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Politics & Security

Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi (L) and US President Donald Trump pose during a summit on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025.

Trump threatens to 'blow up' Oman as US-Iran talks stall

“Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up,” Trump said in surprising comments on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, (R) shakes hands with Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, during a news conference on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary.

With Hungary’s ICC U-turn, Israel loses a key European ally

Hungary’s parliament voted to remain in the International Criminal Court, reversing a planned withdrawal and marking a shift in Budapest’s approach to Israel and the EU.

Iraqis walk past portraits of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, including one on a banner calling for a boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Sadr City, east of Baghdad on October 29, 2025. Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Iraq on 11 November 2025, which will determine the 329 members of Iraq's Council of Representatives, who are responsible for electing the country's president and approving the appointment of the prime minister. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by

Iraq’s Sadr moves to place his militia under state control: What to know

Muqtada al-Sadr is the first militia leader to heed new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s call to place weapons in the hands of the state as US pressure continues.

Latest News

Who was Mohammed Odeh, Hamas military commander killed by Israel in Gaza?

Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images

White House calls Iranian report on Hormuz, MOU 'complete fabrication'

Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula on May 17, 2026.

Jared Szuba

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

Analysis

'Very bad news’: Israel alarmed as Trump pushes ahead toward Iran deal

Chip Somodevilla/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

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses media during a joint press conference with German Chancellor after their meeting at the Dolmabahce Presidential Office in Istanbul on Oct. 19, 2024.

As Turkey weighs next steps in Syria, Erdogan says target is Damascus

Rapid rebel advances in Syria have shifted negotiations between Turkey, Iran and Russia to whether the Syrian government will survive.

ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP via Getty Images

Top Senate Republican urges Trump to sanction Sudan’s Hemedti over war conduct

The United States and the United Nations found that the Rapid Support Forces under Hemedti have committed war crimes including sexual violence and mass killings.

Fighters deploy in Atareb, in the western areas of Syria's northern Aleppo province, amid clashes between the Syrian army and fighters of the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham along with allied factions, Nov. 28, 2024.

Syria rebels advance, Jordan closes border as Assad loses ground: What to know

The Islamist-led rebels who launched a surprise assault on government-held Aleppo are now at the gates of Homs, after taking Hama, as clashes in Daraa threaten the government’s presence in the south.

Syrian anti-government fighters celebrate as they pour into the captured city of Hama, Dec. 6, 2024.

Analysis

Israel cheers disintegration of Iran axis, mulls collapse of Assad's Syria

While pleased about the seeming collapse of the Iran-led "axis of resistance," Israeli leaders are concerned about its speed and Syria's possible disintegration.

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

YPJ Commander in Chief Rojhelat Afrin pictured at YPJ headquarters near Al-Hasakh with YPJ spokesperson Heval Roksana and YPJ Field Commander Heval Kurdistan, Nov. 23, 204.

Interview

US-allied Syrian Kurdish woman commander: ISIS poised to carry 'fight to new level'

As Islamic State militants reportedly made advances in Syria on Thursday, the commander in chief of the Women’s Protection Units warned in an exclusive interview that the group’s plans included taking “over entire villages.”

Rojhelat Afrin

Rojhelat Afrin

Women’s Protection Units Commander in Chief

This combination of file photographs created on July 7, 2024, shows Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) in Ankara on May 29, 2023, and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on July 16, 2023.

Turkey’s Erdogan ups rhetoric, says Assad must ‘urgently engage' with rebels

Erdogan is urging the Syrian government to urgently launch a dialogue with rebels in a bid to end the civil war after insurgents captured Hama.

US soldiers inspect the site of reported Turkish shelling days earlier on an oil extraction facility on the outskirts of Rumaylan, in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeastern Hasakeh province on Oct. 28, 2024.

Three US troops in Syria evaluated for brain injuries after Deir ez-Zor incident

It remains unclear whether the injured American troops were involved in supporting a nearby effort by US-backed militia to oust pro-Assad forces from local villages east of the Euphrates River.

An anti-government fighter covers his ears as a multi-barrel rocket launcher fires against regime forces, in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama on Dec. 4, 2024.

Analysis

Rebel offensive to force Syria onto Trump’s agenda

With just over a month before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Syria’s forgotten war has reignited.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

A Syrian anti government fighter fires his rifle into the air in the streets of the west-central city of Hama on Dec. 5, 2024.

US on sidelines, Russia’s foothold tested as rebels take Syria’s Hama

The rebel blitz over the past week, alongside the collapse of Syrian army positions, has delivered the Islamist militants to the city of Hama and within 90 miles of strategic Russian bases on the Mediterranean Sea.

picture taken at the entrance of the Kweyris military airfield in the eastern part of Aleppo province, on Dec. 3, 2024, shows a portrait of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian rebels take control of Hama in major blow to Assad

Government and rebel forces had been fighting over the strategic city for days after the latter seized Aleppo.

Palestinian men carry a body retrieved from under the rubble following their return to Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, after Israeli shelling of the camp stopped, Nov. 29, 2024.

Amnesty International accuses Israel of committing 'genocide' in Gaza

Israel has rejected the claim as “baseless.”

Senior Iranian and Chinese officials held talks in Tehran on expanding bilateral ties in various areas, particularly in the economic field.

Senior China delegation in Iran to discuss 'strategic partnership,' economic ties

Iran hosted a Chinese delegation on Tuesday and Wednesday in a step to solidify a 2021 strategic partnership agreement, but can the two countries’ partnership weather the upcoming Donald Trump presidency?