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Syria

October 13, 2026

Damascus 2:14 am

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Demonstrators ride through a street while waving Syrian flags

Analysis

Why Syria and Iraq are taking different approaches to armed groups

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

A view of the Great Umayyad Mosque during the reopening ceremony, Oct. 8, 2026.

Culture

Syria reopens Aleppo's 1,300-year-old Great Umayyad Mosque after 13 years

Syrian authorities are working to restore cultural landmarks and ancient sites that had been damaged or destroyed during the civil war.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Oct. 6, 2026.

Analysis

Why Syria sending troops to Yemen would be a risky bet for Sharaa

Syria insists it will not send troops to fight the Houthis alongside Saudi Arabia, but its economic dependence on Riyadh could complicate Damascus’ resistance to the idea.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

Culture

Syria's Kurds, Arabs find common cause in battle for language rights

Youths play the daf, an Iranian frame drum, during a protest demanding the right to education in the Kurdish language in Al-Qamishli, Syria, on September 22, 2026. The demonstrations follow a decision by the Syrian Interim Government to allocate only Kurdish language classes in schools. (Photo by Amjad Kurdo / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Syria’s Sharaa in Riyadh as Saudi airports come under Houthi attacks: What to know

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Oct. 6, 2026.

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

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)

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

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

A worker stands and works on a campaign billboard of presidential candidate and Egypt's former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, along a highway in Cairo May 12, 2014. An influential Qatar-based Islamist whose fiery sermons have caused tension between Gulf states said on Sunday that Egyptian presidential front runner Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will only bring downfall to the country. Sisi is expected to easily win the May 26-27 presidential election. The only other candidate is leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, w

The false promise of Mideast elections

The coming presidential elections in Egypt, Syria and Turkey offer little hope for a regional trend toward stability and democracy.

Veiled women sit as they chat in a garden in the northern province of Raqqa March 31, 2014. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has imposed sweeping restrictions on personal freedoms in the northern province of Raqqa. Among the restrictions, Women must wear the niqab, or full face veil, in public or face unspecified punishments "in accordance with sharia", or Islamic law. REUTERS/Stringer (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT RELIGION SOCIETY) - RTR3JCO4

Syrian girls forced to marry ISIS fighters

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham is forcing Syrian girls to marry its foreign fighters.

Residents carry belongings from home following the cessation of fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in Homs city May 10, 2014. Hundreds of residents have started to return to Homs after rebels left the city. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3OL1I

War-weary Syrians see hope in Homs deal

Syrian civilians, routinely shelled by regime forces and rebels, hope the Homs cease-fire is an indication of better times to come.

Workers hang banners for Hassan Abdallah al-Nouri in front of a banner for President Bashar al-Assad on a street in Damascus May 11, 2014. Assad will compete with other two candidates in a June presidential election, the Supreme Constitutional Court of Syria said on Saturday. The poster consists of the Arabic word "Sawa" (Together) and Assad's name and signature (back) and "bringing back the middle class" with Dr. Hassan al-Nouri on the banner of his opponent (front). REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki (SYRIA - Tags:

Syrian government ponders post-election scenarios

As the June 3 presidential elections approach in Syria, the government considers how domestic and internal actors will react to the expected re-election of President Bashar Al-Assad.

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH

People carry a wounded woman after an accidental explosion caused by leftover ordnance at Bustan al-Diwan, in old Homs City, May 10, 2014. Hundreds of residents return to Homs, after rebels left the city. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) TEMPLATE OUT - RTR3OKXD

What can we learn from Homs?

Given the collapse of the Geneva process, and the Syrian government’s staying power, localized cease-fires may be the latest trend in the conflict.

A photo of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is seen along a street in old Homs city May 8, 2014. Syrian forces say they will take full control on Thursday over Homs, a city once vibrant with pro-democracy crowds but now associated with images of ruin that epitomise the brutality of Syria's civil war. After holding the Old City of Homs for nearly two years, close to 1,200 rebel fighters boarded buses which took them out of the "capital of the revolution" in convoys on Wednesday and Thursday, activists said.

Ankara at crossroads on Syria policy

Developments in Syria have confounded the Turkish government’s efforts to depose President Bashar al-Assad and forced a rethink of its policies.

Fighters from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) burn confiscated cigarettes in the city of Raqqa April 2, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT RELIGION SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3JP4Z

Saudis fear Syria blowback after discovering ISIS cell

Fears of jihadist blowback from the Syrian war are starting to be realized after Saudi's discovery of a terrorist cell planning attacks on its soil.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (2nd L) arrives to testify at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on national security and foreign policy priorities for the 2014 international affairs budget, on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 18, 2013. Kerry on Thursday asked senators pressing for tougher sanctions over Iran's nuclear ambitions to be patient, saying there is uncertainty in the Islamic republic two months before its June 14 election. Pictured with Kerry are (L-R) committee chairman Robert Men

McCain calls Homs a ‘huge victory’ for Assad

Senator’s comment comes as Syrian opposition leaders seek congressional allies in their bid for more weapons.

A civil defence worker runs towards a fire after what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr April 18, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (SYRIA - Tags: CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3LTHO

Aleppo's rebel fighters disillusioned with war

Rebel fighters in Aleppo look to Homs as a potential model for a cease-fire to end the war in the city.

Salih Muslim, co-president of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), poses during an interview in Marseille, southern France, on December 1, 2013. PYD, the biggest Kurdish armed group, wants to establish an autonomous Kurdish state within a federal Syria and a commission is already writing the constitution of this potential state, Muslim told AFP. Syrian Kurds in the war-torn country's northeast announced last month the formation of a transitional autonomous administration after making key territo

Syrian Kurd leader urges Turkey to join fight against jihadists

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Syrian Kurdish leader Salih Muslim says his Democratic Union Party will not participate in Syria’s presidential elections, and questions why the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq is not helping Syria’s Kurds.

Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, speaks during an interview at the U.S embassy in Kabul September 14, 2011. A marathon siege in Kabul's diplomatic enclave ended on Tuesday with the death of the last two of a group of gunmen who had held off Western and Afghan security forces for nearly 20 hours, showering rockets on Western embassies in a dramatic show of insurgent strength. Crocker said around six or seven rockets had hit inside the embassy perimeter during the early hours of the attack, l

Former US diplomat warns of possible 'grave mistake' in Syria

Ryan Crocker, former US ambassador to Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, warns against a regime change plan that would depose the Alawite power structure in Syria and advises the Obama administration to contain the fighting by backing US regional allies, but not to intervene militarily.

Smoke rises after what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Armenian Christian town of Kasab April 7, 2014. For three years, residents of Syria's Mediterranean provinces have watched from their coastal sanctuary as civil war raging further inland tore the country apart, killing tens of thousands of people and devastating historic cities. But a three-week-old offensive by rebel fighters in the north of Latakia province, a bastion of Assad's Alawite minority,

Turkey's Syria borders an open door for smugglers

Guns, people and stolen goods move with surprising ease and regularity over a sensitive border.