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May 18, 2026

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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives to attend the second day of the first Syrian-Emirati (United Arab Emirates) Investment Forum, at the People's Palace in Damascus on May 12, 2026. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Ports and infrastructure: UAE embraces new economic order in Syria

UAE-Syrian ties have moved faster than expected, with Abu Dhabi embracing President Ahmad al-Sharaa and relations shifting from normalization to investment opportunities.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

A Syrian citizen exchanges old banknotes for new notes released and distributed by the central bank, at a bank in the capital, Damascus, on Jan. 3, 2026.

Interview

UK fintech brings foreign currency accounts to Syrians at home

The launch comes as Syria’s new government attempts to stabilize the country’s shattered economy following the January 2025 rise to power of President Ahmed al-Sharaa after the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad.

Mazloum Kobane, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during the pan-Kurdish "Unity and Consensus" conference in Qamishli in northeastern Syria on April 26, 2025.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish commander Kobane says Turkey visit ‘in the making,’ Ocalan meeting possible

The SDF commander-in-chief reflected on a fragile integration deal with Damascus, growing Kurdish backlash and ongoing talks with Turkey as questions mount over Rojava’s political future.

Mazloum Kobane

Mazloum Kobane

SDF commander in chief

Latest News

Lebanon authorities release Salafist cleric Khaled Hablas: What to know

Khaled Hablas

Syria restores Raqqa oil field in former ISIS stronghold: What to know

Pictured in this undated image is the Al-Thawra oil field in Raqqa governorate, as rehabilitation works continue to restore production capacity.

Turkey's border reopening unlocks new sphere of influence in Syria

Turkish Red Crescent's cars and trucks cross the Turkish border as they leave the Syrian city of Tel Abyad on Oct. 19, 2019, in Akcakale, Turkey.

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

U.N. peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in Kfar Kila village in south Lebanon, near the border with Israel, January 28, 2015. Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish peacekeeper were killed on Wednesday in an exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel that has raised the threat of a full-blown conflict between the militant Islamist group and Israel. REUTERS/Aziz Taher (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR4NCBP

Israel shows restraint in Hezbollah retaliation

Hezbollah’s attack on an Israeli patrol in Lebanon’s occupied Shebaa Farms was expected to break into an all-out war on Lebanon, but sources told Al-Monitor that Israel was asked not to engage in such a war.

People gather to celebrate in the Kurdish-dominated city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, after Kurdish forces said they took full control of the Syrian town of Kobani, January 27, 2015. Kurdish forces battled Islamic State fighters outside Kobani on Tuesday, a monitoring group said, a day after Kurds said they took full control of the northern Syrian town following a four-month battle. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4N6SW

Kurdish victory in Kobani defeat for Turkish policy

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressly ruled out the northern Iraq model for Syria's Kurds.

Lebanese soldiers gesture while riding on an armoured vehicle as they leave the mountainous border town of Ras Baalbek January 24, 2015. The Lebanese army said on Saturday three more soldiers were killed in fighting on Friday between troops and militants who attacked an army post near the border with Syria. The army said on Friday it lost five soldiers in an attack near the village of Ras Baalbek in an area that has seen regular incursions by Islamist militants fighting in Syria. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah (LE

Lebanese army faces war of attrition

The Lebanese army waits for the authorities to take decisive action and cooperate with Hezbollah and the Syrian regime to fight radical groups in Lebanon.

Children warm themselves next to an open fire beside fuel barrels, engine oil and accessories displayed for sale in Aleppo January 13, 2015. Residents of Kafr Hamra, a town in the rural Aleppo countryside, refine crude oil in makeshift cottage refineries in warehouses and backyards for heating, operating bakeries and even running cars, just like most locals across rebel-held areas of Syria. The state no longer pumps gasoline to areas in rebel hands, and civilians have resorted to buying crude oil from armed

Aleppo residents tested by snowstorm, war

The snowstorm that blanketed the Middle East added to the misery of Aleppo’s residents and refugees, as children died from a lack of power, water and heating.

Could Israel’s strike on Hezbollah in Syria spark Iran nuclear talks?

The latest Israel-Hezbollah confrontation might be a catalyst for a nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran; Iran can ease Saudi Arabia’s security predicament; Netanyahu sees electoral gain in snubbing Obama.

A Lebanese army soldier holds his weapon after being deployed to tighten security, following clashes between Lebanese soldiers and Islamist gunmen in Tripoli, northern Lebanon October 27, 2014. Guns fell silent in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Monday after two days of deadly battles between the army and Islamist gunmen, some of the worst fighting to spill over into Lebanon from Syria's civil war next door. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR4BR7A

Islamic State lists conditions to free Lebanese soldiers

An anonymous Lebanese government source informed Al-Monitor that negotiations between Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra militants and the Lebanese government are reaping results, though with conditions.

A picture shows an Israeli army UAV landing in an airfield, 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 raid. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Image

Why Israel's Hezbollah strike didn't bother Turkey's Islamists

The latest Israeli attack on Hezbollah reveals Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s anti-Assad stance is stronger than his anti-Israel rhetoric.

The Alawite neighbourhood of Jabal Mohsen is seen through a bullet hole in the window of an apartment in the Sunni Mankoubin district in Lebanon's northern port of Tripoli on August 25, 2012, following clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian factions in the city, stoking fears of a spillover of bloodshed. AFP PHOTO / ANWAR AMRO (Photo credit should read ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images)

Poor Tripoli district becomes hotbed for extremists

Mankoubin is one of the impoverished neighborhoods of Tripoli, producing youths who have joined such extremist groups as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State and have carried out attacks in Syria and Iraq, as well as in Lebanon.

Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) members organise a funeral for members who died during recent clashes with forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in al-Hasakah, activists said May 23, 2014. Picture taken May 23, 2014. REUTERS/Rodi Said (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3QNP1

After Kobani, where is Islamic State's next target?

The besieged strategic Kurdish town of Hasakah, swollen by an influx of refugees and barrel-bombed by Syrian regime forces, is coming under fire from the Islamic State.

Syrians stand in a queue to get a visa stamp entering Lebanon town during their arrival at the Lebanese Masna'a border point in eastern Bekaa of Lebanon January 22, 2013.
REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3CSRV

Lebanese visa regulations cause more distress for Syrians

The announcement of new regulations requiring Syrians to obtain visas to enter Lebanon has caused consternation and confusion among Syrians as well as in the Lebanese government.

Lebanon's Hezbollah members carry the coffin of Jihad Moughniyah during his funeral in Beirut's suburbs January 19, 2015. The son of Hezbollah's late military leader Imad Moughniyah was killed in an Israeli helicopter strike in Syria on Sunday, a statement from the group said. The man (bottom C, wearing glasses) is the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc Mohamed Raad. REUTERS/Aziz Taher (LEBANON - Tags: OBITUARY MILITARY POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4M0GK

IRGC vows revenge after Israeli attack

Iranian military commanders say that the Israeli strike against a Hezbollah convoy in Syria will not deter them.

Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who is investigating the 1994 car-bomb attack on the AMIA Jewish community center, pauses during a meeting with journalists at his office in Buenos Aires May 29, 2013. Nisman accused Iran on Wednesday of creating networks to carry out terrorist attacks in Latin America since the 1980's, and he said he will send his findings to courts in those countries so they can take action. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci (ARGENTINA - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTX105FT

Should Israel protect Jewish Diaspora or its own citizens?

Israel must concentrate on protecting its own citizens, in spite of the risks for the Jews of the world, focusing on military targets and not potential reprisals against Jewish targets outside its borders.