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Syria

November 8, 2026

Damascus 4:27 am

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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

After terrorist label, what is GCC's next move against Hezbollah?

Iranian officials and media have condemned the decision by the Gulf Cooperation Council to label the Lebanese group Hezbollah a terrorist organization and believe more anti-Hezbollah actions are on the way.

Committee chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) speaks during a hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill June 2, 2015 in Washington, DC. The committee held the hearing to hear from four family members of Americans held in in Iran. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

House panel decries Islamic State genocide

The Foreign Affairs Committee also voted to label Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a war criminal.

Assad miffs opposition, Russians with call for elections

After announcement of a cease-fire agreement Feb. 22, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decreed that legislative elections be held April 13 in contravention of the agreement.

U.S. Foreign Secretary John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) gesture before their bilateral talks in Munich, Germany, February 11, 2016, ahead of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting. REUTERS/Michael Dalder TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX26HN2

If Syria cease-fire fails, what is Plan B?

The United States said it was encouraged that the Syrian cessation of hostilities appeared to be holding, with no significant violations reported in the past day, as analysts said Russia was backing the truce because it feared a quagmire and talk of a US "Plan B."

TIMELINE: Key players reflect on US policy in Syria

In this interactive timeline, US lawmakers and former administration officials open up about their failure to prevent disaster in Syria.

Members of the interim government of democratic self-administered party stand after declaring a provincial government, in the city of Amuda near Hasaka January 21, 2014. Kurds in Syria declared a provincial government in the north of the country on Tuesday, consolidating their geographic and political presence on the eve of peace talks in Switzerland at which they will not be represented. The municipal council will run affairs in one of three administrative districts set up by Kurds, who have seized upon t

Syrian Kurdish leader calls for federal state

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Akram Hesso, the Kurdish head of Syria's Jazeera canton, spoke about the Syrian Kurds' relations with regional and international players as well as a model for federal rule in Syria.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu addresses the media in Ankara, Turkey February 20, 2016, as he is flanked by his deputies Tugrul Turkes (L), Numan Kurtulmus (2nd L) and Interior Minister Efkan Ala (R). Turkey is to tighten security across the country, and especially the capital, following a car bombing that killed 28 people in Ankara this week, Davutoglu said on Saturday. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTX27U3T

How much support did Turkey provide to Syrian opposition?

The Turkish prime minister claimed that Turkey has done more than Arab countries to aid the Syrian rebels, though he stopped short of providing details about Turkey's "support."

Protesters carry banners and wave Lebanese, Yemeni and Hezbollah flags during a protest against Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen, in front of the offices of the U.N. headquarters in Beirut May 12, 2015. Saudi-led air strikes pounded the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday just hours before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire was set to begin. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir - RTX1CNBR

Is the Saudi, Lebanese relationship gone for good?

In retaliation for Hezbollah’s support of the Houthis in Yemen, Saudi Arabia has launched a campaign designed to pressure Lebanon.

Syrian Army forces look on as buses leave district of Waer during a truce between the government and rebels, in Homs, Syria December 9, 2015. Scores of people left the last area held by insurgents in the Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday under a local truce between the government and rebels, a monitoring group said, a rare agreement in Syria's nearly five-year conflict. Three buses carrying people had left the previously besieged district of Waer, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. About 750 peopl

Will current truce pave way for permanent cease-fire in Syria?

Experts on Syria say the recent cease-fire implemented in Syria is only a temporary truce that will not lead to a long-term peaceful solution to the crisis.

Is Syrian regime about to retake Raqqa?

The Syrian army has launched an unprecedented battle in Raqqa province, the stronghold of the Islamic State in Syria, and is making its way toward Tabqa city, the second-largest city in the province.

Two Syrians wait on the Turkish side of the Oncupinar border crossing for their parents to arrive from Syria, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern city of Kilis, Turkey, February 8, 2016. REUTERS/Osman Orsal TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX25Y24

How Syria's earliest refugees are about to become Turkish citizens

Turkey's earliest Syrian refugees will soon complete their five-year waiting period for Turkish citizenship, and political players are calculating those Syrians' significant eventual power.

27,000 Syrian refugees stranded near Jordanian border

A senior European diplomat has criticized Amman for leaving Syrian refugees stranded "indefinitely" near Jordanian-Syrian border.