Syria Conflict

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Kobane speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on Dec. 6, 2024.

Explainer

SDF chief Kobane’s Damascus visit a high wire act for Syria’s Kurds

The SDF says its integration with Damascus is complete, but major questions remain over its fighters, weapons and the future of Kurdish self-rule.

ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 08: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) meets with Ahmed al-Sharaa, President of Syria (L) for bilateral talks at Beştepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 08, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

US lifts Syria's terror designation after 47 years

The Trump administration also took Hayat Tahrir al-Sham off its blacklist of Specially Designated Global Terrorist organizations.

A Turkish soldier from the 1st Border Regiment Command looks out over the border wall to Syria during alert drills at a military outpost on the Turkey/Syria border on March 2, 2017 in Kilis, Turkey.

Analysis

Why Turkey sees Israeli strikes in Syria as warning over its military role, Mecca Pact

Ankara views Israel’s latest strikes in Syria as part of a broader effort to curb Turkey’s military influence in Damascus and a challenge to its regional defense partnerships.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Turkey/Syria border

Analysis

Turkey bets on US deconfliction as Israel widens Syria red lines

As Washington pushes a new deconfliction mechanism between Turkey and Israel, the Jewish state shows little incentive to accept tighter constraints on its freedom of action in Syria, experts say.

Ezgi Akin

Rina Bassist

By Ezgi Akin , Rina Bassist

Latest News

Analysis

Israel fears Turkey’s Syria ambitions and doubts Trump will stop them

ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 7: U.S. President Donald Trump (L)shakes hands with with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) during a formal arrival at the Bestepe Presidential Palace during the NATO summit on July 7, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Emrah Gurel - Pool/Getty Images)

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Turkey signals restraint as war of words with Israel escalates over Syria

Burhaanettin Duran

Syria’s FM pays Pakistan first visit in 19 years amid new regional alignments

Islamabad

Turkey looks to expand Syria energy footprint into oil, gas

President Ahmad al-Sharaa meets Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar at the People’s Palace in Damascus, Syria, on Aug. 19, 2026.

BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

UN says at least 350K killed in Syria’s war, 'certainly an undercount'

The United Nations' human rights office on Friday updated the death toll from Syria's civil war for the first time since August 2014.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Two children die every week at Syria's al-Hol camp, charity says

Fires are among the leading cause of death among children of suspected Islamic State fighters who are stranded in the al-Hol and Roj camps in northeast Syria.

Ethan Goldrich, the US charge d'affaires in the United Arab Emirates is pictured on Aug. 28, 2021 in Abu Dhabi as refugees who fled Afghanistan after the takeover of their country by the Taliban were gathering at the International Humanitarian City (IHC) in the Emirati capital, waiting to be transferred to another destination.

Biden administration appoints new Syria policy chief

Ethan Goldrich will take over for Aimee Cutrona as Washington's point person for Syria engagement, but there's no sign of a new approach by the Biden administration.

A picture shows a view of the closed Jaber/Nassib border post at Jordan's border with Syria, on Aug. 1, 2021.

Syria's defense chief visits Jordan to discuss border security

State media outlets reported that Syrian Gen. Ali Ayoub and Jordanian Gen. Yousef Huneiti met in Amman to discuss the situation along the border following the fighting in Daraa.

A Syrian woman walks by tents at a camp for the internally displaced, near the town of Kafr Lusin, Idlib province, Syria, Jan. 19, 2021.

Massive displacement wave amid fears of renewed battles in Idlib

The Syrian opposition is getting ready for a possible attack by Syrian government forces in Idlib, following increasingly intense bombing and reconnaissance attacks since the beginning of September.

Idlib

Turkey’s blind eye to jihadis worsens its predicaments in Syria

Turkey is seeking to downplay the jihadi threat that its troops face in Idlib, the last Islamist stronghold in Syria, opting to turn the spotlight to the Kurds instead.

A picture shows the entrance to the Directorate of Health in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Sept. 13, 2021. Cases of Covid-19 have increased alarmingly over the past month in Syria's rebel-controlled northern region of Idlib, local authorities said today.

Northwest Syria running low on COVID-19 tests, oxygen amid conflict

The International Rescue Committee said coronavirus cases are increasing dramatically in the war-torn rebel territory.

Members of Syria's top jihadist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, parade with their flags and those of the Taliban's declared "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" through the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib, Syria, Aug. 20, 2021.

Jihadist group in Idlib vows to keep foreign fighters in Syria

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani says "these foreign fighters are now part of us."

Turkish-backed Syrian fighters hold up the flags of (R to L) their unit, Turkey and the flag of the Syrian opposition.

Turkish-backed Syrian forces intensify attacks on US-aligned Syrian Kurdish group

The Turkish army and its allied Syrian factions have recently increased attacks against the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria.

Members of Syria's top jihadist group the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance, led by al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, parade with their flags and those of the Taliban's declared "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" through the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib on Aug. 20, 2021.

Syrian jihadist group in Idlib replaces security squad with 'moral police'

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib has ended the work of its security apparatus that has been accused of controlling people’s lives.

A Syrian man counts his money at a currency exchange counter in the town of Binnish in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, near the Turkish border, on March 6, 2020.

Amid escalation in Idlib, residents fear renewed Russian-backed offensive

Syrian government forces have stepped up their attacks against Idlib, causing civilian casualties as Russian warplanes continue to raid different areas of northwestern Syria on an almost daily basis.

Lebanese wait to fill their gas cylinders in the southern city of Sidon amidst a deepening economic crisis, on Aug. 10, 2021.

Lebanese energy plan includes Syria

A meeting of Jordanian, Egyptian, Lebanese and Syrian ministers seems to have cracked Syria's isolation.