News

Some US personnel told to leave Qatar base as Iran touts ‘peak readiness’ for conflict

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Official says move is ‘posture change’; Tehran signals fast trials and executions for protesters as official death toll in crackdown passes 2,500, though actual number may be much higher By Agencies, Lazar Berman Followand ToI Staff14 January 2026, 4:52 pm File: A US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress aircraft from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, arrives at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar on April 9, 2016. (Staff Sgt. Corey Hook/U.S. Air Force via AP) Amid concerns of a new round of fighting with Iran, some personnel were advised to leave the US military’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Wednesday and Israel’s official state …

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Historic shift at Temple Mount as Jewish worshippers allowed printed prayers

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Israeli police have allowed Jewish visitors to bring printed prayer texts onto the Temple Mount for the first time, marking a notable shift at the highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site i24NEWS January 21, 2026 at 06:51 AM ■ latest revision January 21, 2026 at 06:54 AM Israeli police have, for the first time, permitted Jewish visitors to enter the Temple Mount carrying printed prayer materials, marking a notable shift in the management of one of Jerusalem’s most sensitive religious sites.  According to multiple reports, Jewish worshippers were handed liturgical leaflets on Wednesday morning ahead of their ascent to the compound. The leaflets reportedly …

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Amid Iran tensions, IDF chief says military ready to act ‘against any enemy’

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Zamir visits air base that welcomed three new F-35s into IAF arsenal; at Home Front Command earlier in week, IDF chief said Israel preparing for ‘surprise war’ By Emanuel Fabian, FollowToI Staff and AP21 January 2026, 5:55 pm  IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks to Israeli Air Force pilots and air personnel at the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel, January 21, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces) IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Wednesday said the military was prepared to act against any enemy posing a threat to the country amid ongoing tensions with Iran. During a visit to the …

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Trump still pushing aides to draw up ‘decisive’ military options against Iran — WSJ

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Options said to include actions aimed at toppling regime; Iran says it would fight back ‘with everything we have’; Amnesty warns Iran plans to execute protester on Wednesday By ToI Staff and AgenciesToday, 10:06 am A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle assigned to the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron lands at an unnamed base in the Middle East, January 18, 2026 (CENTCOM/X) US President Donald Trump is continuing to push his aides to devise what he calls “decisive” military options against Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, days after the American leader called off strikes against the Islamic Republic. Citing US officials, the report …

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If Iran tries to kill me, country gets ‘blown up, ‘ Trump declares

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“Anything ever happens, the whole country is going to get blown up,” Trump said and added, “I would absolutely hit them so hard. But I have very firm instructions.” US President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet in the situation room during US strikes on Iran, June 22, 2025.(photo credit: WHITE HOUSE) ByTOBIAS HOLCMAN, JERUSALEM POST STAFF JANUARY 21, 2026 07:20Updated: JANUARY 21, 2026 11:43 US President Donald Trump assured on Tuesday that if Iran attempts to assassinate him, he would make the “order to wipe it off the face of this Earth.” Trump’s comments were made during an interview with NewsNation‘s Katie Pavlich Tonight, which marked …

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Iran’s FM blames Israel after Davos speech nixed over deadly crackdown; Herzog hits back

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Tehran’s top diplomat posts video saying anti-regime protests were a ‘terror operation’ by Mossad; Israeli president says regime in ‘no position to lecture others on morality’ By AFP and ToI Staff20 January 2026, 1:55 pm Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (left) attends a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Tehran, Iran, on January 18, 2026. (ATTA KENARE / AFP); President Isaac Herzog speaks during a ceremony marking the lighting of the first Hanukkah candle at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, on December 14, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) PARIS, France — Iran’s foreign minister hit out at the World Economic Forum …

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Senior Hamas officials planning ‘safe exit’ from Gaza Strip, Saudi media outlet reports

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Senior Hamas figures are reportedly weighing a coordinated departure from Gaza following the rollout of Phase II of Donald Trump’s plan, according to sources cited by Asharq al-Awsat. A Hamas terrorist in the Gaza Strip. February 4, 2025.(photo credit: Ali Hassan/Flash90)ByJAMES GENN  JANUARY 20, 2026 13:53Updated: JANUARY 20, 2026 14:52 Senior leaders of the Hamas terror group are preparing a “safe exit” from the Gaza Strip, sources within the terror group revealed to Saudi outlet Asharq al-Awsat on Tuesday. This comes after the US announced the start of Phase II of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, which calls for establishing a technocratic government to administer …

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Netanyahu: No Turkish, no Qatari troops in Gaza reconstruction efforts

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“We have a certain argument with our friends in the United States over the composition of the executive board that will oversee the processes in Gaza,” the Israeli prime minister said. Israeli soldiers inside the Gaza Strip, seen from the Israeli side of the border, Jan. 15, 2026. Photo by Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90. (Jan. 19, 2026 / JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that there would be no Turkish or Qatari troops deployed to Gaza as part of Phase 2 of the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan. Speaking at a Knesset debate on “violence and crime in the Arab …

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Gaza, Responsibility, and Davos Zephaniah and the Moment History Approaches Fulfillment – Tania Koenig

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January 19, 2026 Gaza has been a global moral stage. For decades, it has functioned as a place where the world projects its outrage, its opinions, and its accusations. It has become a permanent platform for moral performance, where Israel is judged, condemned, and lectured, while the deeper questions of responsibility, cause, and consequence are quietly avoided. Governments issue statements. International bodies pass resolutions. Commentators offer judgments. Protest movements fill the streets. Yet what has been largely absent, decade after decade, is accountability—the willingness to carry cost, to enforce security, and to accept responsibility for outcomes rather than for words. …

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What President Trump Is Doing — Greenland, NATO, and Strategic Reality – Tania Koenig

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January 18, 2026  Much of the public reaction to President Donald Trump’s statements and actions regarding Greenland, NATO, Gaza, Iran, and Israel has been driven more by surprise than by historical understanding. When examined carefully, what President Trump is doing is neither unprecedented nor irrational. It reflects long-standing strategic realities that the United States has understood for decades, often managed quietly, sometimes inconsistently, but never without awareness of their importance. The United States has attempted to acquire or secure Greenland multiple times in its history, not as an expression of expansionism, but because of geography and security. In 1867, the …

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Netanyahu fumes at Gaza oversight panel makeup as Trump invites Erdogan to peace board

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PM’s office says it was left out of talks on makeup of executive board, which includes top officials from Turkey, Qatar; American official retorts: ‘This is our show, not his show’ By Jacob Magid, Lazar Berman and Nava Freiberg 17 January 2026, 9:28 pmUpdated: 18 January 2026, 4:22 am US President Donald Trump greets Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a summit to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal, October 13, 2025, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Saturday that the White House’s unveiling of a key international oversight …

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Iran’s president warns US attack on supreme leader would mean ‘full-scale war’

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Regime hints it may go forward with executing protesters; CEO of Iran’s second-largest telecom company fired for not blocking internet, as shutdown returns after briefly easing By Agencies and Lazar Berman FollowToday, 1:16 am Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian takes questions from the media at a press briefing in New York, September 26, 2025. (Angelina Katsanis/AP) Iran’s president warned on Sunday that any US strike on the country would provoke a “harsh response,” and that any attack on its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be “tantamount to a full-scale war on the Iranian nation.” Masoud Pezeshkian’s threats came as the Islamic Republic’s judiciary hinted that …

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by i24 News and Algemeiner Staff

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The deal includes SDF withdrawal east of the Euphrates, integration of fighters into Syria’s defense ministries, and transfer of control over oil fields and key provinces to Damascus  ■ i24NEWS, Ariel Oseran January 18, 2026 at 12:24 PM ■ latest revision January 18, 2026 at 12:42 PM Syrian state media reported on Sunday that the Syrian government and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reached an immediate ceasefire after days of clashes in Kurdish-held areas of the northeast.  The agreement, announced electronically by Damascus, marks a major shift in Syria’s ongoing efforts to reassert control over its Kurdish-majority regions. According to the Syrian presidency, …

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