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October 6, 2026

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A view of a traffic roundabout in central Latakia, Syria on June 12, 2025. The city's road network converges near the coast, forming one of the busiest urban intersections in the province. (Photo by Omar Albaw / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by OMAR ALBAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE-Syria move ahead on $20 billion real estate mega-developments

Major housing and tourism projects in Damascus and Latakia are set to advance following a new agreement with UAE real estate tycoon Mohamed Alabbar.

Syria denies meeting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah in Turkey: What to know

Both Damascus and Ankara denied reports that Syrian officials met with Hezbollah representatives in Turkey, as relations between the two sides remain fraught with tensions mainly over the Lebanese group’s support for Assad’s forces against rebels during the Syrian civil war.

A picture taken on May 1, 2019 shows a railroad of Mar Mikhael neighborhood in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Lebanon seeks Turkey’s help to join Syria-Saudi rail link: What to know

Beirut is seeking Ankara’s support to link its ports to a railway project aiming to link Turkey to the Gulf, through Syria and Jordan.

A member of Syria's security forces stands guard outside a former army base near the city of Quneitra in southern Syria, on the edge of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Sept. 21, 2025.

Feature

Syria Golan detentions fuel fury at Israeli forces, doubts in new government

Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Syrians and continue to conduct strikes and incursions in Quneitra, fueling resentment among residents who say Damascus has failed to protect them.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

Analysis

How militias in Anbar could complicate Iraq’s energy ambitions

Iraqi soldiers from the new 'desert battalion' special forces stand next to military vehicles as the take part in a graduation ceremony, after months of training by the French military, at the Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar west of Baghdad on February 29, 2024. (Photo by Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Exclusive

How Syrian Air is braving regional turbulence to rise from the ashes

Syria Air

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

Can Netanyahu turn Israel's UN isolation into strength at home?

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images

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

UAE's Gargash expects 'prolonged' war, calls for Iran-Gulf security talks

Gargash

United Arab Emirates

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. - RTSC7SC

What’s Chechnya doing in Syria?

Russia is finding the Republic of Chechnya’s influence to be very helpful in Syria.

Idlib — more than Raqqa — may be decisive Syria fault line

Russian-Turkish agreement under strain in key northern city.

A general view shows the Kurdish city of Afrin, in Aleppo's countryside March 18, 2015. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hebbo (SYRIA - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTR4TWF4

Is Turkey rattled by Russian-Kurdish deal?

Turkey may feel its already tenuous footing in Syria slipping now that Russian troops have arrived in Afrin, after making a pact with the Kurds.

People and a civil defence personnel carry children at a damaged site after an air strike on rebel-held Idlib city, Syria March 19, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX31PQN

Aleppo's displaced face another crisis in Idlib

The Syrian regime is intensifying its assault on Idlib and its countryside, where civilians are falling victim after fleeing death in Aleppo and other areas in Syria.

The man credited with smuggling 50,000 photos said to document Syrian government atrocities, a Syrian Army defector known by the protective alias Caesar (disguised in a hooded blue jacket), listens to his interpreter as he prepares to speak at a briefing to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington July 31, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR40T3S

Congress reintroduces Syria sanctions

The House Foreign Affairs panel is expected to take up the bill promptly, but its fate is uncertain in the Senate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan attend a news conference after the talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, March 10, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool - RTS12BYZ

Ankara's Syrian plan falters as Moscow sets up in Afrin

Turkey's move to enlist the Russians against the Syrian Kurds is not working out, as both the United States and Russia deepen their ties with the Syrian Kurds and Operation Euphrates Shield appears to have reached the limits of its expansion.

A member of the Free police, wearing a Turkish flag on his hat, attends a ceremony celebrating the inauguration of the "Free Police" in the Syrian border town of Jarablus January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi - RTSX6LE

Free Syrian Army getting backup from Turkish-trained police

Turkey is shoring up the FSA's — and perhaps Ankara's — clout in Syria by providing newly schooled policemen to Aleppo province.

Rebel fighters stand amidst rubble at the entrance to a tunnel they said belonged to Islamic State fighters which connects the city to Aqeel mountain, in the northern Syrian city of al-Bab, Syria March 13, 2017. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX30UPT

Are Ankara’s prospects in Syria dimming?

Turkey is hemmed in by the United States and Russia in Syria, unable to achieve its aim of blocking Kurdish gains.

Israeli soliders patrol near an Iron Dome defence system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, on January 20, 2015, two days after an Israeli air strike killed six Hezbollah members in the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights. The strike on Syria killed an Iranian general, Tehran confirmed on January 19, as thousands of supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah gathered to bury one of the six fighters killed in the same rai

Is Assad shifting strategy on Israel?

Contrary to Israel’s typical low profile on operations in Syrian skies, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned that if Damascus fires any more missiles against IDF jets, Israel will destroy its air defense system.

A Lebanon Hezbollah fighter carries his weapon as he stands in Khashaat, in the Qalamoun region after they advanced in the area May 15, 2015. When Lebanon's Hezbollah first joined Syria's war on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, its role was a closely guarded secret. Today, as Hezbollah plants its flag in land won from rebels north of Damascus, its role could hardly be more public. Picture taken May 15, 2015. To match Insight MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

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What’s behind Hezbollah’s safe zone project in Syria's Qalamoun?

A Hezbollah deal that is reportedly being discussed with the Syrian opposition for the repatriation of Syrian refugees into safe zones in Syria would face steep hurdles in negotiating with the Lebanese government.

A view shows the eastern entrance to the town of Tel Abyad of Raqqa governorate June 15, 2015. Kurdish-led militia backed by U.S.-led air strikes fought Islamic State near a Syrian town at the Turkish border on Sunday, a monitoring group and a Kurdish official said, in an advance that has worried Turkey. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RTX1GJ57

Turkey still determined to play role in final Raqqa assault

Will a Turkish-sponsored army of 50 Arab tribes actually materialize in Syria, or is Turkey just rattling its saber regarding the Raqqa offensive?

Israeli soldiers evacuate their comrade, playing the role of an injured person, as they drive past a Hezbollah flag during a combined forces drill in Shizafon military base, near Eilat in southern Israel June 7, 2016. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RTSGDEV

Israel weighs response to Hezbollah rocket threat

For now, deterrence holds on Israel’s northern border; Iran ready to "fight to the last man" in Syria; Why does Erdogan go easy on Putin over Syrian Kurds?