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June 19, 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

Israeli soldiers stand atop an armoured personnel carrier (APC) positioned near the Lebanese border, close to the northern Israeli town of Shlomi February 27, 2014. Israel's northern region near Lebanon was tense on Thursday and the military ordered farmers away from fields abutting the border, a day after the Lebanese Hezbollah militia threatened to respond to an Israeli air strike that hit one of its bases on the border with Syria earlier in the week. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS)

Israeli raid fuels internal divisions in Lebanon

The Israeli raid along the Lebanese-Syrian border generated reactions of embarrassment among the Syrian regime and the opposition, and from Bashar al-Assad's allies in Lebanon and their opponents, but each for different reasons.

Syrian rebel force to receive Saudi arms has worked with al-Qaeda group

The leader of the Saudi-backed rebel Southern Front, which Riyadh intends to arm with advanced weaponry, has openly collaborated with al-Qaeda during the course of the Syria war.

Al-Monitor recognized by IPI as 'Free Media Pioneer'

The International Press Institute has awarded the annual Free Media Pioneer Award to Al-Monitor as “a model for independent coverage of the region through its news, features, analysis and commentary at a time of political upheaval.”

Syrian families queue to be registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on February 18, 2014 in the Arsal refugee camp in the Lebanese Bekaa valley. More than 130,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, and millions more have been displaced in what UN officials have described as the worst refugee crisis in two decades. AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

Expectations low for Paris conference on Lebanon

Supporting Lebanon’s neutrality and providing limited funds to deal with the Syrian refugees may be all that the Paris conference achieves.

An Israeli policeman scuffles with a Palestinian during clashes near Lion's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City February 7, 2014. Tensions briefly ran high on Friday in Jerusalem's Old City following clashes that erupted between Israeli police and stone-throwing Palestinians on a compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (JERUSALEM - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX18CFC

The Jordan Option and Al-Aqsa Mosque

Jordan is torn between its special role in East Jerusalem and its concerns over the Palestinian impact on Jordanian identity.

Rescuers carry a wounded boy who survived what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood February 26, 2014. REUTERS/Malek Al Shemali (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3FQU3

Barrel bombings cause mass evacuation in east Aleppo

An exclusive first hand report on how fearful residents, along with opposition forces, have fled east Aleppo en masse as the Syrian government's barrel bombing campaign shows no sign of relenting.

A man mourns near the body of his brother, wrapped in a blanket, who was among those killed during Sunday night's suicide bomb attack at a popular coffee shop in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, 170 km (106 miles) north of Baghdad, July 17, 2006. The attack killed 21 people, mostly elderly men. REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed (IRAQ) - RTR1FKIO

Turkmen caught between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Turkmen are getting pressure from the Turkish government to work more closely with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq.

Participants drum with sticks and burn tyres during a performance called "freedom", in support of Ukrainian anti-government protesters who held rallies in Maidan Nezalezhnosti or Independence Square in Kiev, in front of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood in central St. Petersburg February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev (RUSSIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX19CK6

Ukraine’s effect on Russia's Syria policy? Not much

While Moscow will be preoccupied with the crisis in Ukraine, its support for a political settlement in Syria will not vary.

A policeman watches as a bus, destroyed in an earlier explosion, is towed away in Volgograd December 30, 2013. A bomb ripped apart a bus in Volgograd on Monday, killing 14 people in the second deadly attack blamed on suicide bombers in the southern Russian city in 24 hours and raising fears of Islamist attacks on the Winter Olympics. REUTERS/Sergei Karpov (RUSSIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW DISASTER TRANSPORT) - RTX16XGD

Russia deals with rise in terrorism linked to Syria, Mideast

Fresh terror attacks have made Russia more concerned about the threat of Islamic terrorism and have shaped the country's policy in the Middle East.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Tammam Salam speaks at the presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut February 15, 2014. Lebanon announced a new government on Saturday, breaking a 10-month political deadlock during which spillover violence from neighbouring Syria worsened internal instability. Parliament designated Sunni lawmaker Salam as prime minister in April 2013, but he had been unable to form a government for months due to rivalries between the Hezbollah-dominated March 8 bloc and the March 14 alliance, led

New Lebanese government must deal with terror

While the partnership between Hezbollah and the Future Movement in the new Lebanese government is good start, to be truly successful, they must directly address terrorism together.

The peril of escalation in Syria

Edward Dark writes that Aleppans will pay the price for any escalation in the war; the UN Security Council votes for humanitarian assistance and calls for greater cooperation to confront al-Qaeda in Syria; 16 female journalists cover the Middle East; and exorcism in the Gaza Strip.

German rapper, now jihadist still alive in Syria

Deso Dogg, aka Abu Talha al-Almani, was thought to have been killed in an airstrike, but recent videos reveal that he is alive and active among jihadists in Syria.