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 member of the Syrian Kurdish internal security services known as Asayish stands guard during the release of persons suspected of being related to Islamic State (IS) group fighters from the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria, on January 19, 2021.

Kurdish forces in northeast Syria conduct security raid in al-Hol camp

The United Nations said the operation in al-Hol interfered with humanitarian services, but the US military, which supported the operation, said the disruption was minimal. Violence has increased greatly in the camp this year.

Fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand guard in the village of Baghouz in Syria's northern Deir Ezzor province, on March 24, 2021,

Eastern Syrian region seeks stability, local control through division

After years of calls for greater local decision-making from the Arab majority in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor, the part of the region under the Kurdish-led SDF plans to divide the territory into four sections. What appears to have possibly been an attempt to assassinate the highest civilian authority in the region has meanwhile raised serious concerns.

BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

In rebuke to Russia, Blinken presses UN to quit politicizing Syria aid

Blinken called on the UN Security Council to reauthorize a cross-border aid operation into Syria despite Russian and Chinese opposition.

A Syrian boy walks under portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad adorning a hospital in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor on Sept. 20, 2017.

Tribes in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor back Assad in upcoming elections

Tribal sheikhs in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor, some of whom are said to have been previously associated with the Islamic State in the province, attended a caucus in support of President Bashar al-Assad for the upcoming presidential elections.

Qamishli protest of Turkey's Afrin takeover

Why is opposition arresting Kurds in northeast Syria?

A Kurdish civilian was tortured and killed after he was kidnapped by an armed opposition faction in north Syria, days after the United Nations condemned the detention of civilians in Syria.

A drone images shows Syrian demonstrators gathering during a protest in the village of Maaret al-Naasan in Syria's Idlib province on May 1, 2020, to protests against a reported attack by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance led by a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, on a protest the previous day. (Photo by Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)

Several dead in northwest Syria fighting

Civilians were killed in both government and rebel territory on Sunday.

Representatives of the League of Arab states attend an emergency meeting at the Arab League headquarters, to discuss Turkey's offensive on Syria, Cairo, Egypt, Oct. 12, 2019.

Syrian opposition hopeful on Qatari role in Russia, Turkey diplomacy

Speculations soared recently about signs of a political solution in Syria, as some parties in the opposition hope the Russian-Turkish-Qatari meeting would usher in a new chapter in the Syrian crisis.

A girl holds a Syrian opposition flag during a demonstration in the village of Atme in Idlib.

Erdogan makes urgent appeal to West on grim 10-year mark of Syria’s war

Ankara desperately needs options to get out of the Syria quagmire, but the Turkish president's offer is likely to fall flat with the Biden administration.

An aerial picture shows Syrians waving the opposition flag during a gathering in the rebel-held city of Idlib, as they mark 10 years since the nationwide anti-government protests that sparked the country's devastating civil war, Syria, March 15, 2021.

Syrians celebrate 10 years of revolution, committed to their goal

Syrians celebrate the 10th anniversary of their revolution, and reiterate their demands for dignity, freedom and changing the current regime.

Mohammad Raad (L) and Sergey Lavrov (R)

What's next for Russia’s relations with Hezbollah?

A Hezbollah delegation visits Moscow, with Lebanese politics and stability and Syria's political future atop the agenda.

A Syrian labourer works at a workshop specialised in building pistachio-powered heaters in al-Dana town in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib on December 18, 2019.

French NGO provides temporary jobs for Syrians in the northwest

Turkey-backed Syrian fighters and displaced civilians in Afrin mark 10-year anniversary of Syrian conflict

What lies behind Erdogan’s Syria offer to the West?

The Turkish president’s appeal to the West to back Turkey in Syria and make political gains “at minimum cost” comes as a sign he has little intention of giving up his ambitions in Syria.