Druze

In first, Israel’s Netanyahu says he held call with Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa

It is the first publicly disclosed contact between the leaders of Israel and Syria, which lack formal relations and have fought several wars. Sharaa’s government began US-mediated talks with Israel in 2025.

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

An aerial view shows port of the western Syrian port city of Latakia, on Dec. 18, 2024.

Analysis

Can a UAE-backed Syria-Iraq corridor become Gulf's next trade route?

On June 26, Emirati and Syrian officials discussed plans for a logistics corridor connecting Syrian ports to Gulf markets via Iraq.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Volunteers of the Druze-led National Guard manage traffic at a checkpoint, Suwayda, Syria, Jan. 22, 2026.

Clashes between Druze fighters, Syrian forces raise fears of renewed violence

The episodes in Druze-majority Suwayda escalated amid kidnappings, various disputes, and absent movement on integrating Druze into state institutions.

Latest News

Why Israel's looking to Kurds to make gains against Iran regime

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters affiliated with PAK train on Jan. 18, 2026, near Erbil, Iraq.

What Israel stands to lose in Syria-SDF agreement

Jalaa MAREY / AFP via Getty Images

Curfew extended in Syria’s Homs following Bedouin-Alawite clashes: What to know

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

As Trump hosts Sharaa, Israel cautiously seeks Syria security deal

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: President of Syria Ahmed al-Shara arrives for the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at UN Headquarters on September 23, 2025 in New York City. This year’s theme for the annual global meeting is:“Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.” Gaza and Ukraine are just two of the global emergencies that world leaders will look to address. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Israel, Syria hold first high-level talks in 25 years amid US de-escalation push

The unprecedented meeting in Paris between Israeli and Syrian ministers indicate that both sides are interested in de-escalating tensions and advancing a security deal.

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

Hosam Saraya

Family says US citizen killed in Syria’s Suwayda

The US State Department said Monday that an American citizen was killed during the unrest in the southern Syrian city of Suwayda last week.

RAMI AL SAYED/AFP via Getty Images

Ceasefire fragile as Syria evacuates Bedouins in Suwayda, US urges accountability

The Syrian government has moved some Bedouin families out of the southern province after clashes with Druze fighters intensified over the weekend.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa shake hands during a joint press conference following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, on Feb. 4, 2025. — OZAN KOSE/Getty

Analysis

Suwayda clashes stoke Turkey's fears of Kurdish gains, Syria's fragmentation

Amid Israeli strikes and sectarian violence, Turkey is doubling down on preserving Syrian territorial integrity, hoping to manage refugee returns and prevent Kurdish autonomy.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Fighters from Bedouin tribes gather near a burning building in al-Mazraa village, in Syria's southern Suwayda governorate, as clashes with Druze gunmen continue, on July 18, 2025.

Turkey on edge as clashes continue in Syria's Suwayda, Kurds weigh next move

Turkey fears a deepening ethnic fracture in Syria could redraw the regional map — and embolden its own Kurdish population.

Bedouin and tribal fighters deploy as a car burns at the western entrance of Syria's Druze heartland of Suwayda on July 18, 2025.

Analysis

Why Iran is alarmed but vindicated by Syria's Druze crisis

Iran is framing the recent escalation in Syria's south as proof of its long-standing warnings about the post-Assad dynamics while deeply concerned by what it sees as Israeli plots to redraw the regional map.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images

As Bedouins mobilize, clashes with Druze resume in Syria’s Suwayda: What to know

Despite a ceasefire agreement, fighting involving the government, Bedouin clans and Druze fighters spiraled on Friday.

Israel military vehicles drive along the border fence with Syria, near the town of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, July 17, 2025.

Analysis

'You can’t embark on new war every few days': Israel-US daylight grows over Syria Druze, Sharaa

The Israeli prime minister is being pressed by the Trump administration to avoid escalating the situation in Syria but also by Israeli Druze to protect their brethren there.

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

Sharaa, Druze leaders

As Suwayda agreement takes shape, here are key Druze players in Syria

The Syrian Druze community has three prominent religious leaders, as well as a number of armed groups that continue to operate in the area after the civil war.

Druze men greet each other as they wait near the border fence in the town of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, as Syrian Druze who had crossed over the day before to the village, cross back to return to Syrian, on July 17, 2025. Syrian government forces have withdrawn from the whole of Sweida province after days of sectarian bloodshed in the heartland of the Druze minority, a war monitor and witnesses said July 17, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo

Analysis

Trump’s Syria gamble tested by unrest in Suwayda

The recent bloodshed in southern Syria is testing the Trump administration’s policy toward the war-torn country and complicating hopes for its potential normalization with Israel.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

A member of the Syrian security forces examines burnt vehicles amid ongoing clashes in the southern Syrian city of Suwayda, July 16, 2025.

Syria: Over 370 killed in Suwayda as fragile truce holds, Sharaa promises Druze local control

A fragile ceasefire signed by Damascus and Suwayda leaders appeared to hold, as Syria's president vowed accountability for those behind violence against the Druze community.

Members of the Druze community demonstrate before Israeli forces by the barbed-wire fence separating the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and Syria near Majdal Shams, on July 16, 2025.

Israeli Druze breach Syria border, call for 'day of rage' over Suwayda clashes

The Israeli Druze leadership announced a one-day labor strike on Wednesday and called on all Israeli Druze to go to the border and cross it in order to assist their Syrian brethren in Suwayda.