Syria Conflict

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Kobane speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on Dec. 6, 2024.

Explainer

SDF chief Kobane’s Damascus visit a high wire act for Syria’s Kurds

The SDF says its integration with Damascus is complete, but major questions remain over its fighters, weapons and the future of Kurdish self-rule.

ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 08: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) meets with Ahmed al-Sharaa, President of Syria (L) for bilateral talks at Beştepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 08, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

US lifts Syria's terror designation after 47 years

The Trump administration also took Hayat Tahrir al-Sham off its blacklist of Specially Designated Global Terrorist organizations.

A Turkish soldier from the 1st Border Regiment Command looks out over the border wall to Syria during alert drills at a military outpost on the Turkey/Syria border on March 2, 2017 in Kilis, Turkey.

Analysis

Why Turkey sees Israeli strikes in Syria as warning over its military role, Mecca Pact

Ankara views Israel’s latest strikes in Syria as part of a broader effort to curb Turkey’s military influence in Damascus and a challenge to its regional defense partnerships.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Turkey/Syria border

Analysis

Turkey bets on US deconfliction as Israel widens Syria red lines

As Washington pushes a new deconfliction mechanism between Turkey and Israel, the Jewish state shows little incentive to accept tighter constraints on its freedom of action in Syria, experts say.

Ezgi Akin

Rina Bassist

By Ezgi Akin , Rina Bassist

Latest News

Analysis

Israel fears Turkey’s Syria ambitions and doubts Trump will stop them

ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 7: U.S. President Donald Trump (L)shakes hands with with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) during a formal arrival at the Bestepe Presidential Palace during the NATO summit on July 7, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Emrah Gurel - Pool/Getty Images)

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

Turkey signals restraint as war of words with Israel escalates over Syria

Burhaanettin Duran

Syria’s FM pays Pakistan first visit in 19 years amid new regional alignments

Islamabad

Turkey looks to expand Syria energy footprint into oil, gas

President Ahmad al-Sharaa meets Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar at the People’s Palace in Damascus, Syria, on Aug. 19, 2026.

Arabs in Syrian Kurdish-controlled region on edge following assassinations

Al-Monitor conducted a rare reporting trip to Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor region to discuss the situation with the chief of the part of the Arab-majority governorate under Kurdish-led SDF control in the oil-rich and insurgent-prone area.

Turkey weighs attack on Syrian Kurdish town

Turkey has mobilized more forces in the vicinity of the town of Ain Issa in northern Syria, while the Free Syrian Army, an ally of Ankara, intensified its presence in that area amid an agreement between the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and Russia to ward off Turkey and its allies from the town.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (foregorund L), his wife Asma visit the exhibition dedicated to French painter Claude Monet at the Grand Palais on December 11, 2010 in Paris at the end of their official visit in France. AFP PHOTO MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP PHOTO / Miguel MEDINA (Photo credit should read MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)

US unveils new Syria sanctions targeting Assad’s British in-laws

The US administration has blacklisted the commander of Syria's military intelligence organization, a senior aide to President Bashar al-Assad and Assad's British in-laws.

Syrian-Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and members of the Rojava Forces Defence Units walk near the town of Faysh Khabur, which lies in Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region near the three-way border crossing between Iraq-Syria-Turkey on March 29, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

KRG asks US forces to deploy along Kurdish-controlled part of Iraqi-Syrian border

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s deputy chief of staff outlined why the Kurdish region's government wants US forces stationed in and around the Fish Khabur border crossing.

Can the US force Iran out of Syria? Not likely, former officials say

The outgoing Trump administration appears to have made little if any progress in achieving its goal.

Members of the Syrian government forces stand guard at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Deir Ezzor on September 10, 2017, as they continue to press forward with Russian air cover in the offensive against Islamic State group jihadists across Deir Ezzor province. / AFP PHOTO / George OURFALIAN (Photo credit should read GEORGE OURFALIAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Pro-Iran militias in Syria soak merchants for cash at checkpoints

The checkpoints of the Syrian regime and the pro-Iranian militias along the main road between Deir-ez-Zor and al-Bukamal are imposing royalties on merchants and local residents in their areas of control.

Iraq, KRG, Turkey find common ground in response to PKK

Kurdish group increasingly isolated; meanwhile, Syrian Kurds boxed in by Turkey, Russia and Assad.

A Russian Military convoy drives near the village of Ein Diwar in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on October 11, 2020. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

How Russia is preparing in Syria for Biden’s presidency

Moscow is hoping the final months of outgoing President Donald Trump's presidency will allow it an opportunity to reinforce its positions in Syria.

Intel: Russia sets up military positions in Syria’s Ain Issa after shelling from Turkish-controlled side

The move follows Russian talks with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces

A boy enters a tent at the Batinta camp for the internally displaced, after heavy rainfall in the north of Syria's northwestern Idlib province, on November 26, 2020. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)

Syrians suffer as crossings remain closed, and smuggling operations become pricey

Smuggling operations between the areas under the control of the Turkish-allied factions and those under the control of the Syrian regime have been ongoing since the main crossings were closed in March as part of measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Outgoing Syria envoy reflects on Turkey, the Kurds and what everyone got wrong

In a long-ranging interview with Al-Monitor, James Jeffrey looks back on his efforts to incorporate fragments of Obama-era initiatives into a cohesive Middle East policy.

Egypt mobilizes Gulf, Arab support to end Syrian crisis

Egypt appears to be leading Arab efforts to bring Damascus back to the Arab League and find a political solution to the Syrian crisis, in a bid to confront Turkey’s military ambitions in Syria.