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.

Syrians buy bread in the town of Binnish in the country's northwestern Idlib province on June 9, 2020. - Syrians held a third day of rare anti-regime protests over deteriorating living conditions Tuesday in the government-held city of Sweida, a war monitor said, as the value of the pound sunk. The value of the Syrian pound has plummeted with dizzying speed in recent days on the informal market, sending prices skyrocketing nationwide and shuttering shops. Dozens rallied in the majority-Druze city of Sweida i

Intel: US pledges nearly $700M in humanitarian assistance for Syrians

The US State Department announced it would be providing an additional $696 million in humanitarian assistance to Syrians.

Bolton, Pentagon rallied to keep al-Tanf base in Syria

After Donald Trump's surprising tweet in late 2018 that all US troops would return from Syria, John Bolton says he spoke out against the abandonment of the US garrison at al-Tanf.

Intel: Democrats try to stymie Trump’s 'secure the oil' mission in Syria

Democrats are turning up the heat on President Donald Trump’s “secure the oil” mission in northeast Syria.

Is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham doing Turkey’s job in Idlib?

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group dominating Idlib, is turning up pressure on radical jihadis, facing accusations of acting at the behest of Turkey.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC on June 24, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Pompeo dismisses Rouhani’s terms for talks as Iran admits ‘no plan B’ for Syria

Israel, Iran and the United States are all not backing down in Syria, but US-Iran prisoner talks may still have a chance.

A patrol of US military vehicles is seen near the flying yellow flags of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and green flags of its constituent Women's Protection Forces (YPJ) in the town of Tal Tamr in the northeastern Syrian Hasakeh province along the border with Turkey on February 8, 2020. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia offers rare apology to rivals amid unity talks

The apology is testament to the group's determination to see unity talks between the Kurdish National Council and the PYD through to a successful end.

EDIRNE, TURKEY - MARCH 08: Refugees and migrants walk on a road towards the Pazarkule Border Crossing between Turkey and Greece on March 08, 2020 in Edirne, Turkey. Thousands of refugees and migrants have flocked to the Greece, Turkey border after Turkey announced that it would open border gates for a period of 72hrs to allow refugees to cross into European countries after thirty three Turkish soldiers were killed in a Syrian air raid in Idlib. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)

Syria risks another wave of migration, UN food agency warns

The United Nations' World Food Program director told the AP more Syrians will flee the country unless the international community steps in with additional aid.

The ruins of buildings are pictured on July 1, 2019 at the site where the US military carried out a strike against Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Syria's northwestern Aleppo province. - The US military said today it had targeted jihadists in an embattled northwestern opposition bastion in northwest Syria the previous day. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raid in Aleppo province killed six commanders and other jihadists from the Hurras al-Deen group. (Photo by Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Ph

Intel: Al-Qaeda branch confirms US drone killed Zarqawi relative in Syria

An al-Qaeda branch in northwest Syria has confirmed that a US drone strike earlier this month killed one of the group’s most senior leaders, a veteran Jordanian jihadi who had been close to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Syrian demonstrators look at a poster bearing the portraits of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C-R) and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C) in the central Saadallah al-Jabiri square in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on January 7, 2020, to mourn and condemn the death of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani (portrait-L), and nine others in a US air strike in Baghdad. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran hunkers down in Syria after Caesar Act sanctions

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it has no backup plan and is not leaving Syria.

Suspected Israeli airstrikes hit various locations in Syria

Syria said it downed several missiles it says came from Israel, but there are also reports of casualties.

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British charity worker detained by HTS in Idlib

Tauqir Sharif was kidnapped by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on Monday, according to a statement from his aid organization in northwest Syria.

France repatriates children from Islamic State camp in northeast Syria

Ten children are being repatriated to France from the notorious al-Hol camp, according to a northeast Syrian official. Thousands of foreign and local children remain there.