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.

Syrian families sit in a truck after being released from the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State fighters, Hasakah governorate, Syria, June 2, 2021.

SDF hands over 50 Iraqi IS suspects as prison concerns mount

The SDF has transferred another group of IS suspects with Iraqi nationality but arrested in Syria, alongside some of the thousands of Iraqis in al-Hol camp, to Iraq as the potential for jailbreaks remains high.

A Syrian holds a caricature of Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin in a demonstration against the continuing assault by the Syrian regime and Russian forces in Idlib on Feb. 21, 2020.

Caricatures challenge restrictions, depict suffering of Idlib citizens

Despite the risks of being a female caricaturist in Idlib, many young Syrian women have successfully entered the field to express the concerns and pain of Syrians and make their voices heard.

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

US alleviates Lebanon's sanctions concerns over energy deal

US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea provided a Treasury Department letter that addressed concerns over the energy plan's potential to violate sanctions on Syria.

A picture shows the entrance to the Directorate of Health in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Sept. 13, 2021.

Northern Syria health care plagued by issues as UN extends cross-border aid

A US-based group of doctors conducted a detailed assessment of the region’s health sector in both Kurdish and rebel territory.

Anwar Aslan trial

German court convicts ex-Syrian officer of crimes against humanity

Anwar Raslan is the highest-ranking former Syrian government official to be tried for crimes committed in Syria's civil war.

A fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces inspects a makeshift shelter dug in a trench at a makeshift camp for Islamic State members and their families in the town of Baghouz, Deir Ez-zor, Syria, March 9, 2019.

Syrians dig for Islamic State left-behinds in eastern desert

Many unemployed Syrians have embarked on dangerous search and excavation operations for money, gold and weapons left by the Islamic State in Deir ez-Zor governorate.

AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images

Poverty forces Syrian children to skip school, collect ordnance

For several child workers in the Idlib countryside, the detritus of war has become their livelihood.

JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Intel: Biden faces bipartisan frustration over Syria policy

The top members on the House and Senate foreign affairs panels cautioned against giving “tacit approval of formal diplomatic engagement with the Syrian regime.”

(L to R) Jordan's Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Hala Zawati, Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek el-Molla, Lebanon's Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar and Syria's Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Bassam Tohme give a joint press conference during their meeting, Amman, Jordan, Sept. 8, 2021.

Egypt tests economic outreach to Syria through labor unions

Cairo looks to labor unions to strengthen ties with Damascus .

Men standing in the back of a truck after fleeing battles between SDF and IS in the Syrian village of Baghuz arrive after crossing a desert to a region controlled by the SDF in Deir ez-Zor on Jan. 26, 2019.

Syrian Kurdish forces require displaced Arabs to obtain 'expat card' to remain in their areas

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is requiring Arabs displaced from all Syrian regions who are living in the areas under their control to obtain an expatriate card to be allowed to enter or remain.

MUJAHED MOHAMMED/AFP via Getty Images

Iraqi forces arrest Syrian 'infiltrators' at border

Iraq announced a similar incident late last year.

Anas al-Kholi with his camera near Damascus.

Syrian activists tell stories of displacement over lost decade

Displacement and exile have become a common narrative for Syrians since 2011.