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Politics & Security

Israeli soldiers react after taking cover near the Israel-Lebanon border following a Hezbollah drone attack that hit the northern border on May 19, 2026. The Israeli military on May 19 warned residents of 12 towns and villages in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate ahead of expected attacks against Hezbollah, the latest despite a ceasefire. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP via Getty Images)

In first, US sanctions Lebanon military, intel officials for aiding Hezbollah

New tranche of sanctions marks a warning shot from Washington as Senate Republicans threaten to freeze funding to the Lebanese Armed Forces if it does not move more aggressively to disarm Hezbollah.

Iranians drive next to a billboard displaying pictures of nuclear scientists, centrifuges and a sentence reading in Farsi " Science is the power," at the Enqelab Square in Tehran, on Aug. 29, 2025.

US, Iran trade mixed signals on enriched uranium as Tehran weighs response

Speaking on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he would be willing to wait "a couple of days" for Tehran's response to the latest US proposal to end the war.

TOPSHOT - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City on September 22, 2025. (Photo by Bing Guan / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Feature

With sanctions off, what’s keeping Syria on US terror blacklist?

Despite President Donald Trump’s pledge to lift all sanctions on Syria, the country's designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism continues to discourage investment.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images

Israel targets Turkey charity amid Gaza flotilla tensions

The request, published in Israeli media, marks a further escalation in tensions with Turkey amid disputes over Gaza aid operations.

Latest News

Iran’s Hormuz authority declares control over ports in UAE, Oman: What to know

AFP via Getty Images

Ethiopia accuses Egypt of obstructing Red Sea access bid: What to know

TO GO WITH STORY by Peter Martell: "Eritrea-economy-port": A couple of boats and two tug boats can be seen in Eritrea's Red Sea port of Massawa on November 18, 2007. Once one of East Africa's busiest ports, the town is still recovering after being badly bombed in 1990 during Eritrea's war of liberation from Ethiopia. The government is trying to revitalize the port, but efforts are hampered by a sluggish economy and threat of a renewed conflict with Ethiopia. AFP PHOTO/Peter MARTELL (Photo credit should read

Turkish court ousts CHP leadership amid opposition crackdown

Leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Ozgur Ozel addresses the audience during a rally in Istanbul on April 9, 2025.

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

MEDITERRANIAN SEA - OCTOBER 2: In this handout provided by the U.S. Navy, The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), and Italian Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel ITS Paolo Thaon di Revel (P430), flagship of Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2, operate in the Mediterranean Sea, Oct. 2, 2025. Gerald R. Ford, a first-in-class aircraft carrier and deployed flagship of Carrier Strike Group 12, is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations to support the warfighting effectiveness, lethality and re

Trump’s Venezuela standoff to leave Mideast without US aircraft carrier

The USS Ford’s departure will leave Washington without the Navy’s on-call mobile strike capability in the Middle East as the Trump administration shifts its pressure campaign to Latin America.

Fighters from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction stand by a "technical" pickup truck at a position near the Tishrin Dam in the vicinity of Manbij, in the east of Syria's northern Aleppo province, on January 10, 2025 amidst ongoing battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Turkish military academies to train 49 Syrian cadets amid joint drills: What to know

The training and drills mark the first visible implementation of the military cooperation deal Ankara and Damascus signed in August.

A Lebanese policeman walks past a portrait of Ibrahim Salameh, a Lebanese municipal employee who was killed during an Israeli army raid in the southern border village of Blida, displayed outside the municipality building on Oct. 30, 2025.

Aoun urges response after Israeli raid kills municipal worker in southern Lebanon

Israeli forces killed a municipal employee during an incursion into Lebanon, further escalating tensions in a country where fears of a renewed war have grown in recent weeks.

A woman walks past electoral billboards in central Baghdad on Oct. 19, 2025, ahead of parliamentary elections in Iraq on Nov. 11.

Iraq hit by wave of political violence weeks ahead of national election

Authorities work to step up security ahead of the upcoming vote, which could again be marked by low turnout amid widespread frustration with the political process.

Displaced Sudanese who fled el-Fasher after the city fell to the Rapid Support Forces rest near the the town of Tawila in war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region, on Oct. 28, 2025.

RSF’s el-Fasher takeover kills 2,300 in Sudan as UAE accused of aiding militia

Videos coming out of the captured North Darfur city show scenes of brutal violence and devastation, with hospitals turned into “slaughterhouses” and civilians executed in the streets.

A boy reacts sitting amid the rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli strike in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on Oct. 29, 2025.

Israel renews Gaza ceasefire after airstrikes kill over 100 Palestinians

After a night of aerial strikes in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, the Israeli military announced the resumption of the Gaza ceasefire.

Members of the Iranian Basij paramilitary force march during the force parade on Jan. 10, 2025, in Tehran, Iran.

Iran's quiet IRGC reshuffle fuels speculation of postwar shake-up

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has quietly removed veteran commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi, fueling debates on postwar restructuring, internal recalibration and lingering espionage allegations amid broader shifts in the country's security hierarchy.

Hamas militants carry a body retrieved from a tunnel in an area north of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 28, 2025.

Live Updates

Netanyahu orders 'powerful' strike in Gaza after Hamas attack in Rafah

Earlier in the day, Hamas militants fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli military force that was conducting engineering work in the Rafah area, which remains under Israeli control.

Sudanese residents gather to receive free meals in Al Fasher, a city besieged by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for more than a year, in Darfur region, on August 11, 2025. RSF attacked a famine-hit refugee camp in North Darfur state on August 11, 2025, killing at least 40 civilians and injuring 19 others, rescuers said. Al-Fasher is the last city in the western Darfur region still held by the Sudanese army, at war with the paramilitary group since April 2023. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by STR/AF

Aid groups sound alarm on 'atrocities' after RSF captures Sudan's el-Fasher

Sudan’s RSF are facing numerous accusations of rights violations and abuses against civilians following their takeover of el-Fasher city in the Darfur region.