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Politics & Security

Children swimming in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Hormuz authority denies Trump claims of control over strait: What to know

Trump administration officials have said oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are rising, but maritime traffic remains diminished.

FADEL itani / AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

Who benefits from Lebanon’s amnesty law and why it is controversial

The law, initially intended to ease prison overcrowding, could see the release of Islamists accused of killing soldiers and allow Lebanese exiled to Israel return to the country.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference in Moscow on June 16, 2026.

Analysis

Fidan heads to Egypt amid questions over Saudi Arabia-Turkey-Pakistan pact

Conflicting accounts of why Egypt stayed out of the agreement have exposed the competing interests shaping the region’s emerging defense architecture.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Colombia's new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, delivers a speech at the Pichincha Battalion after being sworn in, in Cali, Colombia, on Aug. 7, 2026.

Syria lodges UN complaint against Colombia’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Golan

Bogota’s move marked a foreign policy shift under new right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella, reversing Petro-era policies that strained ties with Israel.

Latest News

Hormuz traffic sinks to one-week low as ships attacked, talks stagnate

port attack

Analysis

What Qaani's Baghdad visit reveals about Iran's post-war dilemma

The commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Esmail Qaani, speaks during a commemoration ceremony marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani (on screen) in the capital Tehran on Jan. 3, 2024.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Turkey’s Fidan heads to Libya as US-backed unification push gathers pace

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan met with Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity of Libya, in Tripoli on Aug. 11, 2026.

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

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Yossi Beilin (L) after meeting in Gaza City 06 September 1999.

Yossi Beilin, Israel’s Oslo architect: Gaza war shattered Netanyahu’s hopes for Arab normalization

Former politician and architect of the Oslo Accords Yossi Beilin says that the only feasible solution for future governance of Gaza would be an international consortium led by the United Nations or the Arab League.

COP27 and COP28 presidents

COP28 opens in UAE amid intense scrutiny over fossil fuel links

A breakthrough was made on the first day of the UN climate summit as world leaders established a loss and damage fund to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

United Arab Emirates

Newly release Israeli hostages sit among soldiers as they arrive inside a vehicle at Ofakim army base in southern Israel early on Nov. 30, 2023, after being freed from the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

American among hostages freed on 6th day of Gaza truce

Hamas released 16 hostages, including dual Israeli-American citizen Liat Beinin Atzili, as talks continued over extending the truce.

Senate Democrats

Democrats split on conditioning Israel aid ahead of war’s next phase

Some Senate Democrats have floated conditions on Israel's future military assistance after President Joe Biden said attaching strings was a "worthwhile thought."

Amberin and Fabrice webinar

The Israel-Hamas war: A view from Iraq and Syria

Join a live Q&A webinar with Amberin Zaman and Fabrice Balanche on Friday, Dec. 1 at 11 am ET (Pro members only).

USS Eisenhower

US Navy shoots down Iran-made drone fired from Yemen

The shooting follows a separate incident in the Persian Gulf in which an Iranian drone came within 1,500 yards of the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier.

A child mourns over the body of one of five people killed in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin during an overnight Israeli incursion, at the morgue of a hospital on November 26, 2023. Five people were killed by Israeli army fire in Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said, during an incursion by a large number of armoured vehicles into the city, which was recently the scene of the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in almost 20 years. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Get

Two Palestinian children killed in Israeli raid in Jenin as West Bank tensions soar

The truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has not calmed the situation in the West Bank with at least 240 Palestinians killed since Oct. 7.

Israel Inon

Meet Israeli activist Maoz Inon, who lost his parents in Hamas attack, now calls for peace

Having lost both his parents at the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Maoz Inon calls on the government to take responsibility for the divide within the Israeli society, which had weakened the country, and for what happened that terrible day.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Calling him 'butcher of Gaza,' Turkey's Erdogan unloads on Netanyahu

Erdogan also said hopes for a permanent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas have been dampened.

TOPSHOT - A young young boy raises a Palestinian flag as he stands with another amid the debris of a house damaged in an Israeli raid followed by clashes with Palestinians, in the occupied West Bank Jenin refugee camp on November 10, 2023. Israeli forces on November 9 killed 18 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, the territory's health ministry said, most of them shot dead during an army raid on Jenin. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Teetering West Bank economy fuels instability, fear of PA security collapse

An economic downturn in the West Bank as a result of increased security measures and Israel withholding funds to the Palestinian Authority is fueling instability.

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

French envoy in Lebanon amid Israel-Hezbollah tension, presidential void

French presidential special envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian is on his fourth visit to Beirut this year.

A US Navy Martin UAV drone hovers mid-air beneath a US Navy SH-60S Seahawk helicopter, while Bahraini Coast Guard ship Deraa 13 (L), US Coast Guard cutter Maui (C), and Royal Bahrain Naval Force (RBNF) Abdulrahman Al Fadhel (R) operate on Gulf waters during joint naval exercise between US 5th Fleet Command and Bahraini forces, on October 26, 2021. - The US and Bahrain navies conducted a joint exercise at sea, launching a series of drills integrating unmanned systems into regional maritime operations. (Photo

Day 54 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Wednesday, Nov. 29