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Syria

October 23, 2026

Damascus 7:33 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

Film tracks Syrian refugees' creative journey to asylum

A group of Palestinian Syrian refugees performed a mock wedding ceremony to bypass security checks as they crossed Europe from the Mediterranean to reach asylum in Sweden.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan during an unannounced visit to Bagram Air Base in Kabul, May 25, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR3QSY3o

Obama ramps up on Syria

The US president is giving new priority to the threat from terrorists in Syria, while calling for increased military support for opposition forces.

A Syrian national living in Beirut holds a picture of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and his father, late President Hafez al-Assad, as Syrians gather to make their way to the Syrian Embassy in Beirut to cast their votes ahead of the June 3 presidential election, in Yarze, east of Beirut May 28, 2014. Expatriates and those who have fled the war were casting their ballots at dozens of Syrian embassies abroad ahead of next week's vote inside the country that opponents have dismissed as a farce as the fighti

Syrian voters shake up Lebanese politics

The throngs of Syrian voters in Beirut shocked the Lebanese political establishment.

A man takes a photo of his friend in front of a poster of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad at Umayyad Square in Damascus May 16, 2014. Syria is holding a presidential election for June 3, preparing the ground for Assad to defy widespread opposition and extend his grip on power, days after he said the civil war was turning in his favour. Opponents have dismissed the vote as a farce. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3PGCV

Syrian government focuses on high election turnout

As the presidential elections approach, the Syrian regime is seeking validation in a high voter turnout.

A member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant carries his weapon as he looks through a hole in a wall in Sheikh Saeed neighbourhood December 4, 2013. REUTERS/Molhem Barakat (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTX163J6

Hamas denies ISIS presence after Gaza jihadist killed in Syria

A Palestinian jihadist militant fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) was killed last week in Syria, reflecting the rise of Salafist militants in Gaza, but Hamas remains adamant that the radical group does not exist in the Gaza Strip.

Iraqi Kurdish supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) hold flags bearing portraits of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan during a demonstration in Arbil on April 12, 2014 against the decision by Kurdish authorities to dig a trench along the border with neighboring Syria. The Kurdish autonomous region has backed Kurds in Syria against the extremists and has taken in some 200,000 refugees from the bloody conflict. AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Rival Kurdish parties battle for power in Syria

A series of tit-for-tat incidents has worsened relations between the Kurdistan Workers Party of Abdullah Ocalan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani.

Damage and debris is seen in the souks of Old Aleppo, November 23, 2013. The Syrian army loyal to President Bashar al-Assad took control of the souk surrounding the Umayyad Mosque that was previously dominated by Free Syrian Army fighters, they said. Some of the areas recaptured are the gold market, Souk Khairat Beck, Alzerb market and the Wali bil Maarouf shrine. REUTERS/George Ourfalian (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX15Q1O

War profiteers plunder Syria

Both Syrian government forces and rebels are accused of rampant, systematic looting and robbery of civilian homes.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin votes in the United Nations Security Council against referring the Syrian crisis to the International Criminal Court for investigation of possible war crimes at the U.N. headquarters in New York May 22, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3QE4L

Russia rejects UN resolution as pretext to Syria 'intervention'

Russia is standing by Syria, including its elections, and warning the United States and other members of the UN Security Council against the perils of "external intervention."

Rebels fight to prevent regime siege in Aleppo

After successful sieges and truces in Damascus and Homs, all eyes turn to Aleppo, where rebels are trying to prevent the Syrian regime from imposing a similar siege.

A man takes a photo of his friend in front of a poster of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad at Umayyad Square in Damascus May 16, 2014. Syria is holding a presidential election for June 3, preparing the ground for Assad to defy widespread opposition and extend his grip on power, days after he said the civil war was turning in his favour. Opponents have dismissed the vote as a farce. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3PGCV

Misreading Syria

The United States misjudged the ability of the Syrian army to evolve and adapt, with assistance from Hezbollah and Iran, leading to faulty predictions that Bashar al-Assad’s days were numbered.

A security checkpoint guarded by Syrian Kurd Asaish officers (R) is seen at Derik in Al-Hasakah October 31, 2012. Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani warned Kurds in Syria against being sucked into the "fires of discord," urging them to preserve Kurdish unity as tensions between rival factions threaten to spillover into violence. Syria's Kurds see the war ravaging their country as an unprecedented opportunity to gain the kind of freedoms enjoyed by their ethnic kin in neighbouring Iraq, where they live a

Syrian Kurdish mother killed at Turkish border

The killing of Saadet Dervis of Rojava by Turkish soldiers in front of her children while trying to cross the border into Syria has led to new scrutiny of Turkey’s Syria policy.

Israeli soldiers stand on a field overlooking Syria in the Golan Heights March 19, 2014. Israel launched air strikes on Wednesday against Syrian military sites in response to a roadside bombing that wounded four of its soldiers, but both sides signalled they were not seeking further escalation. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR3HQDT

Israel adjusts to Syrian insurgents on Golan border

Israel is assessing the consequences and contingencies for dealing with Syrian insurgents on its northern border and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's holding on to power.