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Syria

October 10, 2026

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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

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)

Culture

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

As Kurdish students protest language restrictions, unexpected alliances are emerging between Syria’s Kurds and Arabs.

Latest News

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

Lebanon seeks Turkey’s help to join Syria-Saudi rail link: What to know

A picture taken on May 1, 2019 shows a railroad of Mar Mikhael neighborhood in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

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

The Netherlands takes first step in holding Syria’s torturers to account

The Dutch Foreign Ministry says it will hold Syria responsible for "gross human rights violations" in a process that could make its way to the UN's International Court of Justice.

International humanitarian aid trucks cross into Syria's northwestern Idlib province through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, on September 7, 2020. (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP) (Photo by AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkish border guards reportedly abusing Syrians at border crossings

Hundreds of Syrians try to cross every day to Turkey, whose borders are now closed, making them take illegal smuggling routes; dozens have been subjected to inhuman treatment by the Turkish border guards.

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump waits to speak at a roundtable rally with Latino supporters at the Arizona Grand Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Arizona on September 14, 2020. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump now admits he wanted to kill Syria's Assad but Mattis stopped him

"I would've rather taken him out. I had him all set," President Donald Trump said of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Pro-government fighters sit in the back of vehicles brandishing their weapons and flashing the sign for victory in the central Syrian town of Al-Sukhnah, situated in the county's large desert area called the Badiya, on August 13, 2017 as they clear the area after taking control of the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters.
Supported by regime ally Russia, Syria's army has waged a months-long offensive to recapture the vast desert region that stretches from the country's centre to the Iraqi and Jordan

How the Islamic State found a haven in Syrian desert

The Syrian regime and Russian forces are facing a growing threat of the Islamic State, which continues to hold pockets across the desert in central Syria.

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on February 21, 2020 shows
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a Keep America Great rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on February 19, 2020.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a ceremony in Jerusalem on January 23, 2020 commemorating the people of Leningrad during the Second World War Nazi siege on the city. - President Donald Trump on february 21, 2020 dismissed reported warnings by US intelligence that Russia is meddling in this year's

How a second Trump term could shift Russia’s stance on Syria

Bahrain, UAE peace deals compel Palestinian rethink on strategy.

United Arab Emirates

An image grab shows on November 20, 2019 a ball of fire during a reported Israeli air strike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus. - The Israeli army confirmed that it carried out strikes against military sites in Damascus today, in response to rocket fire from Syria the previous day. "We just carried out wide-scale strikes of Iranian Quds Force & Syrian Armed Forces targets in Syria in response to the rockets fired at Israel by an Iranian force in Syria," the Israel Defense Forces tweeted. Syria

Israeli warplanes target Aleppo countryside, says Syria

The Syrian state press blamed Israel for a round of airstrikes targeting its military facilities in the eastern Aleppo countryside.

Turkish anti-riot police officers run as Kurds protest against Turkish military operation in Syria, in Istanbul, on October 13, 2019. - Fighting has engulfed the border area in northeastern Syria since Turkey launched an offensive on October 9 to push back the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), displacing 130,000 people so far according to the United Nations, amidst warnings from aid groups of another humanitarian disaster in Syria's eight-year-old war if the offensive is not halted. (Photo by Yasi

For Syria’s opposition activists, Turkey 'best of the bad'

While initially welcoming millions of refugees and supporting opposition activists after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the Turkish government has since shifted positions to further its own interests in a manner that dismays many Syrians living in the country.

Looming despair among Lebanon’s refugees

Large numbers of Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon remain in very vulnerable condition.

Who is behind wave of killings of tribal sheikhs in east Syria?

Syria's eastern province of Deir ez-Zor sees escalating tensions between Arab tribes and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Israeli airstrikes target T4 base, Syrian regime says

Israel continues to strike targets in Syria, Assad's state-run news agency says.

American who joined IS pleads guilty to terrorism charge

Omer Kuzu faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

One of the two top political leaders of the Syrian Kurdish alliance and co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council Ilham Ahmed attends a press conference, in Paris, on December 21, 2018. - Two top political leaders of the Syrian Kurdish alliance battling the Islamic State group visit Paris for talks on the planned US military withdrawal from Syria, an alliance representative said. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP) (Photo credit should read STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: Syrian Kurds court Moscow to avert potential Turkish attack

The Istanbul-based leader of Syria’s opposition interim government has denounced an agreement reached in Moscow over the weekend between the US-backed Syrian Democratic Council and the pro-Russia Popular Will Party.