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Syria

January 19, 2026

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Syrian government troops stand guard next to a burning tyre along a street of Tabqa, in Raqa province, on the southwestern banks of the Euphrates on Jan. 18, 2026.

Breaking | Last Updated: January 18, 2026, 3:43 pm

Bowing to US pressure, Syrian military advances, Kurdish-led SDF agrees to Sharaa's terms

Syrian government forces rapidly retook Raqqa and key eastern territories from the US-backed SDF, prompting a ceasefire agreement that effectively restores Damascus’s control over much of Syria’s oil-rich northeast.

LOUAI BESHARA / AFP via Getty Images

Breaking | Last Updated: January 16, 2026, 7:48 pm

Syria’s Sharaa declares Kurdish a national language, recognizes Nowruz

Syria's interim president surprised the country's Kurdish citizens with a decree enshrining their culture and language as an "inseparable component of Syria’s unified and diverse national identity."

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.

Latest News

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

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

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 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

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

Humanitarian aid to Syria meets Russian resistance at the UN Security Council

Russia isn't budging from its resistance to deny crucial humanitarian aid to northwest Syria.

Italian police confiscate $1 billion worth of ‘Islamic State-made’ drugs

The 84 million Captagon tablets were stashed inside three containers investigators discovered at the Salerno port.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C), Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attend a joint press conference following a trilateral meeting on Syria, in Ankara on September 16, 2019. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read PAVEL GOLOVKIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: Iran, Russia, Turkey discuss stabilizing Syria in virtual summit

The presidents of Turkey, Iran and Russia held a virtual summit to discuss the latest developments in Syria today.

TOPSHOT - Bags of Russian humanitarian aid are seen laying on the ground, after residents refused to accept them, in the town of Derouna Arha near the Syrian border with Turkey on June 16, 2020. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: Congress urges UN to reopen humanitarian aid crossings into Syria

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers urged the United Nations to reopen a key border crossing into Syria, which Russia shut down in January using its veto power at the Security Council.

Turkish soldiers stand guard during a joint Russian-Turkish patrol along the M4 highway, which links the northern Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Latakia, near Ariha in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province, on June 10, 2020. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)

Northwest Syria holds breath for decision on cross-border aid

Syrians in Idlib fear aid cuts as much as new battles as their living conditions worsen.

TOPSHOT - A Lebanese woman stands next to her empty refrigerator in her apartment in the port city of Tripoli north of Beirut on June 17, 2020. - Lebanon's economic crisis has led to a collapse of the local currency and purchasing power, plunging whole segments of the population into poverty as exemplified by near-empty fridges in many households. (Photo by IBRAHIM CHALHOUB / AFP) (Photo by IBRAHIM CHALHOUB/AFP via Getty Images)

How Caesar Act could hurt Lebanon's Tripoli

With residents of Tripoli already suffering shortages under Lebanon’s mounting system-wide collapse, the US Caesar Act promises to both hinder investment in Tripoli and increase cross-border smuggling.

HOLE, SYRIA - NOVEMBER 09: November 9, 2015 in Hassica, Rojava, Syria. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

US troops 'secure' northeast Syria oil, as contamination from it imperils lives

Dilapidated pipelines and oil waste coat polluted rivers and streams in Kurdish-run northeast Syria.

Syrians buy bread in the town of Binnish in the country's northwestern Idlib province on June 9, 2020. - Syrians held a third day of rare anti-regime protests over deteriorating living conditions Tuesday in the government-held city of Sweida, a war monitor said, as the value of the pound sunk. The value of the Syrian pound has plummeted with dizzying speed in recent days on the informal market, sending prices skyrocketing nationwide and shuttering shops. Dozens rallied in the majority-Druze city of Sweida i

Intel: US pledges nearly $700M in humanitarian assistance for Syrians

The US State Department announced it would be providing an additional $696 million in humanitarian assistance to Syrians.

Bolton, Pentagon rallied to keep al-Tanf base in Syria

After Donald Trump's surprising tweet in late 2018 that all US troops would return from Syria, John Bolton says he spoke out against the abandonment of the US garrison at al-Tanf.

Is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham doing Turkey’s job in Idlib?

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group dominating Idlib, is turning up pressure on radical jihadis, facing accusations of acting at the behest of Turkey.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC on June 24, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Pompeo dismisses Rouhani’s terms for talks as Iran admits ‘no plan B’ for Syria

Israel, Iran and the United States are all not backing down in Syria, but US-Iran prisoner talks may still have a chance.

A patrol of US military vehicles is seen near the flying yellow flags of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and green flags of its constituent Women's Protection Forces (YPJ) in the town of Tal Tamr in the northeastern Syrian Hasakeh province along the border with Turkey on February 8, 2020. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia offers rare apology to rivals amid unity talks

The apology is testament to the group's determination to see unity talks between the Kurdish National Council and the PYD through to a successful end.