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Politics & Security

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Yemen’s Houthis claim new attack on Aramco refinery in Saudi Arabia: What to know

The strike follows a deadly Houthi attack on a ship in the Red Sea as the renewed conflict take its toll on shipping.

A man inspects the damage at the site of a strike in Bartalla, in the northern Iraq's Nineveh province, after US-Saudi attacks on militias, July 29, 2026.

Iraq intel and security officials visit Saudi Arabia after drone attacks

Iraqi authorities are cracking down on drone attacks after US and Saudi airstrikes targeted Iran-backed militias in the country.

Latest News

Sudan’s RSF attacks Khartoum, seizes border town: What to know

Ebrahim HAMID / AFP via Getty Images

Exclusive

Turkey set to sign charter for Saudi-led Red Sea coalition on Friday

Servicemen of Yavuz class, TCG Turgutreis (F-241), warship stand at attention on the deck as they participate in the live-fire phase of the "Blue Homeland-2026" (Mavi Vatan) tactical military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in Antalya on April 9, 2026.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Explainer

Three ways China benefits from Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan pact: What to know

SPA

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

Members of the Bahraini armed forces carry the coffins of comrades who were killed the previous day during their battle against the Huthi rebels in Yemen, on September 5, 2015 during an official repatriation ceremony at Isa Air Base in Sakhir, South of Manama. Bahrain announced that five of its soldiers were killed in southern Saudi Arabia where they had been posted to help defend the border with neighbouring war-wracked Yemen. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP

Houthi attack on Bahrain's soldiers tests Yemen's fragile cease-fire, US defense pact

An alleged Houthi drone strike that killed three Bahraini soldiers in Saudi Arabia this week has underscored the limits of Washington's commitment to Gulf states' defense.

Iran

Iran claims to foil mass assassination of IRGC figures, Sunni clerics

Iran has been working hard to portray its intelligence apparatus as a formidable force that is busting one terror network after another, pointing to Israel as the mastermind.

(D-NY)

Meeks urges pause on US military aid to Egypt in wake of Menendez indictment

Rep. Gregory Meeks on Friday sought a hold on more than $200 million in Egypt's military financing over human rights concerns.

Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz (L) and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid attend a preliminary vote on a bill to dissolve parliament and call an early election at the Knesset, Jerusalem on June 22, 2022.

Analysis

Will Israel’s opposition back Netanyahu on Saudi peace deal?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that his far-right coalition partners oppose a Saudi deal requiring concessions to the Palestinians, but can he gain the support of the opposition instead?

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

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and Senegal's President Macky Sall (L).

Analysis

Niger, Morocco turn their backs on France as Macron withdraws troops

In the Sahel region and in North Africa, post-colonial France is rapidly losing its influence.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Poster featuring jailed businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala.

Turkey’s appeals court upholds life sentence for Osman Kavala, four others

The trial and ensuing sentences have turned into a symbol of Turkey’s democratic backsliding and erosion of judiciary independence.

Rescue teams attend to the scene of devastation after an Iranian military plane crashed into a residential building in a heavily built-up suburb on December 6, 2005 in Tehran, Iran. A huge explosion was reported as the plane, carrying 94 people, crashed into a 10-storey block killing all on board. Many deaths are also feared on the ground after the C-130 plane encountered a technical problem shortly after take-off from Mehrabad airport. (Photo by Hossein/Getty Images)

Mysterious fire at Iran's Defense Ministry site north of Tehran

The second such fire in less than a week comes amid high tensions between the United States and Iran, though details surrounding the incident remain unclear.

US Army helicopter crew from the 101st Airborne Division prepares the Apache attack helicopter at the the Camp Udairi airfield in preparation for a mission to Iraq 20 March 2003.

US accuses Iran’s IRGC of harassing helicopter over the Gulf

The first reported tense interaction between the US Navy and Iran's naval forces comes just days after Bahraini soldiers were killed in a drone attack attributed to Yemen's Houthi rebels, who receive arms from Iran.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 19: Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel (L) greets Senate Finance Committee members Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) (R) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) before a hearing about the Biden Administration's proposed budget request for FY2024 and the 2023 tax filing season in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on April 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. Confirmed by the Senate in March of this year, Werfel is tasked with overseeing the IRS's $80 billion overhaul to modernize i

Sen. Cardin 'looking at options' as calls grow to block US military aid to Egypt

Sen. Ben Cardin told reporters on Thursday he expects to make a decision soon on whether to use his new authority as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman to hold up a fraction of Egypt's annual military assistance.

China's sole aircraft carrier, the Liaoning (R), arrives in Hong Kong waters on July 7, 2017.

Saudi Arabia and China to hold joint naval training as ties deepen

With energy and business ties rapidly improving between Saudi Arabia and China, the two countries have agreed to a second joint naval exercise.

Israel, Germany sign $3.5B Arrow 3 deal

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed a letter of commitment in Berlin for the sale of the advanced Arrow 3 air defense system, signaling a strengthening of ties between Israel and Germany.

Refugees sit in a bus near a Red Cross registration centre in Goris, on Sept. 27, 2023.

Turkey’s Fidan holds call with Armenia’s FM amid exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh

The phone call marks the first high-level contact between Ankara and Yerevan following the Azerbaijani offensive in the Nagorno-Karabakh region last week.