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June 18, 2026

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Hassan Akkad speaks about fleeing Syria in 2015 and his work as a filmmaker at a BAFTA event, Sept. 2023.

Culture

In Syria, detention of Hassan Akkad raises alarm about free expression under Sharaa

Akkad, a British-Syrian filmmaker, was detained Wednesday night after his campaign questioning the whereabouts of funds allegedly pledged for relief, reconstruction and community initiatives across Syria.

Mazloum Abdi (Kobani), commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks with AFP during an interview in the countryside outside the northwestern Syrian city of Hasakah, in the province of the same name, on January 24, 2019. - Any deal between Syria's Kurds and the Damascus regime should respect the "special status" of Kurdish-led forces who fought the Islamic State (IS) group, Kobani said. The SDF control around a third of Syria after expelling jihadists from a large northeastern swathe of t

Syrian Kurd commander Kobane kicks off European tour amid scrutiny from Damascus

Commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces Mazlum Kobane is on a European tour and will likely meet French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Paris.

Latest News

Analysis

Why Trump’s push for Syria to confront Hezbollah is an unlikely bid

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa is welcomed by Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia on April 24, 2026, on the sidelines of a European summit.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

'Let Syria take care of Hezbollah': Trump criticizes Israel, leans on Sharaa to help in Lebanon

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE - JUNE 16: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the G7 summit, on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. Leaders from the Group of 7 (G7) countries convened in Evian, France, near the Swiss border, for their annual summit to discuss challenges to peace and security for Ukraine and Europe, the situation in the Middle East, and other geopolitical issues. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Get

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

UN-Arab League Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi speaks to the media after Security Council consultations at the United Nations headquarters in New York May 13, 2014. Brahimi will step down on May 31, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday, blaming an international deadlock over how to end the three-year civil war in the country for hampering his bid to broker peace.
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3P07X

Former UN Syria envoy says Iran plan on Syria 'worth discussing'

In his first interview since resigning as the UN-Arab League special envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi reflects on the reasons for the failure of the Geneva process and the prospects for a political solution in Syria.

Destroyed buildings are pictured, after the cessation of fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in Homs city, May 10, 2014. Picture taken May 10, 2014. REUTERS/Ghassan Najjar (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3ON0N

US should test Iran on Syria

The United States and Iran can build on shared interests in combating al-Qaeda and terrorist groups, disarmament of Syria’s chemical weapons and opening humanitarian aid corridors.

A sign is pictured inside the 16th-century Tatar Khans' palace in Bakhchisaray April 2, 2014. From the 16th-century Tatar Khans' palace in Bakhchisaray to the former tsarist residence that hosted the World War Two Yalta conference, Crimea's heritage sites have become a source of bitter contention since Russia seized the region from Ukraine. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (UKRAINE - Tags: TRAVEL SOCIETY) - RTR3JPF8

Erdogan under pressure over threat to Tatars in Ukraine

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is boxed in by a looming civil war in Ukraine and an intractable conflict in Syria.

Search and rescue officers work at a damaged building at the site of blast in the town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, near the Turkish-Syrian border, May 14, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZLWH

Turkish governor lays out ISIS threat

Celalettin Lekesiz, the governor of Hatay province, is now going public with the threats to Turkey from al-Qaeda and ISIS operations in Turkey and on the Turkey-Syria border.

A Palestinian Salafist shouts slogans in front of a poster depicting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (R) and Egypt's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with the Arabic words that read "criminals and murderers", during a rally in protest of what they say are recent massacres committed against Syrian and Egyptian people, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 22, 2013. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX12TC6

Egypt's cold realism on Syria

Egyptian officials are focusing on their own politics for now, while expecting a protracted conflict in Syria.

A member of Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra mans a checkpoint on the border crossing between Syria and Jordan, which they claim to have taken control of, in Daraa December 26, 2013. Flag reads, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet. Al-Nusra front, al-Qaeda in the Levant". Picture taken December 26, 2013. REUTERS/Ammar Khassawneh (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX16VW7

International efforts against Al-Qaeda key to Syria political solution

A UN counterterrorism committee can do even more to coordinate a more effective response to al-Qaeda in Syria and eventually a political resolution of the conflict.

A worker stands and works on a campaign billboard of presidential candidate and Egypt's former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, along a highway in Cairo May 12, 2014. An influential Qatar-based Islamist whose fiery sermons have caused tension between Gulf states said on Sunday that Egyptian presidential front runner Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will only bring downfall to the country. Sisi is expected to easily win the May 26-27 presidential election. The only other candidate is leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, w

The false promise of Mideast elections

The coming presidential elections in Egypt, Syria and Turkey offer little hope for a regional trend toward stability and democracy.

Veiled women sit as they chat in a garden in the northern province of Raqqa March 31, 2014. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has imposed sweeping restrictions on personal freedoms in the northern province of Raqqa. Among the restrictions, Women must wear the niqab, or full face veil, in public or face unspecified punishments "in accordance with sharia", or Islamic law. REUTERS/Stringer (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT RELIGION SOCIETY) - RTR3JCO4

Syrian girls forced to marry ISIS fighters

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham is forcing Syrian girls to marry its foreign fighters.

Residents carry belongings from home following the cessation of fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in Homs city May 10, 2014. Hundreds of residents have started to return to Homs after rebels left the city. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3OL1I

War-weary Syrians see hope in Homs deal

Syrian civilians, routinely shelled by regime forces and rebels, hope the Homs cease-fire is an indication of better times to come.

Workers hang banners for Hassan Abdallah al-Nouri in front of a banner for President Bashar al-Assad on a street in Damascus May 11, 2014. Assad will compete with other two candidates in a June presidential election, the Supreme Constitutional Court of Syria said on Saturday. The poster consists of the Arabic word "Sawa" (Together) and Assad's name and signature (back) and "bringing back the middle class" with Dr. Hassan al-Nouri on the banner of his opponent (front). REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki (SYRIA - Tags:

Syrian government ponders post-election scenarios

As the June 3 presidential elections approach in Syria, the government considers how domestic and internal actors will react to the expected re-election of President Bashar Al-Assad.

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH

People carry a wounded woman after an accidental explosion caused by leftover ordnance at Bustan al-Diwan, in old Homs City, May 10, 2014. Hundreds of residents return to Homs, after rebels left the city. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) TEMPLATE OUT - RTR3OKXD

What can we learn from Homs?

Given the collapse of the Geneva process, and the Syrian government’s staying power, localized cease-fires may be the latest trend in the conflict.

A photo of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is seen along a street in old Homs city May 8, 2014. Syrian forces say they will take full control on Thursday over Homs, a city once vibrant with pro-democracy crowds but now associated with images of ruin that epitomise the brutality of Syria's civil war. After holding the Old City of Homs for nearly two years, close to 1,200 rebel fighters boarded buses which took them out of the "capital of the revolution" in convoys on Wednesday and Thursday, activists said.

Ankara at crossroads on Syria policy

Developments in Syria have confounded the Turkish government’s efforts to depose President Bashar al-Assad and forced a rethink of its policies.