Syria Conflict

Israeli troops stand guard on the dividing line between the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and Syrian, near Majdal Shams, July 16, 2025.

Analysis

'The problem and the solution': Netanyahu-Sharaa call exposes Israel's Syria dilemma

The Israeli leader revealed that he spoke with the Syrian president last year, but stalled talks and Israel's fortification of a security zone on Syrian land underscore his mistrust of Sharaa.

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

An attendee walks past signage displayed inside the venue for the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) in Bangkok on October 14, 2026. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP via Getty Images)

Syria to rejoin Arab group at IMF, leaving Russian-led constituency

Syria will rejoin the Arab constituency at the International Monetary Fund beginning Nov. 1 and has applied for membership in the EBRD.

Mihrac Ural, who was also known as Ali Kayali, was arrested

Explainer

Syria arrests Mihrac Ural, ex-Assad militia head also wanted by Turkey

The Turkey-born militia chief and a longtime ally of the Assad-regime, was sought by Ankara over the deadly Reyhanli bombings and by Damascus over his alleged role in massacres on the Mediterranean coast.

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.

Latest News

Explainer

Why Israel, Armenia don't benefit from hijab spat between Turkey, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev (L) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) at Prague Castle on Oct. 6, 2022 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Culture

Syria reopens Aleppo's 1,300-year-old Great Umayyad Mosque after 13 years

A view of the Great Umayyad Mosque during the reopening ceremony, Oct. 8, 2026.

Analysis

Why Syria sending troops to Yemen would be a risky bet for Sharaa

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Oct. 6, 2026.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Culture

Syria's Kurds, Arabs find common cause in battle for language rights

Youths play the daf, an Iranian frame drum, during a protest demanding the right to education in the Kurdish language in Al-Qamishli, Syria, on September 22, 2026. The demonstrations follow a decision by the Syrian Interim Government to allocate only Kurdish language classes in schools. (Photo by Amjad Kurdo / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greets Syrian President Bashar Assad during the Arab summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday. Saudi Press Agency / Saudi Press Agency via AP

2023 in review: Syria triumphant in Arab League as Israeli strikes, Iran ties continue

Coming in from the cold, Damascus — still riddled with economic challenges and Western sanctions — restored crucial relations with Saudi Arabia and the Arab League, fortifying its regional position after being frozen out for over a decade.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish commander tells Washington not to sell F-16s to Turkey

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, SDF commander-in-chief Mazlum Kobane called on the United States to shore up flagging Kurdish faith in Washington and block any new F-16 sales to Turkey.

Mazlum Kobane

Mazlum Kobane

SDF commander in chief

Smoke plumes billow from a fire at a lumber warehouse in southern Khartoum amidst ongoing fighting on June 7, 2023. Eight weeks of fighting have pitted Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo -- commonly known as Hemeti -- who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A number of broken ceasefires have offered brief lulls but no respite for residents of Khartoum, where witnesses again reported "the sound of heavy artillery fire" in the ca

2023 in review: From Sudan to Syria, here are Mideast's forgotten conflicts

More than 12,000 people were killed in the war in Sudan this year, while violence persisted in parts of Syria, Iraq and other countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

Mourners carry the coffins of two Kurdish women killed a day earlier in a reported Turkish drone strike, during their funeral in Amuda, a town in the Hasakah governorate in northeastern Syria, on June 21, 2023.

With world's eyes on Gaza, Turkey attacks Syria's Kurds again

As of the beginning of 2023, at least 32 civilians have died in Turkish attacks in northeast Syria, including seven women and five children, according to local monitoring organizations.

Mazloum Abdi (Kobani), commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks with AFP during an interview in the countryside outside the northwestern Syrian city of Hasakah, in the province of the same name, on Jan. 24, 2019.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish commander: 'We don’t want to become battleground between US, Iran'

Mazlum Kobane also revealed that the Iran-backed groups had begun to target SDF military positions.

Mazlum Kobane

Mazlum Kobane

SDF commander in chief

A man snaps a picture of a red rose raised by a protestor, during a demonstration in Syria's rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib on Aug. 25, 2023.

Anti-Assad protests in Syria’s Suwayda persist, fueled by economic turmoil

The protests in southern Syria, historically a government stronghold, persist amid widespread economic strife in the war-torn country.

Israeli self-propelled artillery howitzers are stationed at an Israeli army base in Zawra, the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, April 6, 2023.

Suspected Israeli strikes in Syria target Hezbollah, Iran-backed groups

The strikes come amid the ongoing Hamas-Israel war in the Gaza Strip.

US-made armoured vehicles bearing markings of the US Marine Corps are seen on a road north of Raqa in northern Syria on March 27, 2017. US-backed forces battled the Islamic State group around a key Syrian town, after the capture of an airbase brought them closer to besieging the jihadists in their stronghold Raqa.Operations are currently focused on the strategically important town of Tabqa on the Euphrates River, and the adjacent dam and military airport. / AFP PHOTO / DELIL SOULEIMAN (Photo credit should r

Four attacks against US troops in Syria hours after strikes on IRGC facilities

New rocket and drone attacks targeted US bases in Syria in the hours following the latest US airstrikes designed to dissuade the IRGC and its militias from continuing their attacks on American personnel.

Israeli military tanks take up a position during a drill in the annexed Golan Heights, amid increasing cross-border tensions between Hezbollah and Israel as fighting continues in the south with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Nov. 9, 2023.

Syria front on edge as Israel targets airports, US hits Iran-linked groups

Israel's continued airstrikes targeting Damascus and Aleppo airports arise from the threat Israel feels following attacks from within Syria on border areas led by Iranian-backed groups.

A man poses with a flag of Wagner group.

Analysis

How Russia's Redut PMC forced rival Wagner to withdraw from Syria

Almost all of Wagner's mercenaries have already left Syria on planes departing from the Khmeimim air base, and the remaining few dozen are handing over weapons to the military and processing documents.

Anton Mardasov

By Anton Mardasov

NORTHEASTERN SYRIA - MAY 26: U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter gunners scan the desert while transporting troops on May 26, 2021 over northeastern Syria. U.S. forces, part of Task Force WARCLUB operate from remote combat outposts in northeastern Syria, coordinating with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in combatting residual ISIS extremists and deterring pro-Iranian militia. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

US launches new airstrikes against IRGC facility in Syria as attacks continue

US F-15s bombed a facility in eastern Syria as the Pentagon's Middle East policy director openly warned that the US military may target Iranian IRGC personnel in a bid to halt militia attacks on American troops.

A general view taken on Aug. 13, 2017 shows an Islamic State (IS) group poster in the central Syrian town of Al-Sukhnah as pro-government fighters clear the area after taking control of the city situated in the county's large desert area called the Badiya.

At least 34 Syrian soldiers killed in suspected ISIS attack as threat surges

A war monitor said at least 34 Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters were killed in an Islamic State attack in the central desert in one of the deadliest assaults by the group this year.