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May 3, 2026

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Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Home to many of the world's largest wheat importers, the Middle East and North Africa face acute food security risks as the US-Israel-Iran war disrupts global fertilizer flows and pushes up prices.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

A young man stands in the entrance of tunnels that were used by the ISIS and the Assad's regime for fighting. Tadamon, Syria, February 7, 2025. (Photo by Raghed Waked / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by RAGHED WAKED/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Syria arrests Amjad Youssef, Tadamoun massacre perpetrator: What to know

Amjad Youssef appeared on video, allegedly killing dozens of civilians in 2013; he is the latest member of the Assad regime to be captured by the new Syrian government.

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.

Analysis

'Is it worth it?' Syria's Sharaa faces backlash over Missy Elliott performance

Backlash erupts after dancers perform to Missy Elliott’s “Work It,” exposing the tightrope between Sharaa’s outreach to the West and pressure from his Islamist base.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives ahead of a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street in central London on March 31, 2026.

Syria’s Sharaa makes fourth visit to Saudi Arabia, first since Iran war: What to know

The visit comes in light of the deepening economic relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia post-Assad.

Latest News

How Syria's border opening with Iraq redefines Turkey-Kurd balance

Members of Iraq's security forces stand guard on the the al-Rabia border crossing with Syria on April 20, 2026.

EU to restore Syria cooperation pact ahead of May talks: What to know

Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP via Getty Images

Sharaa distances Syria from Iran war, says Israel talks ongoing: What to know

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Turkish Presient Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Antalya Diplomatic Forum in Turkey April 17, 2026.

Analysis

Is Syria’s Sharaa poised to outdo Turkey in formalizing gains for Kurds?

Kurdish people waving Kurdistan flags gather to celebrate Nowruz on the hill of Urkesh in the countryside of Amuda in northeastern Syria on March 18, 2026. Nowruz, meaning "new day," is an ancient festival that marks the start of spring and the new year on the vernal equinox, which usually falls on March 20 or 21. It is celebrated by more than 300 million people worldwide and has been observed for over 3,000 years across regions including the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of Eastern Euro

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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 Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attend a meeting in Moscow, Russia, July 15, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin - RTSI1IW

Kerry: Critics of Obama administration's Syria policy 'completely screwed up'

US secretary of state says the terrorist attack in Nice “could just as well have come from [Jabhat al-] Nusra”; Erdogan refers to coup attempt as a "gift from God" to "cleanse" army.

Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters man a checkpoint near Tel Hamis in northeast Syria March 1, 2015.
Kurdish forces dealt a blow to Islamic State by capturing Tel Hamis, an important town, on Friday in the latest stage of a powerful offensive in northeast Syria, a Kurdish militia spokesman said. The capture of Tel Hamis was announced by the Kurdish YPG militia and confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country's civil war. Picture taken March 1, 2015. REUTERS

Anatomy of a Turkish assassination fable

The scenario of a fictional Tel Hamis Brigades assassinating key Kurdish military leader Bahoz Erdal bombed badly, but revealed that Turkey's intelligence service and special forces are hunting the PKK beyond Turkey's borders.

Women walk past damaged buildings along a street in the rebel-held town of Dael, in Deraa Governorate, Syria July 7, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir - RTX2K6L9

Watchdogs: US aid to Syria at high risk for fraud

US partners could do more to ensure that humanitarian assistance gets to the right people, the GAO told Congress.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) speaks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Alexander Nemenov/Pool - RTSC3SA

Kerry, Putin meet to salvage Syria peace talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin July 14 to see if they could reach an agreement on a US plan to deepen US-Russian coordination on Syria.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin is pictured during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan (not pictured) in Ankara December 1, 2014. Putin said on Monday that Moscow could not carry on with the South Stream project if the European Union was opposed to it. Speaking at a joint news conference with Turkish President Erdogan, Putin said the European Commission was reluctant to give the green light to the South Stream project. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin (TURKEY

Moscow’s turnaround on Turkey

Common national interests such as security and economic issues remain the prime core of improved relations between Moscow and Ankara.

A print screen of the hacked Facebook page of French television network TV5Monde is seen on a camera viewer in Paris April 9, 2015. French broadcaster TV5Monde was working on Thursday to regain control over its 11 channels and websites after an "extremely powerful" cyber attack claimed by the supporters of the Islamic State, its director said. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann - RTR4WLYH

Is the Islamic State planning a cyber-caliphate?

Under pressure on the battlefield, IS has been moving its caliphate to the virtual world and is targeting Turkey in particular.

A general view shows Aleppo's historic citadel, controlled by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, as seen from a rebel-held area of Aleppo, Syria July 5, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail - RTX2JVC1

In battle for Aleppo, Syria may be at stake

The future of the Syrian revolution could be at stake as regime forces and rebels fiercely battle over control of Aleppo for strategic and symbolic purposes.

Pro-Islamist demonstrators hold a banner that reads "Coup leaders can't trial Mursi" during a protest in support former President Mohamed Mursi at the courtyard of Fatih mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, May 17, 2015. An Egyptian court on Saturday sought the death penalty for former president Mohamed Mursi and 106 supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood in connection with a mass jail break in 2011. Mursi and his fellow defendants, including top Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie, were convicted for killing and kidnapp

Why Sisi, Erdogan won't be making up anytime soon

Relations between Egypt and Turkey may remain cold as long as Cairo continues to repress the Muslim Brotherhood.

Syrian refugees stroll at a refugee camp in Osmaniye, Turkey, May 17, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTSF6J7

What's really behind Turkey's controversial plan for refugees?

Many people detect political schemes behind Erdogan’s proposed offer of citizenship to Syrian refugees.

Syrian refugees wait for transportation after crossing into Turkey from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, near Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, June 10, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RTX1FYOZ

Erdogan’s citizenship offer fans flames of anti-Syrian sentiment in Turkey

Turkey's polarized public appears to have found a common cause against a proposed offer of citizenship and preferential treatment for Syrian refugees.

Jabhat al-Nusra 'al-Qaeda's largest formal affiliate in history'

Testimony by US official comes as Amnesty International report documents “abduction, torture and summary killings” committed by Jabhat al-Nusra and allied Syrian armed groups.

Lebanese army soldiers and policemen secure the area at the site where suicide bomb attacks took place in the Christian village of Qaa, in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon June 27, 2016. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah - RTX2IE68

Lebanon reels under weight of Syrian refugee crisis

Lebanon's foreign and labor ministers are extremely worried about the consquences of Lebanon's hosting of Syrian refugees, particularly in light of the June 27 suicide bombings in the Bekaa Valley.