Islamic State

Raqqa

Feature

Nightlife rocks Raqqa as Syria’s Islamist leaders navigate power

A reopened nightclub in Raqqa spotlights the uneasy balance Syria’s new Islamist-led government is striking between ideology and public life.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Women are seen walking at the Roj Camp in northeast Syria, on April 8, 2025.

Exclusive

Syria's Kurds say Trump aid cuts are feeding radicalism in ISIS camps

In an interview at Syria’s Roj camp, the head of intelligence for the Women’s Protection Units warns that US funding cuts are fueling a resurgence of ISIS ideology among detained women and children, deepening an already volatile security crisis.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 28: U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in a joint statement in the East Room of the White House on January 28, 2020 in Washington, DC. The news conference was held to announce the Trump administration's plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)

Netanyahu set to meet Trump amid differences over Iran, tariffs and Turkey: What to know

In a surprise move, the US president invited the Israeli prime minister to Washington at short notice to discuss his recent tariff decision, the Iranian file and other issues.

Gen. Michael Langley, commander of US Africa Command, testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Top US general calls out Houthi-Shabaab ties across Yemen-Somalia strait

The Pentagon has opened the aperture on al-Shabaab in recent months, allowing AFRICOM to ramp up strikes on the al-Qaeda offshoot in the Horn of Africa.

Jared Szuba

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Latest News

Analysis

Are Lebanon, Syria ripe for peace with Israel or on cusp of more escalation?

An Israeli soldier checks a Merkava battle tank deployed at a position in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights along the border with southern Syria on March 25, 2025. Israel's military said it carried out a second strike in Syria on March 25, in response to incoming fire from across the demarcation line, hours after Syrian authorities reported that at least five people had been killed as a result of Israeli shelling. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

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

Analysis

Turkey, alarmed by sectarian clashes, steps up Syria role, criticizes Iran

Fidan Syria

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Exclusive

Turkey to host regional summit in April on counter-ISIS operations

A general view shows a burnt out vehicle next to a banner bearing the Islamic State group's flag in the village of Dibsiafnan on the western outskirts of the Islamist's Syrian bastion of Raqa, after Syrian pro-government forces entered the area on June 11, 2017.

Ezgi Akin

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Armenia joins US-led global coalition against Islamic State

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrives for a plenary session at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, at the Grand Palais, in Paris, on Feb. 11, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Islamic State seeks comeback under cover of coronavirus

Iraqi authorities are worried the Islamic State will rear its head again now that the US-led coalition's anti-terror efforts have been put on hold, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stands on the back of a pick-up truck, with a weapon installed on it, in Qamishli, Syria March 30, 2019. Picture taken March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho - RC1961AA5550

SDF calls for humanitarian truce in Syria amid coronavirus crisis

Following the lead of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces call for a cease-fire in order for all warring parties to combat COVID-19 instead.

Iraqi security forces patrol a street, during a curfew imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Baghdad, Iraq March 18, 2020. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani - RC2CMF94NO5Z

Intel: Coronavirus forces partial US troop drawdown in Iraq

The US-led global coalition to defeat the Islamic State announced today that the coronavirus pandemic has forced “temporary adjustments” in the mission against the terrorist group.

Syrian Kurdish officials setting up court to try foreign IS fighters

As European countries have failed to try their nationals from among Islamic State (IS) members detained by Syrian Kurds, Kurdish authorities intend to establish a special court to try them.

Iraqi anti-IS operations hindered by coalition base attacks

Members of the Iraqi counterterrorism forces and the US Marines have been killed during raids against IS hideouts in recent weeks in tough mountain terrain.

Iraq's Falcon Intelligence Cell wants to root out corruption

The head of the Falcon Intelligence Cell, Abu Ali al-Basri, spoke to Al-Monitor about the lingering Islamic State presence in the country and discussed his idea of setting up a similar team to fight corruption.

TOPSHOT - A US armoured vehicle drives past a billboard for the Syrian Kurdish Women's Protection Units (YPJ), during a patrol of the Syrian northeastern town of Qahtaniyah at the border with Turkey, on October 31, 2019. - US forces accompanied by Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) patrolled part of Syria's border with Turkey, in the first such move since Washington withdrew troops from the area earlier this month, an AFP correspondent reported. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by

SDF avoids fight with Trump over budget cut

The Trump administration's proposed 2021 budget would diminish the SDF's ability to effectively fight IS, but the coalition is unlikely to protest the steep cuts out of fear of angering Trump.

Tunisian soldiers stand in front of military equipment offered to Tunisia by the United States, in Tunis, Tunisia, May 12, 2016 REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi - S1BETDRQOCAA

Trump budget spotlights Tunisia in pitch to overhaul foreign military aid

The State Department is dangling potential US aircraft sales to Tunisia as part of its pitch to overhaul foreign military aid.

Pentagon slashes funding for Islamic State fight

The United States would see a diminished budget in its ability to fight Islamic State militants in 2021 if the new budget revealed by the Trump administration is approved.

How local activists are reviving life in Raqqa

Three years after Raqqa was liberated from the Islamic State, civil society organizations have launched a campaign to revive the city’s cultural and popular aspects.

A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) waves an ISIL flag in Raqqa June 29, 2014. The offshoot of al Qaeda which has captured swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria has declared itself an Islamic "Caliphate" and called on factions worldwide to pledge their allegiance, a statement posted on jihadist websites said on Sunday. The group, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, has renamed itself "Islamic State" and proclaimed its leader

Syrian Kurdish center sets out to defang 'cubs of the caliphate'

Former Islamic State child soldiers who are being reeducated at a Kurdish center face an uncertain future.

Qaim residents fearful following conflict between US, Iran-backed militias

Recent US attacks on positions along the Syrian border held by Iran-linked armed groups — some of whom are on the Iraqi government payroll — have led to insecurity among local residents, who had been seeing improvements in their lives.