Syria - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Palmyra

Syria

November 4, 2026

Damascus 7:33 pm

20°C

Bakr ALkasem / AFP via Getty Images

Syria foils Hezbollah-linked plot to attack Homs refinery: What to know

Syrian authorities have intensified a crackdown against Hezbollah’s alleged plans to launch attacks inside Syrian territory as well as smuggling attempts.

BING GUAN/AFP via Getty Images

Lawmakers urge Commerce Dept to ease Syria investment restrictions

Syria may be off the terrorism blacklist, but the Commerce Department’s export controls have yet to catch up.

Muzna Al-Atrash

Explainer

Meet Muzna al-Atrash, Syria's new Druze adviser for peace affairs

Atrash, from the Suwayda province and a member of the Druze community, will advise Damascus on peace affairs as it looks to assert authority in the south.

People inspect the damage at a site targeted by airstrikes

Analysis

How Syria is balancing public anger, regional stability after Jordan's strikes

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Middle East, reporting on regional politics

Latest News

Analysis

Gaza progress, Syria pullback: What Turkey wants from Israel’s next government

Demonstrators hold a banner reading "Free Gaza, free world"

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Syria flash floods kill at least 5, force hundreds of families from camps

Mohammed Mir / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Interview

US oil firm HKN aims to double output in Syria's formerly Kurdish-run fields

A general view shows the Awad oil field in the eastern Qamishli countryside in northeastern Syria, on Feb. 15, 2026.

Matthew Zais

Matthew Zais

HKN vice president for government affairs

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

People walk among tents at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp which holds suspected relatives of Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in the northeastern Syrian Hasakeh governorate, on February 17, 2021. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Killings on the rise in Syria's al-Hol camp

There were far more deaths than usual in the camp for Islamic State families in January amid calls from the United Nations and Kurdish forces for countries to take back their citizens.

TOPSHOT - A woman cries as she looks at her house in Raqa on October 20, 2017, after a Kurdish-led force expelled the Islamic State group from the northern Syrian city.
For three years, Raqa saw some of IS's worst abuses and grew into one of its main governance hubs, a centre for both its potent propaganda machine and its unprecedented experiment in jihadist statehood.
/ AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images)

Islamic State continues to terrorize Raqqa

Despite losing its last stronghold in eastern Syria in 2019 and the presence of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, the Islamic State continues to threaten the lives of citizens in Raqqa.

US citizen Bilal Abdul Kareem released from prison by HTS in Syria

The American activist and self-styled journalist spent six months in the jihadist group's notorious prison system.

Snow covers parts of the Middle East as winter storm rages on

Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan have all received several centimeters of snow.

This picture taken from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on February 15, 2021, shows the border fence with the Syrian governorate of Quneitra (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel in quiet talks with Syria on prisoner swap

Israel is reportedly negotiating with Syria on the release of a woman who mistakenly crossed the border in exchange for the release of two Golan residents imprisoned in Israel.

A handout picture taken on February 15, 2021 shows a 26-year-old woman (R), who had held New Zealand and Australian citizenships, and her two children escorted by Turkish plain clothes police officers after trying to enter Turkey illegally from Syria at Reyhanli district in Hatay. - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern angrily accused Australia on February 16, 2021 of shirking its responsibility for a dual national arrested in Turkey with alleged links to the Islamic State militant group. The 40-year-o

New Zealand slams Australia for revoking citizenship of IS associate

Turkish authorities detained a woman with dual Australia-New Zealand citizenship allegedly affiliated with the Islamic State.

Smoke billows following reported shelling by government forces on the northwestern Syrian town of Barah, in the rebel held Idlib province on February 12, 2021. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP) (Photo by ABDULAZIZ KETAZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Is HTS reining in or expanding jihadist network in Idlib?

Ansar al-Tawhid recently attacked a Russian operations room in the south of Idlib governate, killing and injuring several soldiers on the site, raising questions about the group’s identity and affiliations.

Damascus scrambles for more control in southern Syria

As the Russian-brokered Tafas agreement in the western countryside of Daraa between the Syrian regime and the Central Committee enters into force, the regime is now seeking to take over the towns outside its control in southern Syria before the upcoming 2021 presidential elections.

Pentagon ‘comfortable’ with troop levels in Middle East ahead of review

Whether the United States pulls forces from the Middle East to counter China may well depend on the success of Biden's diplomacy with Iran

Islamic State escalates attacks in Syrian desert

The Islamic State organization (IS) kills a large number of regime forces on an almost daily basis in the Syrian Desert, which has turned into a black hole draining the regime forces.

An aerial view taken on December 11, 2020 shows Syrian farmer Ayman Ibrahim harvesting Azolla aquatic ferns used as livestock feed in the town of Kafr Takharim in Syria's northwestern Idlib province. - To dodge skyrocketing prices for animal fodder in Syria's last major rebel bastion, farmer Ayman Ibrahim has turned to an aquatic fern used as a fertiliser in Asian rice paddies. Azolla is highly productive with the ability to double its weight in seven days, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisat

Syrian livestock depleted by war, failing economy

Syrian cattle owners and breeders are no longer able to look after their livestock in light of the soaring prices of oil derivatives, fodder and other necessary means for animal husbandry, not to mention the large number of animals that perished in the shelling.

This picture taken on November 26, 2020 shows Syrian students from the "Aleppo University in Liberated Areas", controlled by the pro-Turkey opposition, attending a tutorial at a laboratory facility in Marea in the rebel-controlled northern countryside of Syria's Aleppo province, while mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - The university had its first batch of 32 doctors to ever graduate after its founding in 2014, headquartered in Azaz for the past three years. Humanitarian workers fear any

Understanding Turkey's vision of medical schools for small Syrian town

Ankara plans to establish two medical educational facilities in a small Syrian town across the border as Turkish entrenchment deepens in Syria.