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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

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson delivers a speech in Washington February 7, 2014. REUTERS/Gary Cameron (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CRIME LAW) - RTX18D33

New US Syria policy should engage Iran

As the talks on a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran commence this week in Vienna, there is also an opening to engage Iran on Syria and terrorism.

People arrive for a meeting between the King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Rawdat al-Khuraim January 5, 2014. REUTERS/Pool/Brendan Smialowski (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX172YX

Saudi Arabia plans to pitch Obama for regime change in Syria

Saudi Arabia has recently taken steps to discourage its nationals from joining jihadist forces in Syria, as it plans an appeal to US President Barack Obama to become more engaged in Saudi-backed efforts to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Fighters of al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant parade at the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, near the border with Turkey January 2, 2014. Picture taken January 2, 2014. REUTERS/Yaser Al-Khodor (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX170UO

Iran calls for end to foreign support for extremist groups in Syria

An Iranian diplomat also notes his country’s active support for chemical disarmament and humanitarian relief corridors in Syria.

$Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses the media next to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) at Esenboga Airport in Ankara November 21, 2013. A feud between Erdogan and an influential Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has spilled into the open months ahead of elections, highlighting fractures in the religiously conservative support base underpinning his decade in power. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTX15NGG$

Is Erdogan hindering Turkey's foreign policy reset?

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to be undercutting the efforts of his foreign minister to get Turkey’s Middle East policies back on track.

Kurdish female fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPJ) are seen in training at a military camp in Malikiya, Hassaka province December 9, 2013. Picture taken December 9, 2013. REUTERS/Rodi Said (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX17Q2P

Syrian Kurds recruit regime loyalists to fight jihadists

The Democratic Union Party (PYD) has reportedly established Arab brigades made up of regime loyalists.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri (R) shakes hands with Lebanese Christian leader and head of the Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun during the eighth session of the national dialogue between political leaders at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, near Beirut March 9, 2010. REUTERS/Dalati Nohra/Handout (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - RTR2BEYN

Lebanon government talks stall again

Developments at the Geneva II conference and in the Western-Iranian nuclear talks may have stalled Lebanon’s government formation

Masked Sunni Muslim gunmen patrol in the city of Falluja, 70 km (44 miles) west of Baghdad, February 8, 2014. ISIL militants and other Sunni groups angered by the Shi'ite-led government overran Falluja and parts of the nearby city of Ramadi in the western province of Anbar on Jan. 1. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX18FGA

ISIS, al-Qaeda compete for supremacy in global jihad

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has emerged as a major challenger to al-Qaeda as the leading brand in the global militant jihad movement.

Smoke rises after shells exploded in the Syrian village of al-Jamlah, close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria, as seen from the Israeli occupied Golan Heights March 5, 2013. In response to the explosion in the Syrian village on Tuesday the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said that they are carefully tracking events that take place in Syria and are prepared for any eventuality. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3ELP3

Israeli security chiefs modify assessment on Syrian war

The Israel Defense Forces estimate that the Syrian war may last a decade, ending with Syria being divided into several cantons, with jihadist forces on the Israeli border and Hezbollah gaining in military experience.

An image grab from a video uploaded on YouTube shows Syrian army tanks in the city of Yabrud, 80 km north of Damascus on March 8, 2012.
== RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / YOUTUBE" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - AFP IS USING PICTURES FROM ALTERNATIVE SOURCES AS IT WAS NOT AUTHORISED TO COVER THIS EVENT, THEREFORE IT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIGITAL ALTERATIONS TO THE PICTURE'S EDITORIAL CONTENT, DATE AND LOCATION WHICH CANNOT BE

Syria sends diplomats to Geneva, fighters to Yabrud

The fighting may intensify around Yabrud as the second round of negotiations in Geneva commence.

Friends and family members of victims killed in a car bomb attack on Saturday, hold a wreath along with their pictures during a funeral in the Shi'ite town of Hermel February 3, 2014. A suicide car bomber killed three people at a petrol station in a stronghold of the Shi'ite militant Hezbollah movement on Lebanon's northern border on Saturday, the latest sign that Syria's civil war is spilling over into its small neighbour. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is pictured on the left in the banner in fr

Have bombings united the Lebanese Shiites behind Hezbollah?

Although many suspect the recent bombings in Lebanon are aimed at breaking Shiite support for Hezbollah, they may be having the opposite effect.

Neutrality, reform needed to rescue Lebanon’s economy

Lebanon’s economy is collapsing and the only thing that can save it is a new government that keeps Lebanon neutral in the Syrian war and implements economic and administrative reforms.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends the opening of the Geneva-2 peace conference in Montreux January 22, 2014. Syria's government and its enemies came face to face for the first time on Wednesday at a one-day peace conference in Switzerland which world powers hope can at least start a process to end three years of civil war. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (SWITZERLAND - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX17PEH

Russia's Syria policy gains traction

As Russia maintains a steady course on Syria, Moscow's influence on Damascus may be less than some believe.