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May 17, 2026

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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives to attend the second day of the first Syrian-Emirati (United Arab Emirates) Investment Forum, at the People's Palace in Damascus on May 12, 2026. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Ports and infrastructure: UAE embraces new economic order in Syria

UAE-Syrian ties have moved faster than expected, with Abu Dhabi embracing President Ahmad al-Sharaa and relations shifting from normalization to investment opportunities.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

A Syrian citizen exchanges old banknotes for new notes released and distributed by the central bank, at a bank in the capital, Damascus, on Jan. 3, 2026.

Interview

UK fintech brings foreign currency accounts to Syrians at home

The launch comes as Syria’s new government attempts to stabilize the country’s shattered economy following the January 2025 rise to power of President Ahmed al-Sharaa after the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad.

Mazloum Kobane, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during the pan-Kurdish "Unity and Consensus" conference in Qamishli in northeastern Syria on April 26, 2025.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish commander Kobane says Turkey visit ‘in the making,’ Ocalan meeting possible

The SDF commander-in-chief reflected on a fragile integration deal with Damascus, growing Kurdish backlash and ongoing talks with Turkey as questions mount over Rojava’s political future.

Mazloum Kobane

Mazloum Kobane

SDF commander in chief

Khaled Hablas

Lebanon authorities release Salafist cleric Khaled Hablas: What to know

Hablas was imprisoned for his role in the deadly 2014 clashes with the military and Hezbollah and his release follows Syria lobbying for the return of militants detained in Lebanon.

Latest News

Syria restores Raqqa oil field in former ISIS stronghold: What to know

Pictured in this undated image is the Al-Thawra oil field in Raqqa governorate, as rehabilitation works continue to restore production capacity.

Turkey's border reopening unlocks new sphere of influence in Syria

Turkish Red Crescent's cars and trucks cross the Turkish border as they leave the Syrian city of Tel Abyad on Oct. 19, 2019, in Akcakale, Turkey.

EU restores economic pact to pursue fuller trade ties with Syria

Kaja Kallas

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

Military personnel, believed to be Russian servicemen, stand guard outside the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye outside Simferopol March 4, 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a robust defence of Russia's actions in Crimea on Tuesday and reserved the right to use force in Ukraine as a last resort, but he sought to ease East-West tension over fears of war in the former Soviet republic. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili (UKRAINE - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNRE

Turkey boxed in by Russian moves in Crimea

The Ukraine crisis will likely harden Russia’s support for Syria, further complicating Turkey’s regional policies.

Israeli soldiers stand atop an armoured personnel carrier (APC) positioned near the Lebanese border, close to the northern Israeli town of Shlomi February 27, 2014. Israel's northern region near Lebanon was tense on Thursday and the military ordered farmers away from fields abutting the border, a day after the Lebanese Hezbollah militia threatened to respond to an Israeli air strike that hit one of its bases on the border with Syria earlier in the week. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS)

Israeli raid fuels internal divisions in Lebanon

The Israeli raid along the Lebanese-Syrian border generated reactions of embarrassment among the Syrian regime and the opposition, and from Bashar al-Assad's allies in Lebanon and their opponents, but each for different reasons.

Syrian rebel force to receive Saudi arms has worked with al-Qaeda group

The leader of the Saudi-backed rebel Southern Front, which Riyadh intends to arm with advanced weaponry, has openly collaborated with al-Qaeda during the course of the Syria war.

Al-Monitor recognized by IPI as 'Free Media Pioneer'

The International Press Institute has awarded the annual Free Media Pioneer Award to Al-Monitor as “a model for independent coverage of the region through its news, features, analysis and commentary at a time of political upheaval.”

Syrian families queue to be registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on February 18, 2014 in the Arsal refugee camp in the Lebanese Bekaa valley. More than 130,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, and millions more have been displaced in what UN officials have described as the worst refugee crisis in two decades. AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

Expectations low for Paris conference on Lebanon

Supporting Lebanon’s neutrality and providing limited funds to deal with the Syrian refugees may be all that the Paris conference achieves.

An Israeli policeman scuffles with a Palestinian during clashes near Lion's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City February 7, 2014. Tensions briefly ran high on Friday in Jerusalem's Old City following clashes that erupted between Israeli police and stone-throwing Palestinians on a compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (JERUSALEM - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX18CFC

The Jordan Option and Al-Aqsa Mosque

Jordan is torn between its special role in East Jerusalem and its concerns over the Palestinian impact on Jordanian identity.

Rescuers carry a wounded boy who survived what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood February 26, 2014. REUTERS/Malek Al Shemali (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3FQU3

Barrel bombings cause mass evacuation in east Aleppo

An exclusive first hand report on how fearful residents, along with opposition forces, have fled east Aleppo en masse as the Syrian government's barrel bombing campaign shows no sign of relenting.

A man mourns near the body of his brother, wrapped in a blanket, who was among those killed during Sunday night's suicide bomb attack at a popular coffee shop in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, 170 km (106 miles) north of Baghdad, July 17, 2006. The attack killed 21 people, mostly elderly men. REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed (IRAQ) - RTR1FKIO

Turkmen caught between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Turkmen are getting pressure from the Turkish government to work more closely with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq.

Participants drum with sticks and burn tyres during a performance called "freedom", in support of Ukrainian anti-government protesters who held rallies in Maidan Nezalezhnosti or Independence Square in Kiev, in front of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood in central St. Petersburg February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev (RUSSIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX19CK6

Ukraine’s effect on Russia's Syria policy? Not much

While Moscow will be preoccupied with the crisis in Ukraine, its support for a political settlement in Syria will not vary.

A policeman watches as a bus, destroyed in an earlier explosion, is towed away in Volgograd December 30, 2013. A bomb ripped apart a bus in Volgograd on Monday, killing 14 people in the second deadly attack blamed on suicide bombers in the southern Russian city in 24 hours and raising fears of Islamist attacks on the Winter Olympics. REUTERS/Sergei Karpov (RUSSIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW DISASTER TRANSPORT) - RTX16XGD

Russia deals with rise in terrorism linked to Syria, Mideast

Fresh terror attacks have made Russia more concerned about the threat of Islamic terrorism and have shaped the country's policy in the Middle East.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Tammam Salam speaks at the presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut February 15, 2014. Lebanon announced a new government on Saturday, breaking a 10-month political deadlock during which spillover violence from neighbouring Syria worsened internal instability. Parliament designated Sunni lawmaker Salam as prime minister in April 2013, but he had been unable to form a government for months due to rivalries between the Hezbollah-dominated March 8 bloc and the March 14 alliance, led

New Lebanese government must deal with terror

While the partnership between Hezbollah and the Future Movement in the new Lebanese government is good start, to be truly successful, they must directly address terrorism together.

The peril of escalation in Syria

Edward Dark writes that Aleppans will pay the price for any escalation in the war; the UN Security Council votes for humanitarian assistance and calls for greater cooperation to confront al-Qaeda in Syria; 16 female journalists cover the Middle East; and exorcism in the Gaza Strip.