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July 13, 2026

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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) welcomes France's President Emmanuel Macron for a joint press conference in Damascus on July 7, 2026.

Explainer

How Macron seeks to carve out France's role in new Syria

French President Emmanuel Macron became the first Western leader to visit Syria since the fall of the Assad regime, showcasing Paris' support for Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa while seeking to secure a share of the country's emerging reconstruction market.

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.

Latest News

Explainer

French energy, shipping giants explore Syria deals during Macron visit

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.

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)

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

Russian soldiers sit in their vehicle next to a portrait of late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad in Khan Sheikhun in the southern countryside of the Idlib province on September 25, 2019. - With military backing from Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's forces have retaken large parts of Syria from rebels and jihadists since 2015, and now control around 60 percent of the country. Russia often refers to troops it deployed in Syria as military "advisers" even though its forces and warplanes are also directly in

Intel: US ramps up Syria pressure campaign with sanctions targeting Assad’s teen son

The latest reason Australia won’t take back citizens detained in Syria’s prisons for IS? Coronavirus

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne says COVID-19 has further complicated the possibilities of repatriating Australians captured during the war against the Islamic State in Syria.

A Syrian doctor, on her own initiative, instructs children how to properly wear a mask during the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis, in the displacement camp of Janid near the town of Dana, east of the Turkish-Syrian border in the northwestern Idlib province, on July 26, 2020. (Photo by Ibrahim YASOUF / AFP) (Photo by IBRAHIM YASOUF/AFP via Getty Images)

First barrel bombs, now coronavirus: doctors in Syria's Idlib hit hard by outbreak

Doctors working in already short-staffed hospitals are struggling with a flare-up of new cases in the country's last rebel stronghold.

WASHINGTON - MARCH 09: The seal of the F.B.I. hangs in the Flag Room at the bureau's headquaters March 9, 2007 in Washington, DC. F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller was responding to a report by the Justice Department inspector general that concluded the FBI had committed 22 violations in its collection of information through the use of national security letters. The letters, which the audit numbered at 47,000 in 2005, allow the agency to collect information like telephone, banking and e-mail records without a

US woman allegedly sought to join al-Qaeda in Syria

The woman's conversations were actually with FBI employees posing as members of the designated terrorist organization.

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on January 19, 2020, near the northern Israeli kibbutz of Misgav Am, shows a general view of the Israel-Lebanon border as Israeli army forces begin deployment of infrastructure for a ground "defensive system" along the fence. - Israel's army said it would start drilling to install ground sensors along its border with Lebanon on January 19, a year after a weeks-long operation to destroy tunnels dug across the frontier that it had accused Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah of buildin

Israel upping alert on tensions with Hezbollah

According to the latest reports, Israel has decided to up the level of alert on its borders with Lebanon and Syria; several roads near the borders will be closed for civilian vehicles as of this evening.

Coronavirus compounds Syrian crisis in Idlib

Amid lack of international aid and a fragile health system, officials and activists are concerned about the rapid spread of the coronavirus in northwest Syria.

Iran accuses US fighter aircraft of harassing Iranian airliner over eastern Syria

An Iranian broadcaster says an Iran-to-Beirut commercial passenger flight had US jets make an aggressively close pass to it over Syria near the Iraqi border.

Will Syrian rebels kill each other in Libya's proxy war?

Syrian mercenaries from that country's civil war could now meet opposite each other in the Libyan conflict, only this time as Wagner Group mercenaries.

TOPSHOT - Displaced Syrian women walk at a camp in Kafr Lusin village on the border with Turkey in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, on March 10, 2020. - When protesters in March 2011 demanded their rights and regime change, they likely never imagined it would trigger a reaction that has led to the 21st century's biggest war. Nine years on, President Bashar al-Assad is still in power and there to stay, more than 380,000 people have died, dozens of towns and cities razed to the ground and half of the c

Women journalists in northwest Syria brave daily dangers

Syrian female journalists face challenges and abuse just for being women.

Erdogan: Turkey will stay in Syria until the 'people are free'

The Turkish president's comments follow parliamentary elections in Syria over the weekend that critics described as a farce.

Alleged Israeli airstrikes hit Iranian and Syrian government targets in Syria

The Syrian government and the opposition suspect Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria this year.

Russia’s combat dolphins may have been used in Syria: report

Satellite imagery shows possible marine mammal pens at Russia's naval base in Syria during late 2018.