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Syria

June 23, 2026

Damascus 7:26 am

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OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Syria announces direct flights to Amsterdam as Europe links expand

The head of Syria’s General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport announced that after years of suspension, Syrian Airlines would restart direct services between Damascus and Amsterdam.

US President Donald Trump meets Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Oval Office, Washington, DC, Nov. 10, 2025.

Syria’s Sharaa says he had ‘multiple discussions’ with Trump on Lebanon, favors dialogue

Syrian President Sharaa has again played down Donald Trump’s request that Syria could enter Lebanon and help disarm Hezbollah.

Hassan Akkad speaks about fleeing Syria in 2015 and his work as a filmmaker at a BAFTA event, Sept. 2023.

Culture

In Syria, detention of Hassan Akkad raises alarm about free expression under Sharaa

Akkad, a British-Syrian filmmaker, was detained Wednesday night after his campaign questioning the whereabouts of funds allegedly pledged for relief, reconstruction and community initiatives across Syria.

Latest News

Syrian Kurd commander Kobane kicks off European tour amid scrutiny from Damascus

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 January 24, 2019. - Any deal between Syria's Kurds and the Damascus regime should respect the "special status" of Kurdish-led forces who fought the Islamic State (IS) group, Kobani said. The SDF control around a third of Syria after expelling jihadists from a large northeastern swathe of t

Analysis

Why Trump’s push for Syria to confront Hezbollah is an unlikely bid

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa is welcomed by Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia on April 24, 2026, on the sidelines of a European summit.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Danny Makki

In London, reporting on Syrian politics and culture

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Cagatay Cebe

In Istanbul, reporting on security and counterterrorism

Kurdish official Aldar Khalil, who played a key role in establishing Syria's semiautonomous Kurdish region in 2013, during an interview in Qamishli on Dec. 22, 2018.

Exclusive

Top PYD official Aldar Khalil: 'Syria is telling Kurds to separate'

Al-Monitor spoke exclusively to Aldar Khalil, a member of the executive council of the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), which shares power in the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, about the halted talks between Syria’s transitional government and the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

People take part in a demonstration to call for the liberation of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan outside the European Council in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Sept. 15, 2025.

Analysis

PKK leader Ocalan gains legitimacy in Turkey, bigger sway over Syria’s Kurds

The ongoing deadlock between Damascus and the SDF is seen as a major obstacle to progress in Turkey’s efforts to address its long-standing Kurdish issue.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Salah Malkawi/Getty Images

Jordan-Syria trade surges as Damascus restores transit routes

Bilateral trade rose for the first nine months of 2025, since the change of administration in Damascus.

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

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

A precarious calm returned to Syria’s central Homs province on Monday following a day of violent unrest triggered by the murder of a couple from a Bedouin tribe in the town of Zaydal.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Syria signs deals with ConocoPhillips, Novaterra Energy: What to know

Syria signed a memorandum of understanding with US energy companies ConocoPhillips and Novaterra Energy to develop and explore gas fields as Damascus works to revive the country’s battered natural gas sector.

NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images

Fidan's confidant Nuh Yilmaz appointed ambassador to Syria, first in 13 years: What to know

Yilmaz’s formal appointment follows the UN’s lifting of sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as Ankara pushes for coordination with Washington and Damascus on the Syrian dossier.

AFP via Getty Images

Syria FM visits China as Beijing presses Damascus on Uyghur fighters, TIP

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani pledged that his country would not allow foreign fighters to “exploit its territory to carry out activities” that would harm Chinese security.

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives at the Grand Kremlin Palace for his meeting with Russia's president in Moscow on Oct. 15, 2025.

Israel condemns Syria over purported Oct. 7 musical event: What to know

Israel, which has tense relations with Syria's new government, condemned a concert allegedly commemorating Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, though the event was reportedly cancelled.

Sharaa

Analysis

Could Trump be the one to deliver peace to Syria and Turkey's Kurds?

As Trump deepens his Syria push, Washington is probing whether its leverage can turn fragile truces into lasting peace.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

US President Donald Trump meets Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa in the White House, in Washington, on Nov. 10, 2025.

Syria’s Sharaa leaves Washington with warm assurances but no security agreements

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa departed Washington without clinching major security agreements or long-term economic relief.

Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa holds a joint press conference with the Turkish president following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, on February 4, 2025. Syria's interim president is in Turkey for talks with the country's leader after flying in from Saudi Arabia, where he was seeking help from wealthy Gulf countries to finance the reconstruction of his war-ravaged nation and revive its economy, as part of his second international trip since ousting the former Syrian president. (

Syria's Sharaa says no direct talks with Israel, open to US military presence

In an interview on Monday, President Ahmed al-Sharaa dismissed direct negotiations with Israel concerning the Abraham Accords, but left the door open to US-brokered diplomacy.