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June 10, 2026

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A long convoys of Iraqi diesel-laden tanker trucks line up along the highway Tartus-Baniyas highway as they wait to unload their cargo at the Baniyas port refinery on the Mediterranean Sea, on April 15, 2026.

Syria says Iraqi oil shipments surge as Damascus courts foreign energy investment

Speaking at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Washington on Tuesday, Syrian Petroleum Company CEO Yousef Qiblawy said Iraq's overland oil exports through Syria have expanded rapidly in recent months.

An old locomotive sits outside the Hejaz rail station in old Damascus on February 23, 2010. The Hejaz railway ran from Damascucs to Medina in Saudi Arabia and was part of the Ottoman railway network. AFP PHOTO/LOUAI BESHARA (Photo credit should read LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

Saudi Arabia, Turkey advance plans to revive historic Hejaz Railway

Turkish and Saudi officials signed agreements as part of a Turkish push to revive the Hejaz Railway linking Turkey to the Gulf through Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

An Airbus A321 airliner arrives at the Mehrabad international airport during the delivery of the first batch of planes to the Iranian state airline Iran Air in the capital Tehran on Jaunary 12, 2017. - The aircraft arrived as part of an order for 100 other Airbus planes with a list price of around $20 billion (19 billion euros) on December 22, placed after the lifting of international sanctions on the Islamic republic. It will be used for internal flights landed at Tehran's Mehrabad airport. (Photo by ATTA

Israel-Iran escalation grounds flights across parts of Middle East

Iran suspended flights across all airports after Israeli strikes hit the country.

Amjad Kurdo / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

How Iran war created unexpected economic beneficiaries

The Strait of Hormuz crisis is reshaping global energy and trade flows, creating opportunities for economies far beyond the Middle East.

Latest News

Egypt rejects Syrian ambassador as ties strain under Sharaa

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) chats with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as they arrive for a family photo after a working session of the European Council and regional partners as part of an informal meeting in Nicosia on April 24, 2026.

What Barrack’s expanded role in Syria, Iraq signals for US policy

US ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack attends a meeting with President Donald Trump and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office at the White House on Sept. 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

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

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Danny Makki

In London, reporting on Syrian politics and culture

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Cagatay Cebe

In Istanbul, reporting on security and counterterrorism

Palestinian Fatah members carry their weapons as they take part in a parade to mark the 65th anniversary of Nakba, at Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon May 15, 2013. Palestinians marked "Nakba" (Catastrophe) to commemorate the expulsion or fleeing of hundreds of thousands of their brethren from their homes in the war that led to the founding of Israel in 1948. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY) - RTXZN6R

Syria’s Conflict May Already Be in Lebanon

Following recent conflict in Lebanon’s Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, it is becoming ever more apparent that Syria’s conflict, as represented between Jabhat al-Nusra and Hezbollah, is already in Lebanon.

Misreading The 'Syria Transition Act' In Turkey

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee bill does not signal the imminent arrival of US arms to the Syria opposition.

Australian Visit Highlights Syrian Refugee Problem in Lebanon

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr calls for an end to the fighting in Syria and support for Lebanon.

Supporters of Hezbollah and relatives of Saleh Ahmed Sabagh, a Hezbollah member, carry the coffin during his funeral in the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon May 22, 2013. Syria's leading opposition group called on Wednesday for rebels across the country to send reinforcements to the strategic border town Qusair, where heavy fighting has drawn in fighters from Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST OBITUARY) - RTXZWIM

Lebanese Politics Affected By Syrian Battle for Qusair

The fall of the Syrian town of Qusair to regime forces will likely have consequences for Lebanon.

Israeli soldiers from the Nahal infantry brigade take part in a drill in the Golan Heights, near Israel's border with Syria March 5, 2013. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the territory in 1981, a move not recognised internationally. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (MILITARY) - RTR3ELLJ

Syrian Minister Defends 'Legitimate Right' to Fire on Israel

An exchange of fire between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights raises the question of whether Damascus has adopted a new policy toward Israel and the possibility of an active Golan front.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul waves as he visits the bomb scene on May 16, 2013 during the funerals of the victims of a car bomb which went off on May 11 at Reyhanli in Hatay just a few kilometres from the main border crossing into Syria. The death toll in twin car bombings in a Turkish town near the Syrian border has increased to 50 after another body was recovered and a victim died in hospital, the health minister was quoted as saying on May 14. The attacks also provoked a backlash against Syrian refugee

Turkey’s Syria Policy: No Easy Answers

Turkey’s Syria policies were not wrong, but poorly presented.

An Israeli soldier prays atop a tank close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria on the Israeli occupied Golan Heights May 6, 2013. Israel sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that its recent air strikes around Damascus did not aim to weaken him in the face of a more than two-year-old rebellion. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTXZC70

Israel’s Triple Challenge On the Syrian Front

Israel faces tactical, operative and strategic challenges on its Syrian front, trying to combine efficient deterrence without sinking into the Syria quagmire.

Supporters of Hezbollah and relatives of Hasan Faisal Sheker , an 18-year-old Hezbollah member, carry the coffin during his funeral in Nabi Sheet near Baalbeck May 20, 2013. About 30 Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and 20 Syrian soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been killed in the fiercest fighting this year in the rebel stronghold of Qusair, Syrian activists said on Monday. REUTERS/Stringer (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZU7Q

Hezbollah Campaigns For Preemptive War in Syria

To preempt dissent among its base, Hezbollah is conducting a propaganda campaign to convince supporters that the sacrifices they are making in the battle for Qusair are worth it.

A handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA, on May 20,2013, shows a vehicle which it says is an Israeli military vehicle being used by rebel fighters in Qusair near Homs city. Syrian television also showed footage of what it said was an Israeli military Jeep which it said the rebels had been using and which showed the extent of their foreign backing. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the vehicle was decommissioned a decade ago and dismissed the footage as "poor propaganda". SAN

As Assad’s Forces Take Control Of Qusair, What Comes Next?

Now that the Syrian regime’s forces control half of the city of Qusair near Lebanon’s northern border, the balance seems to once again be shifting in the Syrian conflict.

Jordan's King Abdullah looks on during the opening of the Arab League summit in Doha March 26, 2013. A summit of Arab heads of state opened in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday expected to focus on the war in Syria as well as on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (QATAR - Tags: POLITICS ROYALS) - RTXXXQQ

Islamist Threat Constrains Jordan's Syria Policy

Jordan has been successful in persuading the Obama administration to pay attention to the Islamist threat in Syria.

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) bids Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan farewell following their joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, May 16, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZPFD

Where Does Erdogan Stand on Syria?

After meeting with US President Barack Obama, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his views on the Geneva process have changed and evolved.

A general view shot on July 23, 2012 shows portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his late father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad (back), at the al-Yaroubiya border crossing between Syria and Iraq, close the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Syrian citizens are fleeing to neighboring countries including Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey as fighting between Syrian government forces and Free Syria Army rebels intensifies. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/GettyImages)

Border Arrests Reveal Disunity, Conflict Among Syrian Kurds

The Democratic Union Party's security forces have arrested 70 members of a rival Kurdish party trying to enter Syria from Iraq.