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Syria

June 24, 2026

Damascus 10:01 am

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OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

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.

Latest News

Culture

In Syria, detention of Hassan Akkad raises alarm about free expression under Sharaa

Hassan Akkad speaks about fleeing Syria in 2015 and his work as a filmmaker at a BAFTA event, Sept. 2023.

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

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

An old locomotive sits outside the Hejaz rail station in old Damascus on February 23, 2010. The Hejaz railway ran from Damascucs to Medina in Saudi Arabia and was part of the Ottoman railway network. AFP PHOTO/LOUAI BESHARA (Photo credit should read LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

Saudi Arabia, Turkey advance plans to revive historic Hejaz Railway

Turkish and Saudi officials signed agreements as part of a Turkish push to revive the Hejaz Railway linking Turkey to the Gulf through Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

An Airbus A321 airliner arrives at the Mehrabad international airport during the delivery of the first batch of planes to the Iranian state airline Iran Air in the capital Tehran on Jaunary 12, 2017. - The aircraft arrived as part of an order for 100 other Airbus planes with a list price of around $20 billion (19 billion euros) on December 22, placed after the lifting of international sanctions on the Islamic republic. It will be used for internal flights landed at Tehran's Mehrabad airport. (Photo by ATTA

Israel-Iran escalation grounds flights across parts of Middle East

Iran suspended flights across all airports after Israeli strikes hit the country.

Amjad Kurdo / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

How Iran war created unexpected economic beneficiaries

The Strait of Hormuz crisis is reshaping global energy and trade flows, creating opportunities for economies far beyond the Middle East.

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) chats with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as they arrive for a family photo after a working session of the European Council and regional partners as part of an informal meeting in Nicosia on April 24, 2026.

Egypt rejects Syrian ambassador as ties strain under Sharaa

Mohammed Taha al-Ahmed previously served in the Syrian Salvation Government led by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, while Egypt is one of the strongest opponents of Islamism in the region.

US ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack attends a meeting with President Donald Trump and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office at the White House on Sept. 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.

What Barrack’s expanded role in Syria, Iraq signals for US policy

The expansion of Ambassador Tom Barrack’s mandate to include Iraq along with his continued roles in Turkey and Syria will likely be welcomed in Ankara, where he has played a key role in advancing US-Turkish ties.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) stands next to former Syrian rebel leader Issam Buwaydani (C), during a function in Douma on April 23, 2026. Buwaydani returned to Damascus on April 23 nearly a year after his detention for unknown reasons in the United Arab Emirates, a Syrian military official told AFP. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

China wary of Syria's Uyghur militants, but business keeps growing

China’s biggest advantage in Syria may be not aggressive spending but the lack of meaningful Western competition.

An undated image of Foza Yusif.

Interview

Top Syrian Kurdish official slams parliamentary vote in northeast as 'undemocratic'

Foza Yusuf, a senior figure in Syria’s Kurdish-led autonomous administration, said the May 24 parliamentary vote was structured to disadvantage Kurdish parties.

Foza Yusuf

Foza Yusuf

Top Syrian Kurdish official

A picture shows a section of the external wall and towers of the Saladin Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Syria's Latakia province on March 7, 2023.

Culture

Syria advances cultural revival with nine new heritage listings

Nine heritage sites have been added to list of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which restored Syria’s membership last year after a 14-year suspension.