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September 18, 2026

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Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on as he attends a trade agreement signature ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris on August 24, 2026. (Photo by LOU BENOIST / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How Netanyahu is leveraging Houthi threat in secret Saudi normalization push

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to capitalize on Riyadh's need for intelligence assistance to make normalization headway ahead of the October elections.

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

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Former Assad official sentenced to 60 years in US for torture

Samir Ousman Alsheikh was convicted by a jury in March of three counts of torture, one count of conspiracy to commit torture, visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud.

A US Air Force F-35 fifth-generation jet fighter takes off during the NATO's Ramsteign Flag 2025 exercise at Leeuwarden Air Base on April 8, 2025.

Trump administration approves $24B sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia

Trump first announced the planned sale in November 2025, ahead of hosting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House.

UN peacekeepers stand next to an armored vehicle during a patrol in southern Lebanon, Feb. 22, 2026.

Explainer

Why France is pushing to keep UNIFIL in Lebanon beyond 2026

Showing its support for Lebanon, Paris is backing Beirut’s request at the UN for a short-term extension of UNIFIL’s mandate, although French sources acknowledge that the chances of the request being approved are slim.

Latest News

Exclusive

Lacking deterrence, Israel’s security establishment opposes attacks on Houthis

Fighters loyal to the Houthi authorities, brandish their weapons during a rally to recruit more fighters, in Sanaa on September 10, 2026. The country relapsed into war in July after years of calm, drawn into the regional conflict triggered by the US-Israeli offensive against Iran that began at the end of February. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Meet Wesley Hunt, Trump's pick for ambassador to Saudi Arabia

US Republican Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas gestures after speaking during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024.

US hits major Russian bank VTB with Iran-linked sanctions

VTB Bank in Moscow

CENTCOM chief meets Saudi Arabia's MBS amid Houthi gains in Yemen

Win McNamee/Getty Images

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

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

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

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Rosaleen Carroll

News Reporter and Supporting Editor

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Paul J. Saunders

In Washington, DC, reporting on Russia in the Middle East

Fuel prices are displayed at petrol station of French oil giant Total in Bordeaux, France, September 17, 2019. Picture taken September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau - RC1E43667350

Global oil prices at highest since March following OPEC cuts

Oil prices have fallen significantly this year as a result of the coronavirus and the Saudi-Russia price war, but Brent crude has now risen past $36.

Inscribed stone, giving an account of the Great Flood, Epic of Gilgamesh tablet, from Nineveh, illustration from the magazine The Illustrated London News, volume LXIII, November 15, 1873.

New York court orders Gilgamesh tablet returned to Iraq

The US Department of Justice said a past seller of the tablet, infamously purchased by the US company Hobby Lobby, misrepresented how it had been acquired.

Venezuela's navy ships are seen during a military exercise near Punto Fijo, Venezuela July 24, 2019. Picture taken July 24, 2019. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC167D5BBE20

Venezuela military will escort Iranian fuel tankers to shore

Venezuela feels threatened by US opposition to its economic ties with Iran.

People enter the State Department Building in Washington, U.S., January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC1D48272C00

Intel: US rescinds ban on British defense firm implicated in Saudi weapons fraud

The US State Department is rescinding a 9-year-old policy that barred it from doing business with the Saudi subsidiary of a British defense firm, which pled guilty to fraud in a multibillion-dollar arms deal in 2010.

WILMINGTON, UNITED STATES - MARCH 12, 2020: Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) speaks about the Coronavirus and the response to it at the Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington, DE.- PHOTOGRAPH BY Michael Brochstein / Echoes Wire/ Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing (Photo credit should read Michael Brochstein / Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Intel: Top adviser signals Biden would keep troops in Syria as leverage

Under a Joe Biden presidency, the United States would retain a military presence in northeast Syria as leverage against the regime, the presumptive Democratic nominee’s top foreign policy adviser suggests.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli speaks at a press conference at the Ministry during the registrations for upcoming parliamentary elections, in the capital Tehran on December 1, 2019. - Iran will hold it's parliamentary elections on February 2020. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/afp/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: US sanctions Iran’s interior minister over deadly protests

The United States slapped fresh sanctions and visa restrictions on 12 Iranian officials and entities, most accused of serious human rights abuses, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks the press at the State Department in Washington, DC, on May 20, 2020. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM / POOL / AFP) (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: Pompeo refused interview on Saudi arms sale investigation before firing Linick

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to give an interview for State Department Inspector General Steve Linick’s investigation into a massive Saudi arms sale deal before asking President Donald Trump to fire the watchdog, Al-Monitor has learned.

Co-leader of Blue and White party, Gaby Ashkenazi, speaks to supporters at his election campaign event in Tel Aviv, Israel September 15, 2019. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RC1D28A42640

Israel’s new foreign minister has other, higher ambitions

For Gabi Ashkenazi, his appointment as Israel’s new foreign minister is just the first step in his expected political soar.

Israeli-Chinese ties scrutinized by US

Washington might soon demand that Israel pick a side in the security and trade conflict between the United States and China.

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the 11th Democratic candidates debate of the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign, held in CNN's Washington studios without an audience because of the global coronavirus pandemic, in Washington, U.S., March 15, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - HP1EG3G050BEO

Intel: Biden warns against West Bank annexation as Israel lobbies Trump for green light

Former Vice President Joe Biden told campaign donors today that any Israeli annexation of the West Bank would “choke off any hope for peace,” according to a transcript of the presumptive Democratic nominee’s remarks seen by Al-Monitor.

SANAA, YEMEN - MARCH 1: An Airbus 310 airplane of Mahan Air carrying Iranian health aids is seen at Sanaa International Airport after officials from the Shiite militia-controlled city signed an aviation agreement with Tehran, in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 1, 2015. Iranian Red Cross sent health aid to Sanaa. (Photo by Sinan Yiter/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Intel: China tangled in US sanctions web for ties to Iran’s Mahan Air

The United States sanctioned a China-based company today for providing “general sales agent services” for Iran’s Mahan Air.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo poses with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium November 20, 2019. Francisco Seco/Pool via REUTERS - RC22FD9VMKIP

Intel: Pompeo, Cavusoglu discuss US-Turkey coronavirus cooperation

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed US-Turkish COVID-19 cooperation during a phone call with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday.