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Syria

November 8, 2026

Damascus 12:50 pm

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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

A boy fills up a motorbike with diesel along a street in the Islamic State's stronghold of Raqqa September 30, 2014. Activists said that the price of the diesel and gasoline has increased since the beginning of the air raids believed to have been carried out by U.S.-led forces against Islamic State (IS) militants. Air strikes believed to have been carried out by U.S.-led forces hit three makeshift oil refineries in Syria's Raqqa province early on Sunday as part of an assault to weaken Islamic State (IS) mil

Syrian price spikes: Aleppo gas increases by 140%

Strikes by the US-led coalition on the Islamic State have targeted oil wells and refineries, causing prices of basic commodities in Syria to skyrocket.

Lebanese army soldiers on their military vehicles enter the Sunni Muslim border town of Arsal, in eastern Bekaa Valley March 19, 2014. The Lebanese army reopened a road between two towns near the Syrian border on Wednesday to try to calm sectarian rivalry aggravated by the conflict in neighbouring Syria. Shi'ite Muslims from the Bekaa Valley town of al-Labwa, where Hezbollah has strong support, had erected sandbag barriers at the weekend to cut off the Sunni Muslim town of Arsal from the rest of Lebanon. RE

Nusra attacks on Lebanon attempt to 'change rules of game'

Attacks by Jabhat al-Nusra on Hezbollah-controlled positions inside Lebanon represent a troubling development for the Lebanese and possibly the regime in Damascus as well.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin votes in the United Nations Security Council against referring the Syrian crisis to the International Criminal Court for investigation of possible war crimes at the U.N. headquarters in New York May 22, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3QE4L

How US airstrikes are affecting Moscow's Syria policy

A central goal of Russia's Syria policy is to relegitimize the Syrian regime in the eyes of the United States and its allies in the region, and oblige them to recognize it as an ally in the fight against extremism.

Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani, Turkish army tanks take position on the Turkish side of the border, as seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in Sanliurfa province October 8, 2014. U.S.-led air strikes on Wednesday pushed Islamic State fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which they had appeared set to seize after a three-week assault, local officials said. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS TPX I

Kobani is becoming Turkey's war

Turks are fighting on both sides of the Islamic State-YPG battle for Kobani, but increasing numbers of Kurdish fighters, including women, are coming from Turkey to join the battle.

Iran op-ed asks Soleimani to defend Kobani

A conservative Iranian news site has published an op-ed asking Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani to defend the Kurds of Kobani as Iranians in various cities protest to show support.

A member of forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad holds the Syrian flag as he walks on debris of damaged buildings in al-Dukhaneya neighbourhood near Damascus, after the forces regained control of the area from rebel fighters October 7, 2014. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR499FJ

Syrian regime ignores supporters' rising anger

Anger among pro-government supporters spilled into protests in Homs last week after two deadly suicide bombings, but the Syrian government remains indifferent to their complaints.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington October 1, 2014. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR48IYO

Israel's war with the US

As Israel-US ties continue to deteriorate, Israel is dealing with two other fronts: the Lebanese border where an explosive device just wounded two soldiers, and the mysterious explosion at the Parchin nuclear plant in Iran.

Turkish soldiers are seen on top of an armoured vehicle, with the Syrian town of Kobani in the background, near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border, in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 3, 2014. Kurdish fighters defending a Syrian border town warned on Friday of a likely massacre by Islamic State insurgents as the Islamists encircled the town with tanks and bombarded its outskirts with artillery fire. Turkey said it would do what it could to preven

Assad, not Islamic State, in Ankara’s crosshairs

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is trying to convince Washington that the real enemy is the Syrian regime, but appears to be failing to do so as the US-led coalition keeps its focus on the Islamic State.

A Kurdish flag and a Islamic State flag flutter on each end of the Mullah Abdullah bridge in southern Kirkuk September 29, 2014. Members of the Kurdish security forces and the Islamic State are holding fort behind sandbags on different ends of the bridge. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4884H

Can PKK transform military might into political power?

As regional developments open new military and political arenas to the PKK, it is unlikely that the Turkish peace process will end with the Kurds disarming.

Syrian Kurdish refugees struggle to find affordable housing

The violence in Iraq has prompted many Syrian Kurdish refugees who took refuge in northern Iraq to return to their homes in Syria.

A soldier loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad smokes while resting on a tank in Adra al-Omalia, after taking control of the area from rebel fighters September 25, 2014. Syrian government forces overran rebels in the town northeast of Damascus on Thursday, strengthening al-Assad's grip on territory around the capital. The town - Adra al-Omalia - is about 30 km (19 miles) from central Damascus but far from parts of Syria where the United States has launched air strikes against Islamic State militants.

Syrian army closes in on Douma after Adra victory

Syrian regime forces have scored an important victory by securing the strategic town of Adra in the Damascus countryside, increasing pressure on rebel strongholds in eastern Ghouta.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan addresses the Turkish Parliament during a debate marking the reconvene of the parliament in Ankara October 1, 2014. Turkey will fight against Islamic State and other "terrorist" groups in the region but will stick to its aim of seeing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad removed from power, Erdogan said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR48IMI

Erdogan's slow turnaround on foreign fighters in Syria

US Vice President Joe Biden says "our biggest problem is our allies" in combating foreign fighters; Aleppo battle lines so far unaffected by airstrikes; Israel considers threat from Islamic State.