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June 20, 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

A Palestinian girl, who had been living at Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, looks out of a bus window, as the bus arrives at the Lebanese-Syrian border, in al-Masnaa December 18, 2012. More than 1,000 Palestinian refugees living in Syria have crossed into Lebanon in the past 24 hours, a source at the Lebanese border said on Tuesday, after Syrian rebels took control of a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY) - RTR3BPTI

Displaced Syrians Shed Light On Lebanon’s Internally Displaced

The continuous flow of displaced Syrians into Lebanon throughout the civil war has served to bring attention to internally displaced Lebanese citizens, who lead similarly disaffected lives.

An officer of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) stands guard near the Syrian-Iraq border October 31, 2012. Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani warned Kurds in Syria against being sucked into the "fires of discord," urging them to preserve Kurdish unity as tensions between rival factions threaten to spillover into violence. Syria's Kurds see the war ravaging their country as an unprecedented opportunity to gain the kind of freedoms enjoyed by their ethnic kin in neighbouring Iraq, where they

Kurdish Groups Take Control In Northeast Syria

Kurdish autonomy in north-east Syria will struggle if Syria’s Kurdish forces do not reach an understanding with local Arab residents.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (R) speaks during an interview with Turkey's Halk TV in Damascus, in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA on October 4, 2013. Assad has told Turkey it will pay a heavy price for backing rebels fighting to oust him, accusing it of harbouring "terrorists" along its border who would soon turn against their hosts. In an interview with Turkey's Halk TV due to be broadcast later on Friday, Assad called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan "big

Assad Warns Erdogan On Turkey’s Syria Policy

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s latest interview reveals again the deep personal enmity between him and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan address an audience during the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's (EBRD) 2013 Annual Meeting and Business Forum in Istanbul May 10, 2013. Erdogan said Turkey would support a U.S.-enforced no-fly zone in Syria and warned that Damascus crossed President Barack Obama's "red line" on chemical weapons use long ago, according to an NBC News interview released Thursday. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTXZH9Z

Erdogan Should Back Geneva II Conference on Syria

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan could benefit Turkey by supporting the Geneva conference, not clinging to failing regime-change policies.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal looks at his watch before his interview with Reuters in Doha November 29, 2012. Meshaal said the de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state won by his rival Mahmoud Abbas should be seen alongside Gaza's latest conflict with Israel as a single, bold strategy that could empower all Palestinians. Meshaal said the short war which claimed 162 Palestinian lives and five Israelis was concluded on terms set by the Palestinian Islamist movement and ended its isolation, creating

Hamas Activists Accuse Meshaal Of Preferring Life in Exile

Rumors about Hamas Chief of Political Bureau Khaled Meshaal leaving Qatar for Beirut have sparked criticism within the movement toward those exiled leaders who refuse to return to Gaza.

Ahmad Jarba (L), head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, is seen reflected in a mirror as he attends a news conference about chemical weapons in New York, September 27, 2013. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX142FX

Syrian Opposition Regroups After UN Resolution on Chemical Weapons

The Syrian government and opposition are refocusing their strategies after UN Security Council Resolution 2118.

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Israel Remembers Vows of Soldier For Comrades in Golan

Vows by Dan Almagor during the Tel Saki battle were transformed 40 years later into a memorial site for the Israeli soldiers who died there.

A view shows damaged buildings in Aleppo's Karm al-Jabal district October 6, 2013. REUTERS/Nour Kelze (SYRIA - Tags: CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3FNSO

Syrian Islamist Forces Gain in Aleppo

Divisions among Syrian opposition groups may be hindering Geneva II.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem September 17, 2013. Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on September 30, an Israeli official said on Tuesday, for talks expected to focus on Iran's nuclear programme. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX13O85

The Israeli-Sunni Coalition Against Iran

Is there a quiet coalition among the Gulf states and Israel to thwart a possible thaw in US-Europe-Iran ties?

Worshippers hold candles as they take part in the Christian Orthodox Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old city May 4, 2013. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: RELIGION TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTXZA2B

Do Christians Have a Future In the Middle East?

A recent conference in Amman gathered prominent Christian academics, politicians and parlimentarians from the Middle East to discuss the challenges Christians face in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enters a door to speak at the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York October 1, 2013. Netanyahu said on Tuesday the only way to peacefully stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons is to combine tough sanctions with a credible military threat and that Israel was ready to stand alone in defending itself. REUTERS/Adrees Latif (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3FHFO

Israel Contemplates New Regional Strategy

Israel is anticipating how to manage the consequences of a thaw in US-Iran relations.

Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah wave Hezbollah flags as they listen to him via a screen during a rally on the 7th anniversary of the end of Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel, in Aita al-Shaab village in southern Lebanon, August 16, 2013. Nasrallah renewed his commitment on Friday to the battle in Syria, where the Shi'ite militant group has been fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces, saying he was ready to go himself if needed. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON

Hezbollah and Rouhani

Hezbollah's relationship with Iran is not dependent on the Iranian presidency or government, but rather insitutions connected with the office of Iran's supreme leader and the velayati-e faqih.