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

A child stares at a US soldiers patrolling a village in the countryside of the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, near the Turkish border, on July 23, 2022. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Syria, Palestine, Yemen biggest violators of child soldier recruits: UN

The report coincides with renewed Russian airstrikes in Syria’s last rebel stronghold of Idlib in the northwest.

This picture taken on July 21, 2022 shows a view of sacks of confiscated captagon pills, presented at the judicial police headquarters in the city of Zahle in Lebanon's central Bekaa valley. - A decade of appalling civil war has left Syria fragmented and in ruins but one thing crosses every frontline: the drug fenethylline, commercially known as captagon. The stimulant -- once notorious for its association with Islamic State fighters -- has spawned an illegal $10-billion industry that not only props up the

Lebanon seizes Captagon shipment bound for central Africa, Gulf

Lebanon's latest bust comes as US sanctions and other measures work to counter trafficking in the country.

A picture taken on Aug. 2, 2018, shows a man riding a motorcycle past destroyed buildings in the opposition-held southern city of Daraa.

South Syria increasingly unstable even as normalization proceeds with Assad

Economic turmoil and failed attempts at reconciliation over a decade after the beginning of Syria's civil war keep the country on unstable footing.

Trucks move in a United Nations aid convoy en route to Syria's rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib on June 23, 2023.

Syria’s rebel-held northwest receives first UN aid convoy since earthquake

UN aid has not entered northwest Syria since the earthquake that hit the region in February left millions suffering in devastating humanitarian conditions.

A woman holds up a sign as other protesters wave Syrian national flags and red banners during a demonstration by Druze residents of the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights against Israeli construction of wind turbines in the territory, Jan. 24, 2020.

Analysis

Why are Golan Heights Druze protesting Israel's wind turbines project?

The state-backed project has ignited strong objections by the Druze in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, who fear for their health and for their rural way of life.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Omani Police

Oman seizes 6 million pills in Captagon bust with Saudi Arabia

A video shared by the Royal Oman Police shows agents unloading what appears to be white cardboard boxes filled with bags of Captagon tablets encased in moss-colored bricks.

Rukban aid

In a first, US military delivers NGO aid to Syria’s Rukban camp

A US-based nonprofit obtained permission to have the US military deliver humanitarian aid from Iraq to a displaced persons camp in Syria.

Astana talks

Few signs of progress at Turkey-Syria normalization talks in Astana

Syrian president sees no need to compromise, while UN representative admits 'comprehensive solution is not doable.'

NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey appoints Tanju Bilgic as new ambassador to Russia

The appointment of Ankara's new envoy to Moscow coincided with the Kremlin’s announcement that the Russian president will soon visit Turkey.

Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi speaks during a press conference with his Iranian counterpart (unseen), Tehran, Iran, Nov. 19, 2022.

Interview

US, Syria exchange messages on journalist Austin Tice, Oman’s FM says

Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi also discussed Syria's re-integration, prospects for normalization with Israel and talks to end Yemen's war in an interview with Al-Monitor.

Sayyid Badr Albusaidi

Sayyid Badr Albusaidi

Foreign Minister of Oman

An aerial picture shows Syrian refugees living in Turkey waiting to take a bus through the northern Bab al-Hawa border crossing, on February 17, 2023, as they return to Syria in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. - Turkey this week allowed Syrians under its protection who hold ID cards from one of the quake-hit provinces to leave for between three and six months, a rule change designed to reunite families on both sides of the border hit by the February 6 disaster, which has killed more than 41,000 people

In first for Turkey, National Security Council addresses Syrian refugee return

Turkey’s National Security Council has openly expressed the need for international support for Syrian refugees to return home.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan (R) escorts US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as they arrive for a meeting with GCC Ministers at the GCC Secretariat in Riyadh on June 7, 2023.

Blinken urges coalition partners to repatriate Islamic State fighters in Syria

At a gathering in Riyadh of the global alliance to defeat IS, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked partners to repatriate their detained citizens and announced new funding for stabilization work in Iraq and Syria.