provoked feuding within Israel's governing coalition, already under strain from U.S.-brokered peace talks. Jewish Home, led by Naftali Bennett, then tried to get a proposal to freeze further prisoner releases past a ministerial committee, where members Netanyahu's Likud party voted it down on Sunday. REUTERS/ Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX

Israel Weighs Its Options

This week's regional conflicts include sluggish negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, another mysterious strike in Syria and Ayatollah Khamenei's "disappearance."

A Palestinian national team goalkeeper catches the ball during a warm-up before a local friendly soccer match at a stadium in al-Ram, on the edge of Jerusalem October 22, 2008. The Palestinian national team will play its first match on home soil on Sunday when they host Jordan in an international friendly at a new stadium near Jerusalem, the Palestinian FA chairman Jibril Rajoub said. Picture taken October 22, 2008. REUTERS/Fadi Arouri (JERUSALEM) - RTX9UN9

Palestinian Government Boosts Sports As Means of Resistance

The Palestinian government has been cultivating national sports and athletics in a bid to revive patriotism and forge unity.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waves to his supporters upon the arrival of released Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons in the West Bank city of Ramallah early October 30, 2013. Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday, the second stage of a limited amnesty designed to help U.S.-sponsored peace talks that have been dogged by divisions on both sides. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX14TCR

Hamas Gives No Credit to Abu Mazen For Prisoner Release

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh decided not to broadcast or celebrate the recent prisoner release.