The Latest Breaking News from Barbara Leaf

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is a radical right-wing settler who supports annexation.

Paris will host on Monday an international meeting aimed at tackling the Lebanese presidential crisis. Representatives from Saudi Arabia, the United States, France, Egypt and Qatar will attend. Lebanese officials are skeptical that the Paris meeting will yield a breakthrough in the impasse. Rather, they believe it will discuss the…

An alarming spike in Israeli-Palestinian violence and sharp responses by both sides are testing the Biden administration as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plunges into a cauldron of deepening mistrust and anger on visits to Israel and the West Bank this week

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Egypt on Sunday at the start of a three-day visit to the Middle East as violence flares between Israelis and Palestinians, and with Iran and Ukraine high on the agenda.

WASHINGTON — America's top diplomat heads out on a trip to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank on Saturday as a spiral of deadly violence grips the Middle East, with any plans to focus on democracy now overshadowed as the region braces for the no-holds-barred retaliation to Palestinian attacks that…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank this weekend, the State Department announced Thursday, as the US expressed alarm about escalating violence after Israel’s single deadliest operation in the West Bank in two decades. Blinken’s visit to Israel has been planned for…

The deal would finalize the transfer of the Tiran and Sanafir islands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.

Israel wants Egypt and Qatar to pressure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to activate the security forces and prevent armed operations during the upcoming Jewish holidays. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Israel is responsible for the ongoing escalation, saying it regularly targets Palestinian citizens with the worst forms of persecution and…

The United States is pressuring the Palestinian Authority (PA) to stop its request for "full UN membership" and pushing a plan to ensure calm in the West Bank, according to a Palestinian source. The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US envoy, Hady Amr, arrived in Ramallah on Wednesday, ahead…

Tunisia's President Kais Saied held talks with the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Barbara Leaf at Carthage Palace on Tuesday. The Tunisian presidency said the meeting was a chance for Saied to clarify many issues related to the situation in the country. Saied called on the…

US lawmakers will not allow journalist’s death to be ‘swept under the rug’, senator tells Biden administration official.