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.

A Syrian army soldier inspects tunnels reportedly dug by rebel fighters in Tallet al Sakhr, near the Tallet al-Abyad area in Aleppo's southwestern countryside, during an ongoing pro-government offensive, Syria, Jan. 30, 2020.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards dig tunnels in city of Palmyra

Syrian opposition sources report that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is digging trenches in the city of Palmyra to reinforce the group's presence in the area.

Woman, child at al-Hol camp before being released

More women prisoners linked to Islamic State released from al-Hol camp

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces continue to empty al-Hol camp of Islamic State-affiliated Syrians.

Daraa in 2019

Fighting between government, rebels intensifies in Syria's Daraa

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight government-affiliated forces and three opposition fighters died in the clashes Thursday.

Hevrin Khalaf's mother, Souad Mohammad, is seen with an image of her daughter in this undated photo.

US sanctions on Turkey-backed Syria faction offer solace to Kurdish victims

It remains to be seen what practical and immediate effect Wednesday's sanctions will have.

Syrians burn tyres as they protest in front of a Turkish military outpost during a demonstration against Turkey's perceived inaction over the latest Syrian regime attacks, in the town of Maataram near Ariha in the rebel-held northwestern Idlib province, Syria, July 23, 2021.

Syrian jihadi group in Idlib boasts about new, advanced weapons

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader has recently boasted about his group’s growing weapons arsenal and military capabilities, as the Syrian government forces escalate their attacks on Idlib.

Tunisia barricades

The Takeaway: The roots of Tunisia’s political crisis are economic

Also: United States, Iraq stay focused on Islamic State; Gulf eyes solar energy; Russia’s Syria policy puzzles Israel; Afghan refugees trigger backlash in Turkey; Erdogan puts spotlight on Cyprus ghost town.

A Syrian man walks walks in between election campaign posters bearing portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a candidate for the upcoming presidential election, in the capital Damascus on May 18, 2021.

US unveils Syria sanctions targeting regime prisons, rebel group

The wave of sanctions targets eight military prisons, including the notorious Saydnaya prison outside the capital Damascus that rights groups have described as a “human slaughterhouse.”

A sign warning against landmines is seen by a barbed-wire fence in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on April 22, 2021 near the border fence with the Syrian governorate of Quneitra.

Israeli woman who crossed into Syria handed 8-month jail sentence

The unidentified woman was released in February in a swap deal reportedly brokered by Syria's main ally Russia.

Rebels leave Douma in April 2018

Syria blames Israel for destruction of evidence in Douma chemical attack

The UN's chemical weapons watchdog warned Syria's government not to move or tamper with the gas canisters recovered at Douma.

A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stands guard in a prison where men suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group are jailed in northeast Syria in the city of Hasakah on Oct. 26, 2019.

Iranian forces in Syria establish new prison in Raqqa

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is redeploying and building new bases and prisons in its areas of control in northeastern Syria after coming under repeated Israeli and US airstrikes.

Turkish-backed Syrian fighters of the Sultan Murad Turkoman brigade are pictured during a military show in the Afrin region in the rebel-held northern countryside of Syria's northern Aleppo province on Nov. 17, 2020.

Turkish-backed rebels leave trail of abuse, criminality in Syria’s Afrin

The serene topography of the Syrian enclave of Afrin belies the power vacuum and violence now afflicting many of the territories under the control of Turkish-backed forces in the war-torn country’s northeast.

Protesters hold Syrian flags, posters and pictures of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as they demonstrate against Western airstrikes against the Syrian regime, Belgrade, Serbia, April 15, 2018.

Serbia has its reasons for sending ambassador to Syria

Belgrade breaks with EU consensus by being one of the first European countries to upgrade its relations with Damascus to ambassadorial level.