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Syria

October 22, 2026

Damascus 6:20 pm

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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 woman reporter runs with a rebel fighter to avoid snipers at the frontline against the Islamic State fighters in Aleppo's northern countryside October 10, 2014. REUTERS/Jalal Al-Mamo (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR49POS

Syrian Kurdish journalists confront danger to report on war

Kurdish journalists talked to Al-Monitor about their experiences on the battlefield in Syria's northeastern provinces.

Syrian ethnic Kurds demonstrate after Friday prayers in the Syrian town of Qamishli May 6, 2011. The banner reads "We call for a new constitution in which all sects and nationalities in the country can participate". REUTERS/Handout (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - RTR2M2TY

Will 'Kurdish Spring' redraw Middle East map?

A critic looks at “Kurdish Spring: A New Map for the Middle East,” a new book by David Phillips that could become a main reference on the Kurdish struggle.

Turkish army special force members stand guard during the EFES-2010 military exercise in Izmir May 25, 2010. REUTERS/ Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY) - RTR2ECRB

Are Turkish troops guardians or accidental hostages at Syrian tomb?

Delayed rotation of Turkish troops guarding the Tomb of Suleiman Shah in Syria is causing frustration.

Jordan's King Abdullah (C) meets with members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Senators Robert Menedez (D-NJ) (L) and Bob Corker (R-TN) (R) in Washington February 3, 2015. Jordanian King Abdullah cut short a visit to the United States on Tuesday after Islamic State militants released a video purporting to show a captive Jordanian pilot being burnt alive. REUTERS/Gary Cameron (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4O3XM

Jordan's king tells Congress 'gloves are off' in fight against IS

Key lawmakers endorse $1 billion aid package after airman slain.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters ride their vehicles along a road on Mount Sinjar December 22, 2014. On Sunday, Kurdish and Yazidi fighters battled to take the Sinjar back from Islamic State after breaking a months-long siege of the mountain above it. Seizing the town would restore the majority of territory Iraq's Kurds lost in Islamic State's surprise offensive in August. Picture taken December 22, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4J2WC

Kurdish rivalry delays victory in Sinjar

Kurdish forces celebrated a joint victory at Kobani, but they have become rivals in the fight against the Islamic State in the Mount Sinjar area.

Lebanese army troops drive an armoured personnel carrier (APC) in the village of Ras Baalbak in the eastern Bekaa Valley near the border with Syria during clashes between Islamist fighters and Lebanese troops on Jananuary 23, 2015, leaving casualties on both sides. Gunmen launched a large-scale attack on an army outpost close to Ras Baalbek, near Lebanon's eastern frontier with Syria, an area that has seen regular incursions from militants fighting in Syria's war. AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should

Latest attack in Lebanon sends message on IS endgame

Clues about the militants’ ultimate designs for the country can be found in the most recent attack by insurgents on the Lebanese border.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jafari holds a press conference in Tehran on September 16, 2012. Jafari said members of his elite special operations unit, the Quds Force, are present in Syria and Lebanon but only to provide "counsel." AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/GettyImages)

Hezbollah strike was 'minimum response,' warns Iran commander

The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also stated that Israel should 'await a stronger response.'

Israeli soldiers are seen next to a sign post pointing to the village of Ghajar near Israel's border with Lebanon January 28, 2015. A Hezbollah missile strike wounded four Israeli soldiers on Wednesday, the biggest attack on Israeli forces by the Lebanese guerrilla group since a 34-day war in 2006. Israeli artillery fired at least 22 shells into open farmland in southern Lebanon after the strike, a Lebanese security source said, and thick smoke rose over the area. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY

Disputed Alawite village caught between Israel, Hezbollah

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Bilal Khatib of the Ghajar municipal council explains the unique situation of the village; located on the Israel-Lebanon-Syria border and residents' fear of being targeted.

Smoke from Israeli shelling covers the Lebanese town of Al-Majidiyah (L) on the Lebanese border with Israel as the town of Al-Ghajar is seen on the right on January 28, 2015. Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack against a military convoy in an Israeli-occupied border area. AFP PHOTO / ALI DIA (Photo credit should read ALI DIA/AFP/Getty Images)

Hezbollah's tactical shift against Israel

Hezbollah is opening another front against Israel in the Golan Heights, where it can blame other organizations for possible escalations.

Red Crescent members and residents remove a dead body from a damaged site after what activists said were air strikes by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Douma eastern Al-Ghouta, near Damascus January 25, 2015. Islamist fighters struck the Syrian capital with at least 38 rockets on Sunday, killing seven people, a monitoring group said, in one of heaviest attacks on Damascus in over a year. State media confirmed the attack and said at least four people were killed. It said the army was ret

Rockets fall on Damascus

Jaish al-Islam began a wide-scale rocket attack on Damascus in response to the Syrian regime’s shelling of eastern Ghouta, which allegedly killed civilians.

U.N. peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in Kfar Kila village in south Lebanon, near the border with Israel, January 28, 2015. Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish peacekeeper were killed on Wednesday in an exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel that has raised the threat of a full-blown conflict between the militant Islamist group and Israel. REUTERS/Aziz Taher (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR4NCBP

Israel shows restraint in Hezbollah retaliation

Hezbollah’s attack on an Israeli patrol in Lebanon’s occupied Shebaa Farms was expected to break into an all-out war on Lebanon, but sources told Al-Monitor that Israel was asked not to engage in such a war.

People gather to celebrate in the Kurdish-dominated city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, after Kurdish forces said they took full control of the Syrian town of Kobani, January 27, 2015. Kurdish forces battled Islamic State fighters outside Kobani on Tuesday, a monitoring group said, a day after Kurds said they took full control of the northern Syrian town following a four-month battle. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4N6SW

Kurdish victory in Kobani defeat for Turkish policy

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressly ruled out the northern Iraq model for Syria's Kurds.