Insiders tell TVNewser NBC News is planning cuts in its Tel Aviv Bureau. Eight employees are being let go and three others are being re-assigned to other bureaus or to headquarters in New York, the insider says.

Longtime NBC News correspondent Tom Aspell will work from Cyprus, leaving correspondent/bureau chief Martin Fletcher in Israel along with a bureau coordinator and two producers. The insider tells me the staff saw it coming, "but it's still certainly painful."

NBC News spokesperson Allison Gollust tells TVNewser the bureau is being reorganized but that "nothing has been finalized."

As for NBC's commitment to covering the Middle East, Gollust says, "Our commitment to the region has never been stronger." NBC News resources include a Beirut bureau and a presence in Egypt, Pakistan and Baghdad. "We believe that arguably we have the largest presence in the region of any of the networks," says Gollust.