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Syria

June 23, 2026

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Syria announces direct flights to Amsterdam as Europe links expand

The head of Syria’s General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport announced that after years of suspension, Syrian Airlines would restart direct services between Damascus and Amsterdam.

US President Donald Trump meets Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Oval Office, Washington, DC, Nov. 10, 2025.

Syria’s Sharaa says he had ‘multiple discussions’ with Trump on Lebanon, favors dialogue

Syrian President Sharaa has again played down Donald Trump’s request that Syria could enter Lebanon and help disarm Hezbollah.

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.

Latest News

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

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

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

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

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu draws a red line on a graphic of a bomb as he addresses the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, September 27, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR38I5Z

The Failure of Israel's Red Line Policy

By drawing red lines it cannot keep, Israel is harming its credibility and its deterrence capability.

Syrian opposition activists argue outside the venue of the main opposition National Coalition meeting in Istanbul on May 26, 2013. Angry at the Coalition's failure to reach any agreement, a group of some 15 protesters gathered outside the hotel where the group was meeting, with some demanding speedier action and others rejecting negotiations outright."We want them to decide. They've been in there four days, discussing expansion while they should be taking a stand against Iran and Hezbollah's attack on Qusay

Geneva II Talks on Syria Still Matter

Although the Syrian opposition has refused to deal with Assad, Geneva II still represents the best chance for a diplomatic start to end to the war.

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH

Relatives of Lulu Abdallah Awad carry her coffin during her funeral in Shi'ite town of Hermel, about 30 km (20 miles) north of Arsal May 28, 2013. Several rockets have been fired into Hermel in the past 24 hours. One of them killed Lulu and wounded two people, the Lebanese army said. REUTERS/Rami Bleibel (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) TEMPLATE OUT - RTX1048Y

Syrian Fault LinesIn Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley

The Syrian war has already come to Arsal and Hermel.

Smoke rises after shells exploded in the Syrian village of Al Rafeed, close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria, as seen from the Israeli occupied Golan Heights May 7, 2013. Israel played down weekend air strikes close to Damascus reported to have killed dozens of Syrian soldiers, saying they were not aimed at influencing its neighbour's civil war but only at stopping Iranian missiles reaching Lebanese Hezbollah militants. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTXZDAV

Syrians in Israeli-Occupied Golan Remain Divided on Assad

While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad enjoys considerable support from Golan Syrians under Israeli occupation, many are speaking up against his rule.

An Alevi woman prays in the women's part of the mosque in Hacibektash, 15 August 2005. The hamlet was named after Haci Bektas Veli, who lived between 1248 and 1337, founder of the Bektashi sect and of the Alevis -- an offshoot of Shiite Islam. He is revered as a manifestation of Ali, the last of the first four Caliphs and the son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed. Haci Bektas Veli, a humanist philospher, fled religious conflict in his native Central Asia, settled and lived and is buried here. The town of 8,000

Syria’s War Impacts Turkish Alevis

Syria’s sectarian conflict is spilling over into Turkey’s Alevi community.

A view shows the remains of a rocket, which residents say was recently fired into the mainly Shi'ite town of Hermel, about 30 km (20 miles) north of Arsal May 28, 2013. Several rockets have been fired into Hermel in the past 24 hours. One of them killed a woman and wounded two people, the Lebanese army said. REUTERS/Rami Bleibel (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CONFLICT) - RTX1041R

Lebanon: Fault Line for Hezbollah's War on 'Takfiris' in Syria

Just hours after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah announced that his party was fighting “takfiris” in Syria, two rockets struck a Shiite neighborhood in Beirut, suggesting that those “takfiris” might have military capabilities in Lebanon.

Residents gather at the site of bomb attacks in Baghdad May 27, 2013. More than 70 people were killed in a wave of bombings in markets in Shi'ite neighbourhoods across Baghdad on Monday in worsening sectarian violence in Iraq. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTX10368

Sectarian War a Two-Way Street For Iraq and Syria

What lessons do Syria’s Alawites learn from the experience of the Sunnis in Iraq?

The Syrian flag is seen as people watch Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as he appears on a screen during a live broadcast to speak to his supporters at an event marking Resistance and Liberation Day, in Bekaa valley May 25, 2013. The event is to commemorate the 13th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY) - RTX100E4

EU Puts Hezbollah on Notice

The European Union moves toward designating Hezbollah a terrorist organization as its arms embargo on Syria is allowed to lapse.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Paris, May 27, 2013. REUTERS/Jim Young (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX103D0

The Missing Syrian Peace

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are still working on the invitation list for Geneva II.

Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad carry their weapons as they move during what they said was an operation to push rebels from the road between Dahra Abd Rabbo village and Castello in Aleppo May 27, 2013. REUTERS/George Ourfalian (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX102VH

How We Lost The Syrian Revolution

A Syrian activist in Aleppo laments the lost revolution as he reveals the sense of betrayal felt after rebels looted and ravaged his city.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu wipes his eye as he addresses a news conference during an European Union-Turkey association council in Brussels May 27, 2013. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir (BELGIUM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX102QD

Revisiting Davutoglu on Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s first-ever admission of mistakes in Syria policy offers clues to his mindset.

Supporters of Hezbollah and relatives of Hezbollah members throw rice on a coffin at the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter who died in the Syrian conflict in Ouzai in Beirut May 26, 2013. Hezbollah forces and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops launched a fierce assault last week aimed at driving Syrian rebels out of Qusair, a strategic town close to the Lebanese border that rebels have used as a crucial supply corridor for weapons coming into Syria. REUTERS/Issam Kobeisy (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CONFLI

Hezbollah Confesses To Hand in Qusair Battle

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has explicitly acknowledged his party’s role in Syria, and sources describe the battle for Qusair.