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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

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and U.S. President Barack Obama (R) arrive for a joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden in Washington, May 16, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZPHQ

Spillover Effects of Syria’s Sectarian Conflict on Turkey

The Reyhanli attack not only weakens Prime Minister Erdogan's hand in his meeting with President Obama, but also has ramifications for Turkey's stability.

A man works at a makeshift oil refinery site in al-Mansoura village in Raqqa's countryside May 5, 2013. Many civilians in the village who lost their jobs due to the Syrian conflict are making a living by refining crude oil to extract useful fuel such as gasoline and kerosene for sale. Picture taken May 5, 2013. REUTERS/Hamid Khatib (SYRIA - Tags: CONFLICT ENERGY BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT) - RTXZIAG

Syrian Oil Becomes Fault Line In War

With Syria's oil reserves divided between Kurdish and opposition forces, some fear a clash over the country's energy resources.

Rise of Radical Jihadists Setback for Syria

US military intervention would not have prevented, and will not prevent, radical jihadism in Syria.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and Jordan's King Abdullah await questions from the press prior to a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House to discuss issues like the Syrian crisis and regional security, in Washington, April 26, 2013. REUTERS/Mike Theiler (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZ1AA

Has Jordan Abandoned Its Cautious Policy on Syria?

Amman will host the opposition Friends of Syria meeting next week.

Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman (R) meets with Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov at the presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut, April 26, 2013. REUTERS/Dalati Nohra/Handout (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - RTXZ0WW

Russian Embassy in Beirut Becomes Hub for Syria Diplomacy

With Russia’s diplomatic base relocated from Damascus to Beirut, Moscow is refining its strategy on the Syrian crisis as the second Geneva conference nears.

Ralph Alswang Photographer
www.ralphphoto.com
202-487-5025

Van Hollen Discusses Middle East, 'Unintended Consequences' in Syria

Representative Christopher Van Hollen, ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, discusses the Middle East in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor.

The owner of a shop and his family members wait in his damaged shop at the site of a twin bomb blast in the town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, near the Turkish-Syrian border May 14, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZLWK

Bombings Lead to Anger, Questions Over Turkey’s Syria Policy

Many Turks are wondering how their nation's Syrian policy can be a success when it has started costing innocent Turkish lives.

Turkey's Alevis attend a rally in Ankara November 9, 2008. Thousands of Turkish Alevis marched in Ankara on Sunday in their first massive demonstration to call for an end to discrimination by the government and compulsory religious classes. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY) - RTXAF37

Bombing Exposes Divide In Turkish Politics

Tensions in Reyhanli mirror Turkish Alevis' frustrations over their unmet demands for recognition.

U.S. President Barack Obama (7th R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (6th R) pose with members of Israel's defense force as he views an Iron Dome Battery at Ben Gurion International Airport Airport in Tel Aviv March 20, 2013. Obama said at the start of his first official visit to Israel on Wednesday that the U.S. commitment to the security of the Jewish state was rock solid and that peace must come to the Holy Land. REUTERS/Jason Reed (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR3F84T

Can the Israeli Defense Budget Be Cut In Half?

A veteran Israeli Defense Forces general claims the threats to Israel today do not require a massive military or huge air force.

Moaz Alkhatib, head of the Syrian National Coalition, attends the Arab League summit in Doha in this March 26, 2013 handout. A summit of Arab heads of state opened in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday expected to focus on the war in Syria as well as on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. REUTERS/Handout (QATAR - Tags: POLITICS) ATTENTION EDITORS - FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED

Syrian Parties Respond to US-Russia Conference Proposal

Syrian parties consider their participation in the conference proposed by the United States and Russia.

A Kurdish fighter from the "Popular Protection Units" (YPG) gestures after firing towards Syrian government forces inside a building in the majority-Kurdish Sheikh Maqsud district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 21, 2013. Syria's National Coalition head Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib has refiled his resignation and an interim leader is being sought, a fellow member and a source close to the main opposition group said. AFP PHOTO/MIGUEL MEDINA (Photo credit should read MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Ima

Iraqi Kurds Reportedly Among Jihadists in Syria

Iraqi Kurdish youth have reportedly been fighting alongside jihadists in Syria.

Syrians wait to cross back into Syria at the Turkish Cilvegozu border, opposite the Syrian commercial crossing point Bab al-Hawa, in Reyhanli, Hatay province, May 14, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZLW2

No 'Good Guys' Or 'Bad Guys' in Syria

Saudi Arabia and Qatar need to support a diplomatic outcome in Syria.