Syria’s Kurdish-led administration calls on Biden for political recognition

SDF commander Mazlum Kobane told Al-Monitor last month he hopes the Biden administration will double the US troop presence in northeast Syria.

Syria

US Syria Envoy ‘categorically rejects’ statement by UN rapporteur about Caesar Sanctions

US Special Envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn says the blame for Syria’s economic and humanitarian crises rest with Assad, not the US, after Alena Douhan of the UN Human Rights Council said the Caesar Act is hurting Syrians' chances to rebuild infrastructure and live comfortably.

Syria

Syrian Kurds deny deal with Russia, Assad government over Ain Issa

The Syrian government and Russian media sites are promoting a new agreement between Russia and the Syrian Defense Forces that guarantees the regime's takeover of the Ain Issa area in northern Raqqa.

Syria

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.

Syria

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.

Syria

Russia treads lightly in Syrian deadlock

Moscow is reacting with marked restraint to the escalation around Ain Issa, even seeming to play along with Ankara, though Turkey and the Syrian National Army have no reason to conduct offensive operations in the area.

Syria

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.

Syria

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.

Iraq

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.

Syria

Germany and Finland repatriate children from Syria's al-Hol camp

There have been several repatriations of people from the camp for Islamic State families this year.

Syria

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.

Syria

Despite attempt at makeover, Syria’s HTS remains on US terror list

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has been trying to present itself as a moderate group seeking to have its name removed from the international terrorist list, but these attempts are failing after the United States recently designated it among the "Entities of Particular Concern."

Syria