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Syria

June 23, 2026

Damascus 9:44 am

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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

Turkey and Syria’s Kurds Edging Toward an Uneasy Peace?

Fresh fighting between Syrian Kurdish groups and Arab opposition fighters in Syria's Kurdish region is threatening to spread.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu speaks to the media after the Friends of Syria alliance meeting in Amman May 22, 2013. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZX4H

Davutoglu Cautiously 'Not Pessimistic' On Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says US-Turkish policies on Syria are now synchronized.

A boy wearing an army suit is held by people as they 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) MEDIA ANNIVERSARY) - RTX100EC

Nasrallah on Syria: 'This Battle Is Ours'

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declares war on Salafist groups and calls for "political dialogue" in Syria.

Syrian War Overtakes Lebanese Valley

Lebanon’s Wadi Khaled faces hardship and divisions as a result of the war in Syria.

A Lebanese army soldier is seen atop his tank as an ambulance travels past in Tripoli May 20, 2013. Three people have been killed and about 40 wounded in two days of fighting in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli, security sources said on Monday, as sectarian violence spilled over from the civil war in Syria. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTXZTWK

Syria's Struggle Is Now Lebanon's Struggle

Lebanon's political stability and instability have always depended on external key powers; today, the effect of the Syrian crisis, is no different.

Lebanese Sunni gunmen ride on motorcycles during the funeral of one of their colleagues in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli May 20, 2013. Three people have been killed and about 40 wounded in two days of fighting in Tripoli, security sources said on Monday, as sectarian violence spilled over from the civil war in Syria. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZTWV

Tripoli a ReflectionOf Syria’s Sectarian War

The fighting in Tripoli complicates Lebanon’s politics.

Palestinian Fatah members carry their weapons as they take part in a parade to mark the 65th anniversary of Nakba, at Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon May 15, 2013. Palestinians marked "Nakba" (Catastrophe) to commemorate the expulsion or fleeing of hundreds of thousands of their brethren from their homes in the war that led to the founding of Israel in 1948. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY) - RTXZN6R

Syria’s Conflict May Already Be in Lebanon

Following recent conflict in Lebanon’s Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, it is becoming ever more apparent that Syria’s conflict, as represented between Jabhat al-Nusra and Hezbollah, is already in Lebanon.

Misreading The 'Syria Transition Act' In Turkey

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee bill does not signal the imminent arrival of US arms to the Syria opposition.

Australian Visit Highlights Syrian Refugee Problem in Lebanon

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr calls for an end to the fighting in Syria and support for Lebanon.

Supporters of Hezbollah and relatives of Saleh Ahmed Sabagh, a Hezbollah member, carry the coffin during his funeral in the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon May 22, 2013. Syria's leading opposition group called on Wednesday for rebels across the country to send reinforcements to the strategic border town Qusair, where heavy fighting has drawn in fighters from Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST OBITUARY) - RTXZWIM

Lebanese Politics Affected By Syrian Battle for Qusair

The fall of the Syrian town of Qusair to regime forces will likely have consequences for Lebanon.

Israeli soldiers from the Nahal infantry brigade take part in a drill in the Golan Heights, near Israel's border with Syria March 5, 2013. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the territory in 1981, a move not recognised internationally. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (MILITARY) - RTR3ELLJ

Syrian Minister Defends 'Legitimate Right' to Fire on Israel

An exchange of fire between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights raises the question of whether Damascus has adopted a new policy toward Israel and the possibility of an active Golan front.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul waves as he visits the bomb scene on May 16, 2013 during the funerals of the victims of a car bomb which went off on May 11 at Reyhanli in Hatay just a few kilometres from the main border crossing into Syria. The death toll in twin car bombings in a Turkish town near the Syrian border has increased to 50 after another body was recovered and a victim died in hospital, the health minister was quoted as saying on May 14. The attacks also provoked a backlash against Syrian refugee

Turkey’s Syria Policy: No Easy Answers

Turkey’s Syria policies were not wrong, but poorly presented.