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Politics & Security

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the IAEA, speaks during the 69th annual International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) general conference on Sept. 15, 2025 in Vienna, Austria.

Interview

Grossi: IAEA seeks return to Syria as Kurdish unrest delays nuclear inspections

Hostilities between the Syrian government and the Kurdish administration in the northeast have slowed the IAEA’s monitoring of the country’s nuclear facilities, Rafael Grossi said in an interview with Al-Monitor from Davos.

Rafael Grossi

Rafael Grossi

IAEA Director General

Palestinian Hamas militants secure the area as Egyptian workers, accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, search for the last two remaining bodies of hostages from under the rubble of the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern of Gaza Strip on Dec. 1, 2025.

Analysis

Trump's Board of Peace faces first test: Disarming Hamas

President Donald Trump’s plan for a Gaza Strip lined with beachfront resorts and glitzy high-rises hinges on Hamas' disarmament.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Kobane

Syria-Kurd deal hinges on SDF integration as Barrack meets Kobane

Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are navigating tense negotiations following clashes and a temporary ceasefire in northeastern Syria.

Children and women, relatives of suspected Islamic State jihadists, walk inside al-Hol camp in the desert region of Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, on Jan. 21, 2026.

Iraq to prosecute ISIS detainees transferred from Syria: What to know

The repatriation of Iraqis accused of Islamic State ties from Syria has reignited security concerns in Iraq.

Latest News

Putin offers $1B in frozen assets for Gaza Board of Peace — will US unfreeze them?

Ramil Sitdikov / AFP via Getty Images

Herzog: Saudi normalization talks could resume as Gaza ceasefire enters next phase

Israel's President Isaac Herzog gestures as he speaks during the World Economic Forum annual meeting, Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026.

Trump launches Board of Peace: We can do 'whatever we want'

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

What Israel stands to lose in Syria-SDF agreement

Jalaa MAREY / 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

A child waves the flag of Hamas as others wave the Fatah emblem during a solidarity march with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on Oct. 27, 2023.

Fatah wants Hamas to join PLO: Official

Fatah and Hamas will resume their reconciliation talks in China soon, but disagreements remain between the two groups.

Smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike on the southren Lebanese village of Siddiqin on June 1, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.

Could Gaza cease-fire prevent wider regional war?

As the United States rallies international pressure on Hamas to accept a cease-fire proposal in hopes of ending the Gaza war, Israel and Hezbollah are launching increasingly provocative strikes across Lebanon’s border.

The Soloturk aerobatic demonstration team of the Turkish Air Force flies an F-16 aircraft over Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Turkish Republic's Founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, during celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey in Ankara, on October 29, 2023. Turkey marked its centenary as a post-Ottoman republic on October 29, 2023, with somewhat muted celebrations held in the shadow of Israel's escalating war with Hamas militants in Gaza. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALT

US welcomes Turkey’s signing $23 billion F-16 jets deal

Turkey's inking of the deal indicates that Ankara and Washington have agreed on the terms of the purchase and see an opportunity in exploring other avenues.

Syrian Kurdish women walk past an election campaign banner in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli on June 6, 2024.

Syrian Kurds postpone local elections amid US disapproval, Turkish threats

The prevailing consensus is that the Biden administration’s opposition was the main driver of the postponement.

Israeli soldiers mount a weapon atop a tank as troops gather at a position in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on November 7, 2023, amid increasing cross-border tensions between Hezbollah and Israel as fighting continues in the south with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli military 'set and ready' if attack ordered against Lebanon's Hezbollah

The Israeli military has finished preparations for the government's orders to respond to Hezbollah's drone and rocket fire with an all-out attack.

Palestinians Hamas militants wearing headbands reading in Arabic "the Lion's Den", in reference to the Nablus based Lion's Den armed group, march in support of the group in Gaza City on Dec. 10, 2022.

US sanctions Palestinian Lion's Den armed group in West Bank

The group emerged in 2022 amid an uptick of violence between Palestinians and settlers in Nablus

AFP via Getty Images

Outrage in Sudan as more than 100 feared dead in RSF attack

One local rights group says that Rapid Support Forces fighters invaded a village and killed up to 100 people, displacing large numbers of others.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is on a visit to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China Photo Credit: @HakanFidan on X

Analysis

Have Turkey, China hit reset button on Uyghurs as Fidan visits Xinjiang?

Experts say Beijing and Ankara skillfully managed the contentious Uyghur issue during the Turkish diplomat's China visit, but Fidan's messages might raise eyebrows in the West.

Ezgi Akin

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

This picture taken from northern Israel shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon on May 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel threatens 'intense operation' near Lebanon as Qatar hosts Gaza talks

Israel’s war cabinet is set to convene Thursday evening to discuss the escalation in the north with Hezbollah.

Supporters of the Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) take part in the Kurdish celebration of Nowruz (aka Noruz or Newroz), the New Year of the Persian calendar, in Istanbul on March 17, 2024.

Outrage as Turkish court hands Kurdish mayor 20-year prison sentence

There is widespread anger in Turkey's Kurdish-majority city of Hakkari after its democratically elected mayor was handed a nearly 20-year prison sentence.

KHALIL MAZRAAWI/afp/AFP via Getty Images

Jordan seizes 9.5 million Captagon pills at Saudi border

Much of Jordan’s efforts to counter drug smuggling focus on the Syrian border, but Saudi Arabia remains a major destination for Captagon.

An ambulance is pictured as Lebanese army deploy near the US embassy in Beirut on June 5, 2024, after a Syrian man was arrested following a shooting near the embassy.

Attack on US Embassy in Lebanon, Syrian gunman wounded

Investigations are ongoing into the shooting incident, which comes amid intensified cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.