Syria - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Palmyra

Syria

October 22, 2026

Damascus 2:04 am

21°C

Trucks loaded with goods wait to cross over to Syria

Analysis

How Hormuz crisis is reshaping economic ties between Iraq and Syria

Iraq and Syria are expanding trade and energy cooperation, but security risks, economic challenges and longstanding mistrust raise questions about whether their growing partnership can endure.

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Israeli troops stand guard on the dividing line between the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and Syrian, near Majdal Shams, July 16, 2025.

Analysis

'The problem and the solution': Netanyahu-Sharaa call exposes Israel's Syria dilemma

The Israeli leader revealed that he spoke with the Syrian president last year, but stalled talks and Israel's fortification of a security zone on Syrian land underscore his mistrust of Sharaa.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

An attendee walks past signage displayed inside the venue for the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) in Bangkok on October 14, 2026. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP via Getty Images)

Syria to rejoin Arab group at IMF, leaving Russian-led constituency

Syria will rejoin the Arab constituency at the International Monetary Fund beginning Nov. 1 and has applied for membership in the EBRD.

Latest News

Explainer

Syria arrests Mihrac Ural, ex-Assad militia head also wanted by Turkey

Mihrac Ural, who was also known as Ali Kayali, was arrested

In first, Israel’s Netanyahu says he held call with Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa

Analysis

Why Syria and Iraq are taking different approaches to armed groups

Demonstrators ride through a street while waving Syrian flags

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Culture

Syria reopens Aleppo's 1,300-year-old Great Umayyad Mosque after 13 years

A view of the Great Umayyad Mosque during the reopening ceremony, Oct. 8, 2026.

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

A black flag belonging to Islamic State is seen near the Syrian town of Kobani as a Turkish army vehicle takes up position on the Turkish-Syrian border near the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 7, 2014. Islamic State fighters advanced into the south west of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani overnight, a monitoring group said on Tuesday, taking several buildings to gain attacking positions from two sides of the city. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CONFLICT

Is the Islamic State really a terrorist group? Turkey's lawyers don't think so

Turkish security services have only recently began to consider the Islamic State (IS) as a security threat, but the legal system in Turkey still does not recognize IS as a terrorist organization.

The stakes in Vienna

Fragile and promising trends in regional security and US-Iran cooperation are already underway as a result of the nuclear negotiations.

Civil defence members and civilians search for survivors under the rubble of a site hit by what activists said were barrel bombs dropped by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo, Syria June 21, 2015. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail - RTX1HGJ7

Aleppo once again in the eye of the storm

It is total chaos in Aleppo where the regime and the opposition are fighting to reign supreme.

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter takes up position with his weapon as he keeps watch, on the outskirts of Mosul January 26, 2015. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are digging trenches and building defense berms in Wadi al-Ghorab (Valley Of The Crows), less than 2 km away from the IS-held Sultan Abdullah village, which demarcates the new border of their autonomous region. The Kurds have enjoyed de facto self rule since the first Gulf War in 1991. They are now closer than ever to achieving their dream of full independen

Who has 'boots on the ground' in fight against IS?

A mismatch in priorities between the United States and its Sunni allies is obliging the Obama administration to rely more on Iran-backed forces to fight the group that calls itself the Islamic State.

Members of the Druze community stand behind Syrian (R) and Druze flags during a protest in the Druze village of Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights, June 15, 2015. Several hundred members of the Druze community on Monday called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to protect their Syrian kin following last week's killing of 20 Druze villagers by the Nusra Front, Syria's al Qaeda branch, during fighting in the ongoing Syrian civil war. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and

Israel should support Syrian 'Druzistan'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Cabinet secretary Zvi Hauser argues that if and when the Assad regime falls in Syria, Israel should support self-rule by the local Druze population.

Turkish soldiers stand guard near the Mursitpinar border gate in Suruc, bordering with the northern Kurdish town of Kobani, in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, June 26, 2015. Islamic State fighters killed at least 145 civilians in an attack on the Syrian town of Kobani and a nearby village, in what a monitoring group described on Friday as the second worst massacre carried out by the hardline group in Syria. Fighting between the Kurdish YPG militia and Islamic State fighters who infiltrated the town at the Turki

Erdogan talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk

Turkey appears to have changed its mind on Syria, and Ankara is preparing to work closer with Washington against IS, which suggests it may be moving away from prioritizing the demise of the Assad regime.

Turkish military wary of Erdogan plan for Syrian buffer zone

The United States remains opposed to a no-fly zone in northern Syria; Masrour Barzani calls for "amicable divorce" for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq; Jacky Hugi writes that Israel should back the Syrian government "at any price."

Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam) rebel fighters walk inside a trench at the Tal-Kurdi frontline in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, May 10, 2015. Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam) fighters said that this was an operation to take control of the highway connecting Damascus to Homs, and that they have made advances in Tal-Kurdi. REUTERS/Amer Almohibany - RTX1CD08

IS fights for its window to the Mediterranean

As the Islamic State is gaining ground in Homs, which is close to the Lebanese border, the Lebanese army is preparing to counter any attempt to turn north Lebanon into an emirate affiliated with the terrorist organization.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) leaves after a wreath-laying ceremony with members of the Supreme Military Council at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in Ankara November 30, 2012. Erdogan will chair the twice-yearly meeting of the Supreme Military Council at army headquarters. REUTERS/Stringer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR3B1R8

Erdogan looks for military victory to avenge electoral defeat

Some observers believe that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is attempting to force Turkey into a confrontation with Syria before a coalition government is formed.

An Israeli soldier rides a tank on the Israeli side of the border fence between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, near Majdal Shams, June 16, 2015. Israel's president expressed his concern to the United States last week about the fate of the Druze minority in Syria, saying around 500,000 of them were under threat from Islamist militants in an area near the Israeli border. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX1GRYM

Israel should back Assad

Based on past experience and years of calm borders with Syria, Israel must abandon whatever ties it develops with Syrian rebels and work with its Western allies to stabilize President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Masrour Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council, speaks during a press conference on October 12, 2013. Tight security measures imposed after a rare deadly attack in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region have curbed tourism ahead of the year's biggest Muslim holiday, industry officials and business owners say. AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Masrour Barzani: Kurdish independence would help defeat IS

Masrour Barzani, chief of the Iraqi Kurdish intelligence services, talks to Al-Monitor about delays in international support against the Islamic State.

Jordanian soldiers participate with special operations forces from Pakistan, Jordan, France and the U.S. in a boarding drill during Exercise Eager Lion in the coastal city of Aqaba May 18, 2015. Around 10,000 participants from 18 countries will take part in Eager Lion. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed - RTX1DIDC

IS threat could push Jordan beyond its borders

Despite the imminent terrorist threat, some Jordanians reject the necessity to intervene in Syrian and Iraqi territory.