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.

While America counts its votes, Erdogan advances his agenda

Can the next US president manage Erdogan’s ambition?

Syrian refugee in Lebanon sets himself on fire

The UN refugee agency said the 58-year-old man was hospitalized and is receiving the necessary care.

A man walks past window shops while nearby pillars are adorned with posters showing Syrian PResident Bashar al-Assad superimposed over Damascus' historic Umayyad mosque, in al-Salihiya district of the capital Damascus on June 10, 2020. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Assad blames Syria’s economic turmoil on Lebanon, not sanctions

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad estimates that Syrians hold between $20 billion and $42 billion in Lebanon's banks.

Lindsey Graham, vocal senator on Syria policy, wins reelection

The South Carolina Republican and member of the Foreign Relations Committee has both praised and criticized Trump's policies on Syria, Israel and other places.

Syrians take part in the funeral of 10 fighters with the Turkey-backed Faylaq al-Sham rebel faction in Syria, in the northwestern city of Idlib, on October 26, 2020, following their death in a Russian air strike. - Air strikes by Syrian regime ally Russia killed 78 fighters from the turkey-backed Faylaq al-Sham faction when they targeted a training camp in the Jabal Duwayli area in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (Photo by Mohammed AL-RIFAI / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED AL-RIFAI/AF

Are attacks on Syrian opposition signal from Moscow to Ankara?

As Turkey conducts simultaneous campaigns in different theaters — including assistance to Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict — Moscow must be tempted to exploit the turbulence to extract concessions from Ankara.

Civilians drive along a road behind a Turkish military convoy through the village of Iblin, near Ariha in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on October 20, 2020 after Turkish forces vacated the Morek post in Hama's countryside. - Turkey started withdrawing from one of its largest outposts in northwest Syria encircled for the past year by Syrian regime forces, a war monitor and a pro-Ankara rebel commander said. The outpost in Morek is Turkey's largest in the northwest province of Hama, which is

How Turkey’s withdrawal from Morek post affects opposition factions in northeast Syria

Turkish forces withdrew from their observation post in the city of Morek, raising many questions about the fate of Turkish-backed rebels in the surrounding area.

Turkey-backed Syrian fighters man a sand barricade near the rebel-controlled town of Tal Abyad in the northern Syria's Raqa province, along the frontline with Syrian Kurdish forces controling the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, on October 10, 2020. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP) (Photo by BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images)

Erdogan warns Turkey has 'right to mobilize' again against Kurdish forces

The Turkish president's comments come a year after Turkey launched an offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria.

No good news for Turkey from jihadi ranks in Syria

Ahrar al-Sham, a prominent armed group that has often collaborated with Turkey in Syria, is hit by infighting that plays into the hands of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and dampens Turkish plans to remold rebel factions in Idlib.

Smoke billows from a reported Russian airstrike near the village of Hafsarjah, in the western countryside of Idlib province in northwestern Syria, on September 11, 2020. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP) (Photo by ABDULAZIZ KETAZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: US drone strike kills at least 10 at al-Qaeda meeting in Idlib

Some of the dead were reportedly rivals of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

US won’t change Syria policy to free missing Americans, Pompeo says

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked if the Trump administration would consider meeting the Syrian regime's terms, which reportedly include withdrawing all American forces from the country.

Some Syrians prefer Idlib over areas under control of Turkish-backed armed groups

While security chaos is deemed limited in Idlib, areas under the control of Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army factions are suffering from poor security conditions amid frequent assassinations and bombings targeting civilians and military personnel.

A Turkish military convoy drives through the village of Iblin, near Ariha in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on October 20, 2020 after vacating the Morek post in Hama's countryside. - Turkey started withdrawing from one of its largest outposts in northwest Syria encircled for the past year by Syrian regime forces, a war monitor and a pro-Ankara rebel commander said. The outpost in Morek is Turkey's largest in the northwest province of Hama, which is now mostly under Syrian government control.

Turkish forces withdraw from largest base in northeast Syria

Ankara has begun pulling back forces and equipment from an observation post long surrounded by regime forces in Syria’s northeast Idlib province.