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January 16, 2026

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US special envoy for Syria and Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack attends a flag-raising ceremony at the US ambassador's residence in Damascus on May 29, 2025.

Exclusive

US envoy Barrack to meet Kurdish SDF chief Kobane in bid to avoid Syria escalation

The US special envoy to Syria is expected to meet SDF leader Mazlum Kobane in Erbil amid mounting tensions that threaten to unravel a fragile agreement between the Kurdish-led administration and Damascus.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

From Egypt to Lebanon: What’s at stake for regional states on Trump’s visa ban list?

The State Department claimed that citizens from the affected countries are more likely to use social welfare services at a high rate.

Members of the Kurdish forces hold a portrait of Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler which reads "Shame on the killers of innocents in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood" during a protest by Syrian Kurds against violence they say was committed by Syrian government forces during recent clashes in Aleppo's Kurdish neighbourhoods, in the Kurdish-controlled northeastern city of Qamishli on Jan. 13, 2026.

Syria declares 'closed military zone' east of Aleppo as Kurds protest

The Syrian government accused the Kurdish-led SDF of mobilizing in the area, reflecting ongoing turmoil following a ceasefire.

President of Syria Ahmed al-Shara arrives for the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at UN Headquarters on Sept. 23, 2025 in New York City. — Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Syria’s Sharaa heads to Davos, ending years of global isolation

The World Economic Forum begins on January 19 and ends on January 23, hosting a cohort of around 400 political leaders.

Latest News

Syria Druze leader Hijri calls for independent entity, says country ‘heading toward partition’

Sheikh Hikmat Salman al-Hijri is pictured at Qanawat, the headquarters of the Druze spiritual presidency, on Dec. 28, 2024, in Suwayda, Syria.

Analysis

What Syria and Israel’s new communications cell really signals

Israel military vehicles drive along the border fence into Israel, near the town of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, on July 17, 2025. Syrian government forces have withdrawn from the whole of Sweida province after days of sectarian bloodshed in the heartland of the Druze minority, a war monitor and witnesses said July 17, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Rina Bassist

By Rosaleen Carroll , Rina Bassist

Exclusive

Closed-door breakdown in Syria-Kurdish talks foreshadowed Aleppo clashes

Bakr ALKASEM / AFP via Getty Images

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Sharaa tells Iraq's Barzani Kurds integral to Syria amid fears of Aleppo spillover

Safin HAMID / AFP via Getty Images

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

Russia treads lightly in Syrian deadlock

Moscow is reacting with marked restraint to the escalation around Ain Issa, even seeming to play along with Ankara, though Turkey and the Syrian National Army have no reason to conduct offensive operations in the area.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (foregorund L), his wife Asma visit the exhibition dedicated to French painter Claude Monet at the Grand Palais on December 11, 2010 in Paris at the end of their official visit in France. AFP PHOTO MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP PHOTO / Miguel MEDINA (Photo credit should read MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)

US unveils new Syria sanctions targeting Assad’s British in-laws

The US administration has blacklisted the commander of Syria's military intelligence organization, a senior aide to President Bashar al-Assad and Assad's British in-laws.

Syrian-Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and members of the Rojava Forces Defence Units walk near the town of Faysh Khabur, which lies in Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region near the three-way border crossing between Iraq-Syria-Turkey on March 29, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

KRG asks US forces to deploy along Kurdish-controlled part of Iraqi-Syrian border

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s deputy chief of staff outlined why the Kurdish region's government wants US forces stationed in and around the Fish Khabur border crossing.

Can the US force Iran out of Syria? Not likely, former officials say

The outgoing Trump administration appears to have made little if any progress in achieving its goal.

Germany and Finland repatriate children from Syria's al-Hol camp

There have been several repatriations of people from the camp for Islamic State families this year.

Members of the Syrian government forces stand guard at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Deir Ezzor on September 10, 2017, as they continue to press forward with Russian air cover in the offensive against Islamic State group jihadists across Deir Ezzor province. / AFP PHOTO / George OURFALIAN (Photo credit should read GEORGE OURFALIAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Pro-Iran militias in Syria soak merchants for cash at checkpoints

The checkpoints of the Syrian regime and the pro-Iranian militias along the main road between Deir-ez-Zor and al-Bukamal are imposing royalties on merchants and local residents in their areas of control.

Fighters from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group stand over the body of a Syrian regime soldier before the start of a reported prisoner swap deal in the town of Darret Ezza, about 30 kilometres northwest of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on May 16, 2020. (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP) (Photo by AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite attempt at makeover, Syria’s HTS remains on US terror list

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has been trying to present itself as a moderate group seeking to have its name removed from the international terrorist list, but these attempts are failing after the United States recently designated it among the "Entities of Particular Concern."

Iraq, KRG, Turkey find common ground in response to PKK

Kurdish group increasingly isolated; meanwhile, Syrian Kurds boxed in by Turkey, Russia and Assad.

Washington on the spot as its Syrian Kurd allies are drawn into PKK-KDP fight

Reported border clash worsens conflict between Kurdish factions in triangle where US, Turkish and Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish forces come into play.

A Turkish soldier stands near his armoured vehicle on a highway near the northern Syrian town of Ain Issa in the countryside of the Raqqa region, on November 26, 2019, as Turkey-backed forces deploy reinforcements around the key town. - Ankara and its Syrian proxies launched on October 9 a cross-border attack against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, which allowed Turkey, along with a subsequent Russian-Turkish accord, to control a strip of land on the Syrian side of the border. Ain Issa lies on the south

Syrian Kurds squeezed between Turkish threat, Russian pressure in Ain Issa

Amid growing fears of a fresh Turkish offensive, the Syrian Kurds are under Russian pressure to cede full or partial control of the strategic town of Ain Issa to the Syrian government.

A Russian Military convoy drives near the village of Ein Diwar in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on October 11, 2020. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

How Russia is preparing in Syria for Biden’s presidency

Moscow is hoping the final months of outgoing President Donald Trump's presidency will allow it an opportunity to reinforce its positions in Syria.

TOPSHOT - A fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) sits on a motorcycle at a makeshift camp for Islamic State (IS) group members and their families in the town of Baghouz, in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, on March 9, 2019. - Pushed flush along a bend in the Euphrates River, the scrap of a desert hamlet that is Baghouz in eastern Syria is the only territory IS jihadists have left. (Photo by Dylan COLLINS / AFP) (Photo credit should read DYLAN COLLINS/AFP via Getty Images)

Islamic State continues to pose threat in Syrian desert

The Islamic State continues to haunt and drain out the Syrian regime forces even after it lost its last stronghold in Syria more than a year ago.