Tel Aviv

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in Israel on April 21 that there can be "no doubt" Syria has retained some chemical weapons and warned President Bashar al-Assad's regime not to use them.

When Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., the military’s top commander in the Pacific, ordered the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson “to sail north” from Singapore this month, he was oblivious to the larger — and incorrect — impression that he was rushing a naval strike force to confront an increasingly belligerent North Korea.

The US market will be bringing more tourists and more revenues to Greece this year, according to the president of the Hellenic American Chamber of Tourism (HACT), George Trivizas.

The deal signed on Monday between Greece, Israel, Cyprus and Italy in Tel Aviv for the creation of the Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) gas pipeline, is, according to sources, a reaction to the competing Nord Stream II pipeline connecting Germany and Russia.

European and Israeli governments gave their support on April 3 to moving forward with a Mediterranean pipeline project to carry natural gas from Israel to Europe, setting a target date of 2025 for completion.

Israel's attitude is to blame for the failure to reach a peaceful and just solution to the Palestinian issue, Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yıldız has said.

An Iranian government official claimed earlier this week that its Russian-made air defenses were compromised by Moscow, leaving Iran and its allies defenseless against Israeli airstrikes.

An internal report written by French intelligence, parts of which were published in the daily newspaper Le Monde on Sunday, reveal efforts by the Mossad to develop relationships with French spies, “to the point of crossing the line of turning them into double agents.”

Every Wednesday, a 60-year-old man identified only by his initials - P.S. - attends a Greek language class in Tel Aviv. No one was surprised to see him take up the lessons, given the fact that P.S., who retired six months ago, is half-Greek.

"I started the process to acquire Greek citizenship 12 years ago," P.S. told Kathimerini in a recent interview.

The rising tide of an aggressive blend of nationalism and Islamism might be prompting Ankara to pursue its own WMDs, and its preference appears to be long-range missiles. As Turkey feels more threatened by real or (mostly) imagined enemies, it increasingly views maximum possible military deterrence as essential to both survival (a defensive goal) and assertiveness (an offensive one).