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Syria

October 22, 2026

Damascus 7:13 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

Lebanese soldiers gesture while riding on an armoured vehicle as they leave the mountainous border town of Ras Baalbek January 24, 2015. The Lebanese army said on Saturday three more soldiers were killed in fighting on Friday between troops and militants who attacked an army post near the border with Syria. The army said on Friday it lost five soldiers in an attack near the village of Ras Baalbek in an area that has seen regular incursions by Islamist militants fighting in Syria. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah (LE

Lebanese army faces war of attrition

The Lebanese army waits for the authorities to take decisive action and cooperate with Hezbollah and the Syrian regime to fight radical groups in Lebanon.

Children warm themselves next to an open fire beside fuel barrels, engine oil and accessories displayed for sale in Aleppo January 13, 2015. Residents of Kafr Hamra, a town in the rural Aleppo countryside, refine crude oil in makeshift cottage refineries in warehouses and backyards for heating, operating bakeries and even running cars, just like most locals across rebel-held areas of Syria. The state no longer pumps gasoline to areas in rebel hands, and civilians have resorted to buying crude oil from armed

Aleppo residents tested by snowstorm, war

The snowstorm that blanketed the Middle East added to the misery of Aleppo’s residents and refugees, as children died from a lack of power, water and heating.

Could Israel’s strike on Hezbollah in Syria spark Iran nuclear talks?

The latest Israel-Hezbollah confrontation might be a catalyst for a nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran; Iran can ease Saudi Arabia’s security predicament; Netanyahu sees electoral gain in snubbing Obama.

A Lebanese army soldier holds his weapon after being deployed to tighten security, following clashes between Lebanese soldiers and Islamist gunmen in Tripoli, northern Lebanon October 27, 2014. Guns fell silent in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Monday after two days of deadly battles between the army and Islamist gunmen, some of the worst fighting to spill over into Lebanon from Syria's civil war next door. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR4BR7A

Islamic State lists conditions to free Lebanese soldiers

An anonymous Lebanese government source informed Al-Monitor that negotiations between Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra militants and the Lebanese government are reaping results, though with conditions.

A picture shows an Israeli army UAV landing in an airfield, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, on January 20, 2015, two days after an Israeli air strike killed six Hezbollah members in the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights. The strike on Syria killed an Iranian general, Tehran confirmed on January 19, as thousands of supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah gathered to bury one of the six fighters killed in the same raid. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Image

Why Israel's Hezbollah strike didn't bother Turkey's Islamists

The latest Israeli attack on Hezbollah reveals Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s anti-Assad stance is stronger than his anti-Israel rhetoric.

The Alawite neighbourhood of Jabal Mohsen is seen through a bullet hole in the window of an apartment in the Sunni Mankoubin district in Lebanon's northern port of Tripoli on August 25, 2012, following clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian factions in the city, stoking fears of a spillover of bloodshed. AFP PHOTO / ANWAR AMRO (Photo credit should read ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images)

Poor Tripoli district becomes hotbed for extremists

Mankoubin is one of the impoverished neighborhoods of Tripoli, producing youths who have joined such extremist groups as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State and have carried out attacks in Syria and Iraq, as well as in Lebanon.

Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) members organise a funeral for members who died during recent clashes with forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in al-Hasakah, activists said May 23, 2014. Picture taken May 23, 2014. REUTERS/Rodi Said (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3QNP1

After Kobani, where is Islamic State's next target?

The besieged strategic Kurdish town of Hasakah, swollen by an influx of refugees and barrel-bombed by Syrian regime forces, is coming under fire from the Islamic State.

Syrians stand in a queue to get a visa stamp entering Lebanon town during their arrival at the Lebanese Masna'a border point in eastern Bekaa of Lebanon January 22, 2013.
REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3CSRV

Lebanese visa regulations cause more distress for Syrians

The announcement of new regulations requiring Syrians to obtain visas to enter Lebanon has caused consternation and confusion among Syrians as well as in the Lebanese government.

Lebanon's Hezbollah members carry the coffin of Jihad Moughniyah during his funeral in Beirut's suburbs January 19, 2015. The son of Hezbollah's late military leader Imad Moughniyah was killed in an Israeli helicopter strike in Syria on Sunday, a statement from the group said. The man (bottom C, wearing glasses) is the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc Mohamed Raad. REUTERS/Aziz Taher (LEBANON - Tags: OBITUARY MILITARY POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4M0GK

IRGC vows revenge after Israeli attack

Iranian military commanders say that the Israeli strike against a Hezbollah convoy in Syria will not deter them.

Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who is investigating the 1994 car-bomb attack on the AMIA Jewish community center, pauses during a meeting with journalists at his office in Buenos Aires May 29, 2013. Nisman accused Iran on Wednesday of creating networks to carry out terrorist attacks in Latin America since the 1980's, and he said he will send his findings to courts in those countries so they can take action. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci (ARGENTINA - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTX105FT

Should Israel protect Jewish Diaspora or its own citizens?

Israel must concentrate on protecting its own citizens, in spite of the risks for the Jews of the world, focusing on military targets and not potential reprisals against Jewish targets outside its borders.

An Israeli soldier looks through binoculars towards the border with Lebanon from above the Israeli town of Metula January 20, 2015. Hezbollah supporters turned out in force on Monday to bury the son of the group's late commander, one of six fighters who died in an Israeli air strike in neighbouring Syria that also killed an Iranian general. Israel has not officially commented on the hit, but an Israeli security source confirmed to Reuters that Israel had carried it out. An Israeli defence official said esca

Hezbollah's three options on Israel

The Lebanese Shiite group has only a few options for responding to the Israeli strike against it in Syria and wants to be careful not to cause an expansion of the conflict onto Lebanese territory.

An Israeli soldier from the Golani brigade takes part in training near the city of Katzrin in the Golan Heights January 19, 2015. An Israeli helicopter strike in Syria killed a commander from Lebanon's Hezbollah and the son of the group's late military leader Imad Moughniyah, Hezbollah said, in a major blow that could lead to reprisal attacks.The strike hit a convoy carrying Jihad Moughniyah and commander Mohamad Issa, known as Abu Issa, in the province of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights,

Israel anticipates Hezbollah's reaction

Israeli security experts estimate that although Hezbollah is not interested in raising tensions with Israel, it will respond to the Jan. 18 attack on its convoy, either in the Golan Heights or against Israeli targets abroad.