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Syria

October 6, 2026

Damascus 2:52 pm

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A view of a traffic roundabout in central Latakia, Syria on June 12, 2025. The city's road network converges near the coast, forming one of the busiest urban intersections in the province. (Photo by Omar Albaw / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by OMAR ALBAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE-Syria move ahead on $20 billion real estate mega-developments

Major housing and tourism projects in Damascus and Latakia are set to advance following a new agreement with UAE real estate tycoon Mohamed Alabbar.

Syria denies meeting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah in Turkey: What to know

Both Damascus and Ankara denied reports that Syrian officials met with Hezbollah representatives in Turkey, as relations between the two sides remain fraught with tensions mainly over the Lebanese group’s support for Assad’s forces against rebels during the Syrian civil war.

A picture taken on May 1, 2019 shows a railroad of Mar Mikhael neighborhood in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Lebanon seeks Turkey’s help to join Syria-Saudi rail link: What to know

Beirut is seeking Ankara’s support to link its ports to a railway project aiming to link Turkey to the Gulf, through Syria and Jordan.

A member of Syria's security forces stands guard outside a former army base near the city of Quneitra in southern Syria, on the edge of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Sept. 21, 2025.

Feature

Syria Golan detentions fuel fury at Israeli forces, doubts in new government

Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Syrians and continue to conduct strikes and incursions in Quneitra, fueling resentment among residents who say Damascus has failed to protect them.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

Analysis

How militias in Anbar could complicate Iraq’s energy ambitions

Iraqi soldiers from the new 'desert battalion' special forces stand next to military vehicles as the take part in a graduation ceremony, after months of training by the French military, at the Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar west of Baghdad on February 29, 2024. (Photo by Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Exclusive

How Syrian Air is braving regional turbulence to rise from the ashes

Syria Air

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

Can Netanyahu turn Israel's UN isolation into strength at home?

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

UAE's Gargash expects 'prolonged' war, calls for Iran-Gulf security talks

Gargash

United Arab Emirates

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

AFP via Getty Images

What we know about latest airstrikes in northeast Syria

Syria's Deir ez-Zor has witnessed significant fighting in recent weeks.

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images

ISIS kills 11 truffle hunters in Syria amid signs of resurgence

Syrians hunt the prized mushrooms due to the dismal economic situation in the country, braving attacks by a resurgent Islamic State.

Tripoli

Switzerland charges Rifaat Assad with war crimes in Syria’s Hama massacre

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brother, Rifaat al-Assad, has also been convicted of financial crimes in France.

Members of the Khabour Guards (MNK) Assyrian Syrian militia, affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), walk in the ruins of the Assyrian Church of the Virgin Mary, which was previously destroyed by Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in the village of Tal Nasri south of the town of Tal Tamr in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on Nov. 15, 2019.

Turkish strike kills 3 members of Kurdish-allied Christian force in northeast Syria

Wednesday's drone strikes are in line with Turkey’s ongoing campaign to degrade and destroy the SDF and the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria.

UWAYDA24/AFP via Getty Images

Syria: One killed in Suwayda as protests resume against Assad government

The death marks the first time a protester has been killed since the protests in Suwayda began last year over Syria’s dire economic situation.

People check the damage on a building reportedly hit in an Israeli air strike in the Kafr Sousa district of the Syrian capital Damascus on February 21, 2024. At least two people were killed on February 21 in an Israeli attack on Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syrian state media.

Syria says Israel behind multiple attacks in Damascus, at least 3 killed

The strikes occurred in a district close to housing state security agencies.

JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images

Russia sets up observation points in Syria near Golan Heights

New Russian observation posts have popped up in southwest Syria amid increased tensions between pro-Iranian groups and Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war.

An ambulance leaves from Santa Maria Church as anti-riot police officers block the street after an attack in Istanbul, Turkey, Jan. 28, 2024.

How and why ISIS-K has resurged in Turkey

The latest attack on an Istanbul church signals the militant group’s resurgence in Turkey.

A man walks past a poster of President Bashar al-Assad, a candidate in the presidential election, Damascus, Syria, May 17, 2021.

Congress pushes White House to toughen anti-Assad policy

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation meant to combat the normalization of Syria's long-shunned regime.

Smoke billows from an Israeli airstrike as flares fall on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, near the border with Israel, Jan. 19, 2024.

Suspected Israeli strikes in Syria amid escalation with Hezbollah in Lebanon

A Hezbollah commander in Lebanon was injured in an Israeli strike as foreign diplomats worked to de-escalate tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Salih Muslim, the diplomatic relations official for the Kurdish Movement for a Democratic Society, and the former co-chairman of the main Kurdish leftist Democratic Union Party (PYD), speaks during an interview in his office on August 2, 2018.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish leader Salih Muslim warns of 'forceful response' to Iran-linked attacks

Muslim's spoke to Al-Monitor two days after an attack on an SDF training camp in Deir Ezzor by Iran-backed militias left six dead.

Salih Muslim

Salih Muslim

PYD co-chairman

A Royal Air Force Typhoon FRG4s is being prepared to conduct further strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen at RAF Akrotiri on Feb. 3, 2024.

Pentagon vows more strikes against Iran-backed groups, rejects open-ended campaign

The Pentagon says it isn't planning for an open-ended campaign of retaliation against Iran-backed groups, even as Israel vows to expand its war in Gaza on to the Rafah area.