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Syria

September 1, 2026

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Tribal and Bedouin fighters deploy in the western neighborhood of southern Syria's predominantly Druze city of Suwayda amid clashes with Druze gunmen on July 19, 2025.

Fresh fighting in Syria's Suwayda leaves one dead: What to know

Renewed clashes in Suwayda highlight the fragile security situation in the Druze-majority province.

Ongoing construction work is pictured at a site in Marota City, a new mixed-use development project near the Umayyad Square in Damascus on July 22, 2026. Syria's new leaders, who inherited a dilapidated economy, are trying to attract capital without waiting for the full lifting of international sanctions. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP via Getty Images)

UAE investment fuels Syria's postwar economic recovery with $7B property deal

The deal would see UAE-based Arada develop a major real estate project in Damascus.

JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

UAE gauges new Lebanon deals amid Levant economic stabilization push

Beirut welcomed a high-level business delegation from the UAE in late August as Abu Dhabi pursues new regional economic engagement amid Iran's waning influence.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Latest News

Analysis

Why Turkey welcomes Israel-Syria talks despite mounting red lines

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrive for a joint press conference following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Feb. 4, 2025.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Sharaa taps Visa as Syria reconnects to global finance: What to know

cards

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 troops are pictured in the area of Kafr Jannah on the outskirts of the Syrian town of Afrin on Oct. 18, 2022.

Syrian jihadist group HTS, armed groups agree to uneasy truce

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has seized several cities and towns in areas under the control of the Turkish-backed factions after days of clashes between rival factions.

Abdul Hakim al-Shishani, commander of the Ajnad al-Kavkaz group (circled in red) with a Chechen fighting unit, Oct. 15, 2022.

Chechen fighters leave Syria to battle Russians in Ukraine

Abdul Hakim al-Shishani, a veteran of the Chechen-Russian war in the 1990s and commander of the Ajnad al-Kavkaz group fighting Syrian government forces in Latakia, arrived in Ukraine with a group of Chechen fighters to battle Russian forces.

A general shot taken on June 30, 2015, shows a neighborhood in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Syrian government retaliates for killing of soldiers by Islamic State

The Syrian government and Russia accused the Islamic State of blowing up a troop bus of the Syrian army’s Fourth Division in its main headquarters near Damascus.

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images

Ukrainian breakaway region sends delegation to Syria

Syria, which has a history of supporting pro-Russia breakaway regions, recognized Donetsk and Luhansk earlier this year.

Members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadist group bring reinforcements.

Is Turkey using HTS to strengthen its hand in Syria?

Amid Ankara’s overtures to Damascus, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the radical group controlling Idlib — has seized Afrin and is seeking a deal to expand its control further into territories held by factions allied with Turkey.

Members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadi group advance toward the village of Jindayris.

Are Syria’s HTS jihadis Turkey’s new friends?

After Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the jihadi faction that runs the northwestern province of Idlib, moved into Afrin, the question of where Turkey stands in this power grab is of critical importance.

People take part in a funeral in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province.

Islamic State claims over 125 people killed in Syrian operations in 2 months

The Islamic State announced the largest number of operations it has so far carried out in the span of two months in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, which is under the control of Kurdish forces in northeast Syria.

Syrians take part in the funeral of 10 fighters with the Turkey-backed Faylaq al-Sham rebel faction in Syria, in the northwestern city of Idlib, following their death in a Russian airstrike, Syria, Oct. 26, 2020.

Russian warplanes hit targets in northwest Syria

Russian warplanes escalated their shelling of Idlib amid field clashes between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Syrian government forces in the countryside of Aleppo.

A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) walks past shops with their fronts painted with the Arabic phrases "beware a sniper" and "caliphate state," after the Kurdish-led and US-backed SDF retook the city from Islamic State fighters, Hajin, Deir ez-Zor province, Syria, Jan. 27, 2019.

Islamic State terrorizes business owners in northeast Syria

Islamic State cells have been active in the areas controlled by the Kurdish forces in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, forcing business owners to pay taxes under the pretext of zakat.

Daily workers harvest onions near Turkey’s border wall with Syria, Sept. 29, 2022.

Syrian farmers trapped by 'Erdogan's wall'

Military unrest combined with drought is making it much harder to draw a living from the soil along the Turkish-Syrian border.

A girl walks while holding water containers in her hands and mouth at the Washukanni camp for the internally displaced near the town of Tuwaynah, near the city of Hasakah, Syria, Oct. 8, 2020.

Turkish-backed Syrian group cuts off water to Hasakah

Hasakah residents in northeast Syria have relied on buying water from private suppliers as their underground wells have dried up, while the Turkish-backed factions suspended pumping operations from the only water station supplying the city.

Members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham attend a graduation for a new batch of fighters in the countryside near the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib, Syria, Sept. 13, 2022.

Rare clashes erupt between jihadist group, Turkey-backed faction in Syria's Idlib

Clashes erupted between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Faylaq al-Sham, affiliated with the Turkish-backed FSA, due to differences over the alleged opening of a commercial crossing with the Syrian government-held areas in the eastern Idlib countryside.