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Syria

July 11, 2026

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US President Donald Trump meets Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) on the sidelines of the NATO Summit at Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, on July 8, 2026.

US to drop Syria from terror blacklist

The terrorism label remained a key obstacle to Syria's postwar reconstruction.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) shakes hands with France's President Emmanuel Macron following a joint press conference in Damascus on July 7, 2026.

Explainer

French energy, shipping giants explore Syria deals during Macron visit

The two countries signed preliminary pacts spanning transport, healthcare, banking, infrastructure and development on Tuesday, even as twin explosions in the capital underscored the fragile investment environment.

Latest News

Macron's Syria visit eyes to boost France's economic role: What to know

Ludovic MARIN / AFP via Getty Images

Two explosions hit Damascus as Macron visits Syria

Security personnel and first responders prepare to cordon off an area near the Four Seasons Hotel following two blasts nearby in Damascus on July 7, 2026. Syrian authorities said 18 people were wounded by two blasts in central Damascus on July 7 near the hotel where France's president spent the night, with the Elysee Palace saying his visit is ongoing. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How Syria’s wheat fields turned into first battleground over reconstruction

Farmers roast harvested wheat using fire in a field on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, on May 18, 2026.

Haddon Barth

By Haddon Barth

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

Islamic State escalates attacks in Syrian desert

The Islamic State organization (IS) kills a large number of regime forces on an almost daily basis in the Syrian Desert, which has turned into a black hole draining the regime forces.

An aerial view taken on December 11, 2020 shows Syrian farmer Ayman Ibrahim harvesting Azolla aquatic ferns used as livestock feed in the town of Kafr Takharim in Syria's northwestern Idlib province. - To dodge skyrocketing prices for animal fodder in Syria's last major rebel bastion, farmer Ayman Ibrahim has turned to an aquatic fern used as a fertiliser in Asian rice paddies. Azolla is highly productive with the ability to double its weight in seven days, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisat

Syrian livestock depleted by war, failing economy

Syrian cattle owners and breeders are no longer able to look after their livestock in light of the soaring prices of oil derivatives, fodder and other necessary means for animal husbandry, not to mention the large number of animals that perished in the shelling.

This picture taken on November 26, 2020 shows Syrian students from the "Aleppo University in Liberated Areas", controlled by the pro-Turkey opposition, attending a tutorial at a laboratory facility in Marea in the rebel-controlled northern countryside of Syria's Aleppo province, while mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - The university had its first batch of 32 doctors to ever graduate after its founding in 2014, headquartered in Azaz for the past three years. Humanitarian workers fear any

Understanding Turkey's vision of medical schools for small Syrian town

Ankara plans to establish two medical educational facilities in a small Syrian town across the border as Turkish entrenchment deepens in Syria.

This picture shows the Eastern Catholic Saint Elijah Cathedral, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on January 1, 2021. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia plays up ties to Syrian Christians

Russia declares its support for the Orthodox Christian militias fighting alongside the Syrian regime, as it shows great interest in the ideological factor within its expansion and domination strategy in Syria

Family of American held in Syria pins hopes on Biden

This month marks four years since psychotherapist Majd Kamalmaz disappeared in Syria.

Members of the civil society delegation attend the first meeting of the new Syrian Constitutional Committee at the United Nations in Geneva on October 30, 2019. - Syria's government may be on board for the UN-brokered review of its constitution, but it will sink the Geneva talks opening on October 30, 2019, before agreeing anything that compromises its authority, experts have said. (Photo by DENIS BALIBOUSE / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DENIS BALIBOUSE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Syrian opposition regroups as another round of talks crashes

The Syrian opposition is mulling its next moves after the faltering of yet another round of talks of the Syrian Constitutional Committee.

Workers restore a palatial Ottoman-era home called Beit al-Quwatli to turn it into a cultural institution in the old part of Syria's capital Damascus on November 10, 2020. - The old city of the Syrian capital is famed for its elegant century-old houses, usually two storeys built around a leafy rectangular courtyard with a carved stone fountain at its centre. While the capital has been largely spared the violence of Syria's almost ten-year war, several of these traditional homes have been abandoned by their

Jobless Syrians have little use for government’s new construction training program

Syrians are reluctant to apply to the technical training centers the regime plans to establish because of the shockingly low stipends provided.

TOPSHOT - People walk past tents in the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria on August 25, 2020, where families of Islamic State (IS) foreign fighters are held. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

57 nations hit for failure to repatriate women, children from Syrian camps

UN human rights experts are pressing Great Britain, France, Iran, Russia, Turkey, the United States and 51 other countries to repatriate nearly 10,000 of their citizens associated with the Islamic State.

Who benefits from attacks on Turkish forces in Idlib?

Repeated attacks on Turkish posts and soldiers in Idlib are obstructing Turkish efforts to reopen the M4 international highway and cement the cease-fire, raising questions about the parties behind the attacks.

TOPSHOT - A boy walks through a rainwater pond near a laundry line with clothes hanging out to dry at a flooded camp for Syrians displaced by conflict near the village of Kafr Uruq, in Syria's northern rebel-held Idlib province on January 17, 2021. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)

Displaced Syrians left out in rain by HTS government's building fees

The Syrian Salvation Government has imposed construction fees on displaced citizens trying to build homes in Idlib, raising the costs beyond what many can afford.

Islamic State kills two dozen pro-regime fighters in Syria

A firefight in the Deir ez-Zor desert is the latest sign of the Islamic State terror network's lingering presence.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SAMMY KETZ
Sheikh Hikmat Hajari, a top Druze cleric, sits in his home in the southern city of Sweida on January 23, 2013. Abductions of Druze officials in Daraa were rampant in May and June of last year, prompting the inhabitants of Sweida to respond in kind, leaving behind a palpable distrust between the provinces, though Sweida hosts some 9,000 displaced people of Daraa. AFP PHOTO/ANWAR AMRO (Photo credit should read ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Syrian regime scrambles to defuse tensions after insult to Druze leader

The people of Suwayda in southern Syria were outraged when a Syrian army officer insulted the spiritual leader of the Druze community in the governorate, and high-ranking officials are trying to defuse the tension by offering apologies to the community.