Islamic State

President of Syria Ahmed al-Shara arrives for the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at UN Headquarters on Sept. 23, 2025 in New York City.

Analysis

'Is it worth it?' Syria's Sharaa faces backlash over Missy Elliott performance

Backlash erupts after dancers perform to Missy Elliott’s “Work It,” exposing the tightrope between Sharaa’s outreach to the West and pressure from his Islamist base.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Kurdish people waving Kurdistan flags gather to celebrate Nowruz on the hill of Urkesh in the countryside of Amuda in northeastern Syria on March 18, 2026. Nowruz, meaning "new day," is an ancient festival that marks the start of spring and the new year on the vernal equinox, which usually falls on March 20 or 21. It is celebrated by more than 300 million people worldwide and has been observed for over 3,000 years across regions including the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of Eastern Euro

Analysis

Is Syria’s Sharaa poised to outdo Turkey in formalizing gains for Kurds?

Damascus is making limited but tangible progress in its engagement with Syrian Kurds, even as Ankara seeks to shape the terms of any settlement.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Boys along a road wave to an approaching US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moving in a convoy transporting Islamic State group detainees being transferred to Iraq from Syria, on the outskirts of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on Feb. 7, 2026.

US troops depart Syria, ending decade of presence in fight against ISIS

The last major American bases in Syria have been turned over to the government in Damascus, US military officials confirmed to Al-Monitor.

Yasin AKGUL / AFP via Getty Images

Turkey detains 11 over ISIS-linked attack on Israeli Consulate: What to know

The attack was likely designed to portray Turkey as protecting Israel by targeting the local police guarding the consulate, one observer notes.

Latest News

Desperate to sell its oil, Iraq turns to Turkey amid standoff with Kurds

An Iraqi oil tanker waits at the Khawr Abd Allah canal leading up to Al-Faw port in southern Iraq, on June 6, 2024.

Turkey to repatriate its ISIS fighters from Iraq as jihadis escalate Syria attacks

Women and children seen inside al-Hol camp, amongst them some 6,200 women and children from around 40 nationalities, and including relatives of suspected Islamic State jihadists in the desert region of Hasakah province on Jan. 25, 2026 in Al Hasakah, Syria.

US military completes evacuation of ISIS prisoners from Syria to Iraq

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

Exclusive

Syrian Kurdish officials say 66 Turkish ISIS fighters transferred for relocation to Iraq

A campfire burns inside al-Hol camp on Jan. 26, 2026 in Al Hasakah, Syria.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Women are seen walking at the Roj Camp in northeast Syria, on April 8, 2025.

Exclusive

Syria's Kurds say Trump aid cuts are feeding radicalism in ISIS camps

In an interview at Syria’s Roj camp, the head of intelligence for the Women’s Protection Units warns that US funding cuts are fueling a resurgence of ISIS ideology among detained women and children, deepening an already volatile security crisis.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 28: U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in a joint statement in the East Room of the White House on January 28, 2020 in Washington, DC. The news conference was held to announce the Trump administration's plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)

Netanyahu set to meet Trump amid differences over Iran, tariffs and Turkey: What to know

In a surprise move, the US president invited the Israeli prime minister to Washington at short notice to discuss his recent tariff decision, the Iranian file and other issues.

Gen. Michael Langley, commander of US Africa Command, testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Top US general calls out Houthi-Shabaab ties across Yemen-Somalia strait

The Pentagon has opened the aperture on al-Shabaab in recent months, allowing AFRICOM to ramp up strikes on the al-Qaeda offshoot in the Horn of Africa.

Jared Szuba

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

An Israeli soldier checks a Merkava battle tank deployed at a position in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights along the border with southern Syria on March 25, 2025. Israel's military said it carried out a second strike in Syria on March 25, in response to incoming fire from across the demarcation line, hours after Syrian authorities reported that at least five people had been killed as a result of Israeli shelling. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Are Lebanon, Syria ripe for peace with Israel or on cusp of more escalation?

While some Israeli leaders hope for normalized ties with Lebanon and Syria, others warn that the uncertainty of the current situation could become permanent or deteriorate.

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

Fidan Syria

Analysis

Turkey, alarmed by sectarian clashes, steps up Syria role, criticizes Iran

As last week’s bloody clashes in Syria have deepened divisions among Turkish experts over the country's future, Turkey’s priorities in Syria remain focused on countering the SDF and combating ISIS.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

A general view shows a burnt out vehicle next to a banner bearing the Islamic State group's flag in the village of Dibsiafnan on the western outskirts of the Islamist's Syrian bastion of Raqa, after Syrian pro-government forces entered the area on June 11, 2017.

Exclusive

Turkey to host regional summit in April on counter-ISIS operations

Technical talks for the formation of a joint regional operation center against ISIS have begun as efforts to create an alternative to US-led coalition Syrian Democratic Forces against the Islamic State take shape.

Ezgi Akin

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrives for a plenary session at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, at the Grand Palais, in Paris, on Feb. 11, 2025.

Armenia joins US-led global coalition against Islamic State

Yerevan’s pivot toward the West has intensified amid regional tensions and shifting alliances.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

A fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) aims a machine gun while lying prone during a joint military exercise with forces of the US-led "Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve" coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group in the countryside of the town of al-Malikiya (Derik in Kurdish) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on Sept. 7, 2022.

Turkey escalates push to replace Kurds as top anti-ISIS force in Syria

Turkey is attempting to form a new coalition to combat ISIS remnants and replace the Pentagon-backed Kurdish forces in Syria.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (L) speaks during a joint press conference with Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein (R), Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 22, 2023.

Turkey, Jordan, Iraq to hold first anti-ISIS summit this month: Turkish official

Top diplomats as well as Turkish, Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi defense and intelligence chiefs aim to hold a first security summit this month as part of efforts to set up a regional anti-ISIS coalition, Al-Monitor has learned.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Jan. 8, 2024.

Khamenei pushes for US withdrawal from Iraq in meeting with Sudani

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s trip to Tehran is his first since the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and comes ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

US army soldiers queue to board a plane to begin their journey home out of Iraq from the Ain al-Asad Air Base west of the capital, Baghdad, on Nov. 1, 2011.

Exclusive

Syria's new Islamist rulers reduce Iraq's appetite for US troop withdrawal

Iraq's prime minister is heading to Iran to discuss concerns about Syria's new rulers, as Baghdad is considering the delay of the US troop withdrawal to address regional instability.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

US soldiers inspect the site of reported Turkish shelling days earlier on an oil extraction facility on the outskirts of Rumaylan, in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeastern Hasakeh province on Oct. 28, 2024.

Pentagon denies US base at Kobani in Syria's Kurdish-led northeast

A spokesperson publicly dismissed rumors that US troops would establish a base in the Syrian Kurdish stronghold border town, which remains under threat by Turkey-backed rebels.