Syria - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Palmyra

Syria

June 20, 2026

Damascus 7:19 pm

30°C

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 Syrian woman holds a banner for saving Maaloula while Lebanese and Syrian Christian Maronites pray for peace in Syria, in Harisa, Jounieh September 7, 2013. REUTERS/Hasan Shaaban (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTX13C2S

Syrian Islamist Rebels Threaten Maaloula, Christians

The Aramaic-speaking village of Maaloula, a symbol of religious and sectarian coexistence in Syria, has been invaded and desecrated by Islamist opposition groups.

Demonstrators form a human chain in front of security forces during a peace day rally at Taksim square in central Istanbul September 1, 2013. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTX133II

Turks Oppose War in Syria

A recent Turkish poll shows that those opposed to a war in Syria grew from 57% to 72% over the past year.

A piece of the wreckage of Turkish F-4 jet which was shot down by Syria and retrieved from the seabed on Thursday, is seen in this undated, picture taken underwater and released by Turkish Chief of Staff July 5, 2012. Turkey's armed forces command said on Thursday it had retrieved the bodies of two pilots of a jet shot down by Syria last month, recovering them from the seabed 8.6 nautical miles from the Syrian coast. REUTERS/Turkey Land Forces Headquarters/Handout (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) FOR EDIT

Was Turkey's F-4 Shot Down Over Syria by a Lawyer?

Only a lawyer has been prosecuted following the shooting down of a Turkish jet over Syrian airspace in June 2012.

Christian clerics hold candles during a candle-lit vigil at the Balamand Monastery in Koura, near the north Lebanese city of Tripoli, to call for the release of bishops kidnapped in northern Syria two months ago, June 22, 2013. Greek Orthodox Patriarch John Yazigi led the candle-lit vigil on Saturday for Greek Orthodox archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim, appealing to their kidnappers to free them and urging Syrian security forces to do more to win their release. REUTERS/Om

Christians In the Levant Grow Fearful Over US Syria Strike

Christians in Syria and Lebanon congregate to discuss the implications for their community should the United States follow through with its plans to carry out military strikes on Syria.

Syrian opposition demonstrators living in Jordan hold a poster of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a rally in front of the Turkish embassy in Amman June 26, 2011, in support of Turkey's tough stance against President Bashar al-Assad. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2O4DU

Five Lessons From Turkey’s 1998 Standoff With Syria

Revisiting the 1998 confrontation with Syria over Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan could help decision makers in Ankara avoid the pitfalls of intervention.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan attends the first working session of the G20 Summit in Constantine Palace in Strelna near St. Petersburg, September 5, 2013. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin (RUSSIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX138DI

Military Strike on Syria May Put Turkey at Risk

Turkey may become the target of Syrian retaliation and face domestic unrest in the case of a US strike on Syria.

Syrian refugees look out from their tent at a refugee camp in al-Qaim, Anbar province, September 8, 2012. Al Qaim, in the Sunni heartland of Anbar province, reflects the tricky balancing act Iraq's Shi'ite leaders face in Syria, whose crisis is testing the Middle East's sectarian divide. Al Qaim and its neighbouring Syrian counterpart Albu Kamal are on a strategic supply route for smugglers, gun-runners and now insurgents aiming to join the rebellion. Picture taken September 8, 2012. To match Feature SYRIA-

Iraq Needs Unity to Deal with Syria Crisis

As foreign military intervention in Syria grows more imminent, the Iraqi authorities would do well to set aside their internal differences and take the necessary precautions should its neighbor’s conflict spill over onto its territory.

A general view of Bushehr nuclear power plant, 1,200 km (746 miles) south of Tehran, August 21, 2010. Iran began fuelling its first nuclear power plant on Saturday, a potent symbol of its growing regional sway and rejection of international sanctions designed to prevent it building a nuclear bomb. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY) - RTXSAXN

Syria's Chemical Weapons Could Inform Iran Nuclear Talks

By talking to Iran, the Obama administration could find a face-saving off-ramp for its Syrian conundrum and build trust for resolving Iran's nuclear crisis.

Syrian refugees, fleeing the violence in their country, wait to cross the border into the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, August 21, 2013. The government of Iraqi Kurdistan has set an entry quota of 3,000 refugees a day to cope with an influx of Kurds fleeing the civil war in Syria, but there are signs many more are still coming in, aid agencies said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS SOCIETY IMMIGRATION) - RTX12SKT

Syrian Kurdish Party Struggles With Dissent, Exodus

In Amuda, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) has imposed a resolution banning Syrian Kurdish emigration after last month's mass exodus in pursuit of autonomy.

People with mobile phones film the Marine One while it takes off with U.S. President Barack Obama as he departs for Sweden and the G20 summit in Russia, from the White House in Washington September 3, 2013. Obama won the backing of key figures in the U.S. Congress, including Republicans, in his call for limited U.S. strikes on Syria to punish President Bashar al-Assad for his suspected use of chemical weapons against civilians. Obama will hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and French

What Does Syria Crisis Hold for US, Iran?

The challenges of the Syrian crisis, and how Iran and the United States deal with it, will have a strong impact in the region.

Syrian residents carry their belongings as they cross from Syria into Turkey, near the town of Azaz in Syria September 5, 2013. REUTERS/Molhem Barakat (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT POLITICS) - RTX138IF

Turkey Calls for Help Receiving Syrian Refugees

Turkey's foreign minister is concerned that another chemical weapons attack could increase the number of refugees from neighboring countries.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) welcomes U.S. President Barack Obama before the first working session of the G20 Summit in Constantine Palace in Strelna near St. Petersburg, September 5, 2013. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor (RUSSIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX1388G

Putin: US on Dangerous Course In Syria

Russia may no longer consider the US a reliable partner.