Syria Conflict

A general view shows the Awad oil field in the eastern Qamishli countryside in northeastern Syria, on Feb. 15, 2026.

Interview

US oil firm HKN aims to double Syria's output as it takes over Kurdish-run fields

HKN Vice President Matthew Zais tells Al-Monitor the company plans to double production at Syria’s northeastern oil fields while tackling pollution, as questions remain over the future of the Kurdish-run Jazira Oil Company.

Matthew Zais

Matthew Zais

HKN vice president for government affairs

Zaidi

Iraq's Zaidi meets Sharaa on first Syria visit: What to know

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has sought to assuage concerns about his past militant activity in Iraq, whose oil trade and security cooperation with his two country is rising.

Mourners attend the funeral of those who were killed in airstrikes carried out by Jordan the night before on the village of Al-Taf in the Al-Lajat region, located in the northeastern countryside of Daraa, on Oct. 27, 2026.

Syria slams Jordan over crossborder strikes, denies coordination: What to know

Jordan said its airstrikes targeted ISIS fighters, while Syria said civilians were killed, sparking outrage.

New female cadets from the new women's police academy attend the first cohort graduation ceremony after completing a six-month training program, in al-Tal on the northern outskirts of Damascus, on Sept. 22, 2026.

Culture

Syrian women easy target in Sharaa’s drive to consolidate power

Syria’s interim president is balancing Western demands for inclusion with pressure from Islamist hard-liners as he seeks to consolidate power and shed his jihadi past.

Latest News

Analysis

What’s at stake for Turkey as Israel heads to the polls?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Turkish House in New York, on Sept. 19, 2023.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

How Israel’s elections could bring thaw with Syria

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives for the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly gathering, UN Headquarters, New York, Sept. 22, 2026.

Ezgi Akin

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

Analysis

'The problem and the solution': Netanyahu-Sharaa call exposes Israel's Syria dilemma

Israeli troops stand guard on the dividing line between the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and Syrian, near Majdal Shams, July 16, 2025.

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

Syria to rejoin Arab group at IMF, leaving Russian-led constituency

An attendee walks past signage displayed inside the venue for the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) in Bangkok on October 14, 2026. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey quake refugee

A Syrian exodus: Some 30,000 refugees return home after Turkey's earthquake

The UN's refugee agency stresses that Syrian refugees who visit their homeland can return to Turkey later.

People lay flowers at a makeshift memorial for the victims of the Nov. 13 explosion at the busy shopping street of Istiklal, Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 14, 2022.

Turkey says it killed major Istanbul bombing suspect in Syria drone strike

The drone strike came a week after a Turkish prosecutor indicted 36 suspects including a top Syrian Kurdish commander, over their alleged links to the bombing attack in 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a screen set at Red Square as he addresses a rally and a concert marking the annexation of four regions of Ukraine Russian troops occupy - Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in central Moscow on September 30, 2022. (Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Al-Monitor/Premise poll: Russia's role seen as negative in Turkey, Yemen, Iraq

The Russian invasion of Ukraine hurt the region economically, as supply chain disruptions and food shortages topped respondents concerns in Turkey, Egypt, Yemen and Iraq

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad gets a red carpet reception on a rare visit to Oman on Feb. 20, 2023. (Photo: Foreign Ministry of Oman)

After Syria earthquake, Saudi Arabia is linchpin to Assad's normalization

If Assad’s earthquake diplomacy succeeds in improving relations with Saudi Arabia, the path to Syria's normalization in Arab politics will be wide open.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2nd R) chats with United Arab Emirates' Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) in Sde Boker, Israel on March 28, 2022.

Analysis

UAE diplomacy guides response to Syrian, Palestinian crises

UAE steps up on Syria in wake of earthquake; Netanyahu settlement threat is déjà vu for Abu Dhabi.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty Images

Four US troops, working dog wounded in Syria raid against Islamic State

A senior IS official was killed in a raid in northeast Syria that injured US troops and a working dog, who were transported to Iraq for medical treatment.

Syria In Crisis

Syrians gather near a poster of President Bashar al-Assad hanging outside the emergency section of a hospital in Hama, on February 6, 2023, following a deadly earthquake. - The Syrian government urged the international community to come to its aid after more than 850 people died in the country following a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in neighbouring Turkey.(Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

In a shift, Gulf media outlets broadcast Syria's Assad speech on earthquake

Saudi, Emirati and other TV stations in the region typically do not broadcast the Syrian president’s speeches, but relations have slightly improved and Gulf states have sent aid to Syria following the earthquake.

Syria In Crisis

Armenian rescuers use a dog in search in rescue operations after the earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, February 2023.

Quake disaster delivers diplomatic silver lining for Turkey

Post-quake solidarity has warmed Turkey’s ties with Greece, Armenia and Israel, but no thaw is seen between Turkey and Syria despite their common suffering from the disaster.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) speaks with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Sde Boker, Israel on March 28, 2022. - Blinken and the top diplomats of Israel and four Arab states held a landmark meeting to discuss issues from the Iran nuclear negotiations to the global shockwaves of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JACQUELYN MARTIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE's Abdullah bin Zayed visits US, days after meeting Assad

Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed will meet with US Secretary of State Blinken at the State Department on Tuesday.

Nurse anaesthetist Abdelbaset Khalil (2nd L) stands with others on the rubble of his house following a deadly earthquake, near the hospital in the town of Harim, in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province at the border with Turkey, on February 11, 2023. - Following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria on February 6, toppling hundreds of buildings and leaving a death toll of at least 3,581 in Syria, supplies have been slow to arrive in the war-torn country where years of conflict have

Did US pressure force Turkey to let Syrian-Kurdish earthquake aid into rebel-held northwest?

Ankara relents, allowing the first humanitarian aid and disaster relief to enter devastated northwest Syria from the country's Kurdish-run northeast.

Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, visits the affected neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo on February 13, 2023 following a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Arab states, militias pour aid into Syria as earthquake death toll exceeds 5,000

The Lebanese group Hezbollah and Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces are among the militias that delivered aid to Syria.

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

US pushes UN vote on aid routes into earthquake-ravaged Syria

Six days after Syria's earthquake, the United States called on the UN Security Council to greenlight the use of additional aid corridors through a new resolution.

Syria In Crisis