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Syria

November 8, 2026

Damascus 9:52 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

Is Turkey arming radical groups in Syria?

A trial of gendarmerie officers and prosecutors in Istanbul is producing embarrassing revelations for the government.

People stand by part of a Saudi fighter jet found in Bani Harith district north of Yemen's capital Sanaa May 24, 2015. Local media said that the Houthi rebels brought down a Saudi F-16 fighter jet north of Sanaa early on Sunday. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah - RTX1EAP8

Is Islamic State 'secondary priority' for Saudi Arabia?

Riyadh is preoccupied with the military campaign in Yemen; Velayati tells Lebanese officials there will be no deal on Assad; the Turkish opposition party is under attack ahead of June 7 elections.

Ali Akbar Velayati, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's top adviser on international affairs, arrives to deliver a news conference after meeting with Lebanon's Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the government palace in Beirut May 18, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir - RTX1DGJ6

Khamenei adviser visits Beirut

During a visit to Beirut, Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, expressed his country’s appreciation to the achievements of Hezbollah in the Qalamoun area, while stressing that Iran will not interfere in internal Lebanese issues.

A Syrian refugee family is seen in front of their house in Ankara November 21, 2014. Syrian refugees across the Middle East, some in exile for a fourth winter, face freezing temperatures, hunger and increasing hostility from locals as governments struggle to cope with the humanitarian crisis. Lebanon and Jordan are tightening their borders to stem the flow of those trying to escape whilst in Turkey, widely praised for hosting around half Syria's estimated 3.2 million refugees, the influx threatens to upset

Attacks on Syrians in Turkey increasing

Increasing numbers of Turks are angered over the social and economic consequence of Turkey hosting some 2 million Syrian refugees.

The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah parliamentary bloc Mohamed Raad speaks during a news conference in Beirut March 4, 2011. Raad spoke out against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which was established in 2007 to prosecute, under Lebanese law, criminal acts relating to the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in Lebanon. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON) - RTR2JFBJ

Senior Hezbollah official speaks out

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc in Lebanon discusses the war in Syria and the party’s role there, the Saudi war against Yemen and the presidential stalemate in Lebanon.

U.S. and Jordanian soldiers participate in Exercise Eager Lion at the Jordan-Saudi Arabia border, south of Amman May 18, 2015. Around 10,000 participants from 18 countries will take part in Eager Lion. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed - RTX1DI9O

Defense spending bill provides boost to Jordan

House Defense appropriators released a FY 2016 bill that seeks to help Jordan fight the Islamic State.

Syrian refugees wait with their luggage and belongings outside a hotel in Beirut to be transported by buses to Beirut international airport for resettlement in Germany April 15, 2014. About 300 Syrian refugees departed early morning from Beirut to Germany on a private chartered flight where they will be offered resettlement, UNHCR, which has been assisting the refugees in Lebanon, said. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS SOCIETY IMMIGRATION) - RTR3LBDE

Are European nations discriminating against Syrian refugees?

During a meeting between Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bassil mentioned that some European countries are selecting Syrian refugees to move from Lebanon to Europe based on educational and religious standards.

Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters rest on the back of a pick-up truck with an installed weapon in Khashaat, in the Qalamoun region after they advanced in the area May 15, 2015. Lebanon's Hezbollah and Syria's army made big advances against insurgents in mountains north of Damascus on Wednesday, Hezbollah and Syrian state media said, shoring up President Bashar al-Assad's grip on the border zone. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir - RTX1D54Z

Hezbollah courts media outlets

Hezbollah gave the media a tour of parts of western Syria after seizing territory previously held by Jabhat al-Nusra.

A Lebanese Army vehicle drives down a mountain next to Ras-Baalbek, a Christian village on the outskirts of Arsal, August 30, 2014. Lebanese Christian fighters from three Christian villages that surround Arsal have been training for about three years and guarding their villages for the past year fearing a violent spillover from nearby Arsal, which is controlled by Islamic militias, according to the fighters. Picture taken August 30, 2014. REUTERS/Alia Haju (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) -

Nasrallah warns of impending Arsal battle

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah outlines some factors that seem to announce an upcoming clash in Arsal between Hezbollah fighters and IS and Jabhat al-Nusra militants.

U.S. President Barack Obama looks back toward Oman Deputy Prime Minister Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said (L) and the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (2nd L) while hosting the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at Camp David in Maryland May 14, 2015. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque - RTX1D0ZQ

Obama, GCC leaders forge consensus on Iran

Summit statement concludes that a “comprehensive, verifiable” nuclear deal “is in the security interests” of all parties; Kerry emphasizes need for US-Russia cooperation on Syria.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 18: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey testifies before the House Armed Services Committee at a hearing on "The President's Proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against ISIL and the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from the Department of Defense," on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. President Obama has requested authorization for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Syria against ISIS from Congress. (Photo by Allison Shelley/

Congress sends mixed messages on toppling Assad

The House passed a defense bill with contradictory guidance for assistance to the Syrian rebels.

A working tunnel, which is used to smuggle people from Egypt to Gaza, is seen in the Egyptian border city of Rafah, May 13, 2013. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTXZLC7

Egyptian law could imprison refugees, asylum seekers

Egypt is in close coordination with Europe and is moving in the direction to clamp down on irregular migrants and human smugglers who would be criminalized for the first time in Egyptian law should the said migration law be implemented.