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May 1, 2026

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A young man stands in the entrance of tunnels that were used by the ISIS and the Assad's regime for fighting. Tadamon, Syria, February 7, 2025. (Photo by Raghed Waked / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by RAGHED WAKED/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Syria arrests Amjad Youssef, Tadamoun massacre perpetrator: What to know

Amjad Youssef appeared on video, allegedly killing dozens of civilians in 2013; he is the latest member of the Assad regime to be captured by the new Syrian government.

President of Syria Ahmed al-Shara arrives for the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at UN Headquarters on Sept. 23, 2025 in New York City.

Analysis

'Is it worth it?' Syria's Sharaa faces backlash over Missy Elliott performance

Backlash erupts after dancers perform to Missy Elliott’s “Work It,” exposing the tightrope between Sharaa’s outreach to the West and pressure from his Islamist base.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives ahead of a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street in central London on March 31, 2026.

Syria’s Sharaa makes fourth visit to Saudi Arabia, first since Iran war: What to know

The visit comes in light of the deepening economic relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia post-Assad.

Members of Iraq's security forces stand guard on the the al-Rabia border crossing with Syria on April 20, 2026.

How Syria's border opening with Iraq redefines Turkey-Kurd balance

After years of closure, the reopening of al-Yaaroubiya crossing is redrawing Kurdish economic leverage and reinforcing Turkey’s regional strategy.

Latest News

EU to restore Syria cooperation pact ahead of May talks: What to know

Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP via Getty Images

Sharaa distances Syria from Iran war, says Israel talks ongoing: What to know

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Turkish Presient Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Antalya Diplomatic Forum in Turkey April 17, 2026.

Analysis

Is Syria’s Sharaa poised to outdo Turkey in formalizing gains for Kurds?

Kurdish people waving Kurdistan flags gather to celebrate Nowruz on the hill of Urkesh in the countryside of Amuda in northeastern Syria on March 18, 2026. Nowruz, meaning "new day," is an ancient festival that marks the start of spring and the new year on the vernal equinox, which usually falls on March 20 or 21. It is celebrated by more than 300 million people worldwide and has been observed for over 3,000 years across regions including the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of Eastern Euro

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

US troops depart Syria, ending decade of presence in fight against ISIS

Boys along a road wave to an approaching US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moving in a convoy transporting Islamic State group detainees being transferred to Iraq from Syria, on the outskirts of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on Feb. 7, 2026.

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

The latest reason Australia won’t take back citizens detained in Syria’s prisons for IS? Coronavirus

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne says COVID-19 has further complicated the possibilities of repatriating Australians captured during the war against the Islamic State in Syria.

A Syrian doctor, on her own initiative, instructs children how to properly wear a mask during the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis, in the displacement camp of Janid near the town of Dana, east of the Turkish-Syrian border in the northwestern Idlib province, on July 26, 2020. (Photo by Ibrahim YASOUF / AFP) (Photo by IBRAHIM YASOUF/AFP via Getty Images)

First barrel bombs, now coronavirus: doctors in Syria's Idlib hit hard by outbreak

Doctors working in already short-staffed hospitals are struggling with a flare-up of new cases in the country's last rebel stronghold.

WASHINGTON - MARCH 09: The seal of the F.B.I. hangs in the Flag Room at the bureau's headquaters March 9, 2007 in Washington, DC. F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller was responding to a report by the Justice Department inspector general that concluded the FBI had committed 22 violations in its collection of information through the use of national security letters. The letters, which the audit numbered at 47,000 in 2005, allow the agency to collect information like telephone, banking and e-mail records without a

US woman allegedly sought to join al-Qaeda in Syria

The woman's conversations were actually with FBI employees posing as members of the designated terrorist organization.

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on January 19, 2020, near the northern Israeli kibbutz of Misgav Am, shows a general view of the Israel-Lebanon border as Israeli army forces begin deployment of infrastructure for a ground "defensive system" along the fence. - Israel's army said it would start drilling to install ground sensors along its border with Lebanon on January 19, a year after a weeks-long operation to destroy tunnels dug across the frontier that it had accused Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah of buildin

Israel upping alert on tensions with Hezbollah

According to the latest reports, Israel has decided to up the level of alert on its borders with Lebanon and Syria; several roads near the borders will be closed for civilian vehicles as of this evening.

Coronavirus compounds Syrian crisis in Idlib

Amid lack of international aid and a fragile health system, officials and activists are concerned about the rapid spread of the coronavirus in northwest Syria.

Iran accuses US fighter aircraft of harassing Iranian airliner over eastern Syria

An Iranian broadcaster says an Iran-to-Beirut commercial passenger flight had US jets make an aggressively close pass to it over Syria near the Iraqi border.

Will Syrian rebels kill each other in Libya's proxy war?

Syrian mercenaries from that country's civil war could now meet opposite each other in the Libyan conflict, only this time as Wagner Group mercenaries.

TOPSHOT - Displaced Syrian women walk at a camp in Kafr Lusin village on the border with Turkey in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, on March 10, 2020. - When protesters in March 2011 demanded their rights and regime change, they likely never imagined it would trigger a reaction that has led to the 21st century's biggest war. Nine years on, President Bashar al-Assad is still in power and there to stay, more than 380,000 people have died, dozens of towns and cities razed to the ground and half of the c

Women journalists in northwest Syria brave daily dangers

Syrian female journalists face challenges and abuse just for being women.

Erdogan: Turkey will stay in Syria until the 'people are free'

The Turkish president's comments follow parliamentary elections in Syria over the weekend that critics described as a farce.

Alleged Israeli airstrikes hit Iranian and Syrian government targets in Syria

The Syrian government and the opposition suspect Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria this year.

Russia’s combat dolphins may have been used in Syria: report

Satellite imagery shows possible marine mammal pens at Russia's naval base in Syria during late 2018.

The mother of a victim (C) cries for her son on his coffin during a funeral ceremony in Gaziantep on July 21, 2015, following a suicide bomb attack the day before which killed at least 31 in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. A suspected Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 31 people in an attack on a Turkish cultural centre in the southern town of Suruc, where activists had gathered to prepare for an aid mission in the nearby Syrian town of Kobane. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey in

Five years on, no justice for victims of IS suicide bombing spree in Turkey

Families of the 33 victims of the devastating Suruc attack by an Islamic State suicide bomber commemorated the massacre today, reminding Turkey and the world that justice has yet to be served.