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

Palmyra

Syria

October 24, 2026

Damascus 10:50 am

24°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

Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa attends the IISS Regional Security Summit - The Manama Dialogue, in Manama, December 7, 2013. The United States has a proven and enduring commitment to Middle East security, backed by diplomatic engagement and a fierce array of warplanes, ships, tanks, artillery and 35,000 troops, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Gulf Arab leaders on Saturday. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed (BAHRAIN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTX167RU

Bahrain's foreign minister asks Iran to end regional interference

Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Bahrain's foreign minister, says Iran must take "concrete steps" to show that it is turning a page in its relations with Bahrain and the Gulf.

People sit in the back of a truck as they celebrate what they said was the liberation of villages from Islamist rebels near the city of Ras al-Ain in the province of Hasakah, after capturing it from Islamist rebels November 6, 2013. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said Kurdish militias had seized the city of Ras al-Ain and all its surrounding villages. Syrian Kurdish fighters have captured more territory from Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria

Syrian Kurds discuss differences over Geneva II

At the core of Syrian Kurd differences is tension between Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani and Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Jordanian soldiers look on as a rainbow is seen the background, before the arrival of Syrian refugees who are fleeing the violence in their country, near the town of Ruwaished, 240 km (149 miles) east of Amman December 5, 2013. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST) - RTX165HC

Jordan's Daraa problem

The battle against Salafists in Daraa, Syria, is becoming a shared interest between Damascus and Amman.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif after a ceremony at the United Nations in Geneva November 24, 2013. Iran and six world powers reached a breakthrough agreement early on Sunday to curb Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for limited sanctions relief, in a first step towards resolving a dangerous decade-old standoff. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse (SWITZERLAND - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY) - RTX15QLU

Iran and the nuclear agreement: Trust but verify

Three senior former diplomats from the United States and Iran write that the interim agreement with Iran can lead to progress not only on the nuclear file but also in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

People clean the streets as the Lebanese army deploys on the streets of the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon December 4, 2013. The Lebanese government has told the army to take over security in the restive coastal city of Tripoli for six months, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday. Ten people were killed in weekend clashes between Tripoli's Alawite minority, which supports Syria's Alawite President Bashar al-Assad, and majority Sunni Muslims who back h

Regional violence threatens Lebanon's fragile stability

As suicide attacks and explosions increase in Beirut, Lebanon is being inexorably drawn deeper into the Syrian conflict.

Weapons are seen in the sand near Adra, east of Damascus, in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA August 7, 2013. Sixty-two rebel fighters were killed in a Syrian army ambush at dawn on Wednesday near the town of Adra, east of Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. The state news agency SANA did not give a death toll for the ambush but said the rebels were from the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front. It

Turkey recasts approach to armed groups in Syria

Intelligence reports of al-Qaeda threats against Turkey are causing concern.

Lebanon's Hezbollah members and relatives carry the coffin of commander Hassan al-Laqqis during his funeral in Baalbeck, in Lebanon's Bekaa valley December 4, 2013. Al-Laqqis, a Hezbollah commander who fought in Syria's civil war was shot dead outside his home in Lebanon on Wednesday in an attack which the militant Shi'ite group blamed on Israel. Israel denied any role in the killing of Hassan al-Laqqis, who was shot from close range by a silenced gun as he arrived home at around midnight in the Hadath dist

Laqis assassination reveals crack in Hezbollah’s ‘security fortress’

The Dec. 4 assassination of a leading Hezbollah figure in Beirut occurred when the organization was in a state of heightened vigilance.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan delivers his speech during an international conference on the Arab awakening and peace in the Middle East in Istanbul September 7, 2012. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTR37O1J

Turkish-Arab Cooperation Forum remains in limbo

Although not officially canceled, the fifth Turkish-Arab Cooperation Forum may not be held this year.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY ANTONIO PAMPLIEGA
Syrian Turkmen rebels run across a street controlled by regime forces to dodge sniper fire in the Hanano district of the northern city of Aleppo on January 28, 2013. Members of Syria's Turkmen minority have joined forces with rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime in a struggle they say is for democracy and revenge for years of oppression. AFP PHOTO/JM LOPEZ (Photo credit should read JM LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Al-Qaeda in Syria targets Turkmen minority

Syrian Turkmen feel Turkey has abandoned them.

An elderly Syrian Alawite man sleeps in a tent at the courtyard of Pirsultan Abdal Cemevi in Istanbul October 11, 2013. As Syria's conflict takes on an increasingly sectarian dimension, a growing number of those fleeing to Turkey are shunning the refugee camps on its southern border and venturing instead to its major cities, as far from the war as possible. Picture taken October 11, 2013. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: SOCIETY IMMIGRATION POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX14L6V

Syrian refugees in Istanbul sent from pillar to post

Over 200,000 Syrian refugees, most of them without legal papers, struggle to find shelter and work in Istanbul as winter sets in.

Blood stains are seen on the ground after a suicide bombing at the Kurdish Internal Security Forces Center (Asayish) at the Suez Canal neighbourhood in Qamishli November 23, 2013. The al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have claimed responsibility for the bombing which killed three people, including two members of the Asayish police force, and nine others wounded, activists said. Picture taken November 23, 2013. REUTERS/Massoud Mohammed (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX15

ISIS exploits weak Iraqi, Syrian states

Historically targeting non-central parts of the countries in which it operates, al-Qaeda, in the form of ISIS, is taking advantage of prevailing instability in Syria and Iraq to deepen its roots.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara November 26, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX15TO8

Iran nuclear accord requires secular 'reset' of Turkey's foreign policy

In the aftermath of Iran's nuclear accord, Turkey can only play an effective regional role if it adopts a secular foreign policy.