Syria Conflict

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, on June 4, 2025.

Syria’s top Islamic body issues decree against honor killings: What to know

US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack referred to the decision as “great first steps,” though concerns persist about the new Islamist-led government.

Travelers from the Middle East arrive at the International Arrivals section at Los Angeles International Airport on June 29, 2017.

Trump travel ban 2.0: Assessing the impact on Mideast nations

Trump’s new decision excludes Syria and Iraq, both of which were part of his previous ban issued during his first term in 2017.

US soldiers patrol in Syria's northeastern city Qamishli, in the Hasakeh province, mostly controlled by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, on January 9, 2025. (AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

US' Syria pullout continues amid looming Iran clash

The Trump administration is taking advantage of a rare moment of quiet following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in hope of disentangling the US military from nearly a decade of involvement in Syria.

Jared Szuba

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

US special envoy for Syria, the ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack attends a flag-raising ceremony at the US ambassador's residence in Damascus on May 29, 2025 for the first time since 2011. Barrack's visit to Syria marks a new step in the rapprochement between the two countries following the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad. (Photo by Rami al SAYED / AFP) (Photo by RAMI AL SAYED/AFP via Getty Images)

US envoy Barrack in Israel after cross-border shelling with Syria: What to know

US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack met Wednesday with Israeli officials in an effort to de-escalate ongoing tensions with Syria and Turkey.

Latest News

Israel shells southern Syria, says Sharaa ‘directly responsible’ for threats

Debris and military vehicles lie at the scene of an Israeli strike in Syria's southern Hama governorate on April 3, 2025.

Syria courts Gulf investment with high-level Qatar visit amid $7B energy deal

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad Al-Shaibani met with Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in the Qatari capital, Doha, on June 3, 2025.

Exclusive

Ankara’s direct talks with Syrian Kurds began last year in Europe, continue in Turkey

Kurdish Syrians demonstrate in the Syrian eastern city of Qamishli to demand the release of the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party, Abdullah Ocalan, in Turkey, on May 29, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

US Syria envoy Barrack says troop drawdown to continue, support for Kurds to remain

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and US special envoy for Syria Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack (R).

Jared Szuba

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

Smoke plumes billow from a fire at a lumber warehouse in southern Khartoum amidst ongoing fighting on June 7, 2023. Eight weeks of fighting have pitted Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo -- commonly known as Hemeti -- who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A number of broken ceasefires have offered brief lulls but no respite for residents of Khartoum, where witnesses again reported "the sound of heavy artillery fire" in the ca

2023 in review: From Sudan to Syria, here are Mideast's forgotten conflicts

More than 12,000 people were killed in the war in Sudan this year, while violence persisted in parts of Syria, Iraq and other countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

Mourners carry the coffins of two Kurdish women killed a day earlier in a reported Turkish drone strike, during their funeral in Amuda, a town in the Hasakah governorate in northeastern Syria, on June 21, 2023.

With world's eyes on Gaza, Turkey attacks Syria's Kurds again

As of the beginning of 2023, at least 32 civilians have died in Turkish attacks in northeast Syria, including seven women and five children, according to local monitoring organizations.

Mazloum Abdi (Kobani), commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks with AFP during an interview in the countryside outside the northwestern Syrian city of Hasakah, in the province of the same name, on Jan. 24, 2019.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish commander: 'We don’t want to become battleground between US, Iran'

Mazlum Kobane also revealed that the Iran-backed groups had begun to target SDF military positions.

Mazlum Kobane

Mazlum Kobane

SDF commander in chief

A man snaps a picture of a red rose raised by a protestor, during a demonstration in Syria's rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib on Aug. 25, 2023.

Anti-Assad protests in Syria’s Suwayda persist, fueled by economic turmoil

The protests in southern Syria, historically a government stronghold, persist amid widespread economic strife in the war-torn country.

Israeli self-propelled artillery howitzers are stationed at an Israeli army base in Zawra, the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, April 6, 2023.

Suspected Israeli strikes in Syria target Hezbollah, Iran-backed groups

The strikes come amid the ongoing Hamas-Israel war in the Gaza Strip.

US-made armoured vehicles bearing markings of the US Marine Corps are seen on a road north of Raqa in northern Syria on March 27, 2017. US-backed forces battled the Islamic State group around a key Syrian town, after the capture of an airbase brought them closer to besieging the jihadists in their stronghold Raqa.Operations are currently focused on the strategically important town of Tabqa on the Euphrates River, and the adjacent dam and military airport. / AFP PHOTO / DELIL SOULEIMAN (Photo credit should r

Four attacks against US troops in Syria hours after strikes on IRGC facilities

New rocket and drone attacks targeted US bases in Syria in the hours following the latest US airstrikes designed to dissuade the IRGC and its militias from continuing their attacks on American personnel.

Israeli military tanks take up a position during a drill in the annexed Golan Heights, amid increasing cross-border tensions between Hezbollah and Israel as fighting continues in the south with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Nov. 9, 2023.

Syria front on edge as Israel targets airports, US hits Iran-linked groups

Israel's continued airstrikes targeting Damascus and Aleppo airports arise from the threat Israel feels following attacks from within Syria on border areas led by Iranian-backed groups.

A man poses with a flag of Wagner group.

Analysis

How Russia's Redut PMC forced rival Wagner to withdraw from Syria

Almost all of Wagner's mercenaries have already left Syria on planes departing from the Khmeimim air base, and the remaining few dozen are handing over weapons to the military and processing documents.

Anton Mardasov

By Anton Mardasov

NORTHEASTERN SYRIA - MAY 26: U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter gunners scan the desert while transporting troops on May 26, 2021 over northeastern Syria. U.S. forces, part of Task Force WARCLUB operate from remote combat outposts in northeastern Syria, coordinating with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in combatting residual ISIS extremists and deterring pro-Iranian militia. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

US launches new airstrikes against IRGC facility in Syria as attacks continue

US F-15s bombed a facility in eastern Syria as the Pentagon's Middle East policy director openly warned that the US military may target Iranian IRGC personnel in a bid to halt militia attacks on American troops.

A general view taken on Aug. 13, 2017 shows an Islamic State (IS) group poster in the central Syrian town of Al-Sukhnah as pro-government fighters clear the area after taking control of the city situated in the county's large desert area called the Badiya.

At least 34 Syrian soldiers killed in suspected ISIS attack as threat surges

A war monitor said at least 34 Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters were killed in an Islamic State attack in the central desert in one of the deadliest assaults by the group this year.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the 'world's largest warship,' is seen at anchor in Faliro Bay, Athens, Greece, as part of its summer deployment, on July 28, 2023 (Photo by Nikos Libertas / SOOC / SOOC via AFP) (Photo by NIKOS LIBERTAS/SOOC/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

In Israel-Hamas war, Russia's leverage erodes, outflanked by US naval power

Against the background of the possible entry of pro-Iranian forces into the Israeli-Gaza conflict, Moscow lacks even symbolic means of deterrence.

Anton Mardasov

By Anton Mardasov

In this handout image released by the South Korean Defense Ministry, South Korean Navy's destroyer Yulgok Yi I (C), U.S. Navy's USS Benfold (R) and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's JS Atago (L) sail in formation during a joint naval exercise in international waters on April 17, 2023 at an undisclosed location. South Korea, the United States and Japan held a trilateral missile defense exercise in the international waters on Monday, Seoul's Navy said, amid stepped-up efforts to sharpen deterrence against N

US destroyer shoots down cruise missiles by Iran-backed Houthis

Iran-backed factions appeared to break several months of detente with US forces in the Middle East this week by launching drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea, Iraq and Syria amid Israel's war in Gaza, throwing the Pentagon's deterrence efforts into question.