Former Secretary of State John Kerry kept Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif informed about secret Israeli military actions in Syria, the Iranian diplomat said in recently leaked audio, casting new light on communication between the two men after Mr. Kerry returned to life as a private citizen in 2017.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, running out of time to form a coalition, is reportedly willing to offer former ally Gideon Sa’ar a rotation deal with the current New Hope leader to serve first as prime minister, Hebrew media reported Monday.
Leaked audio tapes that reveal the behind-the-scenes power struggles of Iranian officials have recently been published by the New York Times. In the leaks, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lamented that it is the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) who implements policy, overruling governmental decisions.
After three consecutive nights of rockets firing from Gaza into southern Israel, and five rockets overnight, Israel shut down the Gaza fishing zone Monday, the Times of Israel reports. Israeli journalists have noted that airstrikes are normally conducted in retaliation for Gaza rockets, and that the closure of fisheries appears to be Israel’s only response in this round of the ongoing conflict.
Syria’s oil ministry said on Saturday that firefighting teams managed to extinguish a fire in one of the tanks of an oil tanker off the oil terminal of Baniyas after a suspected drone attack from the direction of Lebanese territorial waters, state media reported.
The Israel Police said 44 people were arrested and 20 officers were wounded in a night of chaos in Jerusalem, where security forces separately clashed with Palestinians angry about Ramadan restrictions and Jewish extremists who held an anti-Arab march nearby.
The US decision to finally recognize the Armenian genocide comes after decades in which Turkey and its lobbyists in Washington threatened the US. Their narrative was that if Washington would just use the term “genocide” – for a crime committed 106 years ago by a former government in what is now Turkey – then Ankara would rapidly move to sanction the US, close its bases, threaten its citizens and ally with Iran, China and Russia, or other US enemies.
Palestinian terrorists fired at least 36 rockets from Gaza into Israeli communities overnight Friday, in one of the worst rounds of cross-border violence in months, setting off sirens across the south and sending residents scrambling for bomb shelters.
IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi will travel to the United States on Sunday to discuss the threat of Iran’s nuclear program and its entrenchment throughout the region, the military said Friday.
The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected a petition seeking Benjamin Netanyahu’s removal as prime minister over his ongoing criminal trial.
The Israel Defense Forces launched an investigation to determine why its air defenses failed to intercept an errant surface-to-air missile fired from Syria that landed in southern Israel on Thursday morning.
The US has been updating Israel on the progress of indirect negotiations with Iran over a possible return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and will continue a policy of transparency moving forward, a senior State Department official said Wednesday.
The Israeli military said early Thursday that a missile was fired from neighboring Syria, and that it had struck Syrian missile batteries in retaliation.
Apart from China and despite a worldwide drop in death sentences, countries in the Middle East remained among the world’s leading executioners last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday.
Sudan on Tuesday repealed its 1958 law that imposed a boycott of Israel and cut ties between the two countries, Christian Headlines reports. The move follows the Sudan-Israel agreement to normalize diplomatic relations and end the state of belligerence between them. Sudan’s citizens will now be allowed to visit Israel, where around 6,000 Sudanese live.
Israel’s Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz paid a visit to the country’s Northern Command on Tuesday, saying “Hezbollah is making attempts to challenge us, but if it acts it will suffer serious consequences.”
As cybersecurity threats continue to rise, US senators have introduced legislation to boost technology cooperation with Israel and secure funding for up to $30 million to help thwart future malicious attacks.
High-level talks in Vienna aimed at bringing the United States back into the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran have already resolved 60-70 percent of the key issues, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quoted by state media as saying Tuesday.
Power has been restored in Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility and uranium enrichment activities there have been renewed after a blast at the site earlier this month, the head of the country’s atomic agency said Tuesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suffered a major blow on Monday and lost control of the Knesset after his opponents defeated him in a key parliamentary vote.