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

Palmyra

Syria

October 24, 2026

Damascus 10:09 pm

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

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) shakes hands with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu after their news conference at Ankara Palas in Ankara March 1, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3EG52

Davutoglu Invokes Ottomanism As a New Order for Mideast

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's suggestion of an Ottoman model for a new Middle East order is likely a misreading of regional politics that could prove hard for Turkey to back away from, writes Tulin Daloglu.

Israelis use binoculars to see the fighting in the Syrian village of al-Jamlah, from the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria March 7, 2013. Israel voiced confidence on Thursday that the United Nations could secure the release of U.N. peacekeepers seized by Syrian rebels near the Golan Heights, signalling it would not intervene in the crisis. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized internati

Israel: Re-thinking Syria's Opposition

Shlomi Eldar writes that a film clip showing Syrian rebels shooting into the air along the Golan border offers an ominous signal to the world, and especially to Israel.

Iraqi police stand guard during foot patrol at Rabia, near the main border between Iraq and Syria March 2, 2013. Clashes between the Syrian army and rebels at a border post brought the civil war close to neighbouring Iraq, where troops fired warning shots into the air, residents, officials and a Reuters reporter said. Insurgents seized control of half of the northeastern Syrian town of Yaarabiya, including a border post with Iraq, in a battle with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on Friday and earl

The Iraqi and Turkish Fault Lines

The Syria war spreads to Iraq; Turkey is increasingly divided over Prime Minister Erdogan’s Syrian policies; and Secretary of State John Kerry’s trip to the region includes progress toward a political solution in Syria.

A soldier loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad walks towards an army tank in the Khan al-Assal area, near Aleppo city March 6, 2013. REUTERS/George Ourfalian (SYRIA - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3ENMO

Rival Kurdish Parties Clash in Syria

Fighting between rival Kurdish groups in Syria adds further uncertainty to the war in Syria, writes Wladimir van Wilgenburg.

Fighters from Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra watch snipers on the front line during a fight with Syria forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad in Aleppo December 24, 2012. Syria special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi discussed solving the country's conflict with President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, but the opposition expressed deepening frustration with the mission following what it called the latest massacre of civilians. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3BVVS

Jabhat al-Nusra and Hezbollah In First Confrontation

For the first time in the 23-month-old Syrian civil war, Jabhat al-Nusra and Hezbollah have been involved in direct confrontations, writes Jean Aziz.

Louis Sako, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon and the Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, attends a mass ceremony to enthrone him in Baghdad, March 6, 2013. REUTERS/Saad Shalash (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION) - RTR3EN22

Fear of Islamic Extremism Brings Eastern Churches Closer

There are growing links between the various churches of Eastern Christianity, driven by what they see as the threats to Christianity in the Middle East as a result of the Arab Spring, writes Nasser Chararah.

Syrian-Kurdish women and members of the Popular Protection Units (YPG), an armed opposition group fighting against the Syrian government, stand guard during the funeral of a comrade, Basil Zeydan, in the northern Syrian border village of al Qamishli on December 1, 2012. The Syrian army shelled the outskirts of Damascus in a drive to establish a secure perimeter around the capital, including the key airport road that has come under sustained rebel attack. AFP PHOTO/GIULIO PETROCCO (Photo credit should

Syrian Kurdish Militia Takes Over Oil Fields

Syrian Kurdish groups have seized control of several key oil fields, provoking concerns among the Syrian opposition and Turkey about the coming division of Syria, writes Wladimir van Wilgenburg.

Smoke rises after what the photographer said were missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet loyal to President Bashar al-Assad at the Syrian town of Yaarabiya, near the main border between Syria and Iraq March 2, 2013. Clashes between the Syrian army and rebels at a border post brought the civil war close to neighbouring Iraq, where troops fired warning shots into the air, residents, officials and a Reuters reporter said. Insurgents seized control of half of the northeastern Syrian town of Yaarabiya,

Iraq's Border Becomes New Fault Line in Syrian War

An ambush on the Iraq-Syria border that killed 62 Syrian soldiers and nine Iraqi guards has brought the Syrian civil war to Iraq, writes Mushreq Abbas.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a news conference with Prince Saud al-Faisal (not pictured) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh March 4, 2013. REUTERS/Jacquelyn Martin/Pool (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3EK39

John Kerry's Syria File

Secretary of State John Kerry, a veteran and critic of the Vietnam war, is now himself a decision maker regarding U.S. policy toward the civil war in Syria, writes Geoffrey Aronson.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (2nd L) holds his first meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General John M. Paxton, Jr. (L), U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey (4th R), General of the Army Ray Odierno (3rd R), U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jon Greenert (2nd R) and U.S. Army General Frank Grass (R) in a briefing room called "The Tank" at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, March 1, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) -

Hagel, Syria, the P5+1 and Iran

The Senate confirmed Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense as the United States announced $60 million in non-lethal aid to the Syrian Opposition Council; Israel, Iraq and Lebanon continue to be concerned about the regionalization of the war in Syria; and Iran puts Syria in play after the P5+1 meetings.

Labourers reinforce the fence near Israel's border with Syria in the Golan Heights February 14, 2013. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the territory in 1981, a move not recognised internationally. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (POLITICS) - RTR3DSEM

Israel Anticipates 'Somalization' Of Syria

Israel’s quietest border in decades may become rife with terrorism were the Assad regime to fall, argues Ben Caspit.

Shi'ite, Sunni Muslim and Druze Lebanese clerics listen to Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressing his supporters during a rally to commemorate Martyrs' Day in Beirut, February 16, 2013. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3DVC0

Beirut on Edge After Nasrallah Speech

The speech by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Feb. 26 holds many similarities to his speech on May 6, 2008, writes Jean Aziz.