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September 20, 2026

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Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani visits Latakia airport on Sept. 18, 2026.

Syria’s Shibani visits Latakia airport to review Russia deal progress: What to know

Syria is seeking to ensure that the August deal to turn Russian facilities in the country into joint training centers is implemented.

Hibatullah Barakat / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Lebanon charges 5 in alleged Hezbollah operation to train Assad loyalists

A Lebanese military court has charged the five, including an Assad-era Syrian officer and Hezbollah members, with running a cross-border security network planning attacks in Syria’s coastal region.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Former Assad official sentenced to 60 years in US for torture

Samir Ousman Alsheikh was convicted by a jury in March of three counts of torture, one count of conspiracy to commit torture, visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud.

Assala Nasri (C) attends the 2025 Joy Awards at The Venue, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 18, 2025.

Culture

Syrian singer Assala returns to Damascus stage after 15-year exile

The Syrian star, one of the Arab world’s most famous artists, had been in self-exile since 2011 after she openly supported the uprising against the since-ousted Assad government.

Latest News

Syria’s Sharaa talks economic ties with UAE leader: What to know

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, Sept. 15, 2026.

Fuel price protests in Syria continue for second day: What to know

Bakr ALkasem / AFP via Getty Images

UN watchdog formally ends probe into Assad-era nuclear sites

Two women stand before graffiti on the cemetery wall for victims of the chemical massacre, on Aug. 21, 2025 in Zamalka, Syria.

Syria destroys 42 bombs in chemical stockpile purge: What to know

Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images

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

View of buildings damaged by what activists said were shelling by Syrian force loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Erbeen, near Damascus December 31, 2012. Picture taken December 31, 2012. REUTERS/Bassam Al-Erbeeni/Shaam News Network/Handout (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) 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 BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Syria’s Alawites Under Siege

Ali Hashem reports from Damascus on Syria’s Alawite community and the sectarian conflict there.

Foreign Ministers Hoshiyar Zebari of Iraq, Walid al-Moualem of Syria and Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey, and Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa (R) chat before their meeting at the Ottoman-era Ciragan Palace in Istanbul September 17, 2009. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY POLITICS)

More Uncertainty on Turkey’s Eastern Flank in 2013

Turkey can expect more problems in dealing with both Iraq and Syria in 2013, writes Semih Idiz.

Soldiers of the German armed forces Bundeswehr stand next to a PAC-2 launcher of a "Patriot" missile battery during a media rehearsal in the north German village of Warbelow December 18, 2012. Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, last week approved the sending of two Patriot batteries and 400 soldiers to Turkey as part of a NATO plan to protect the country from any spread of the Syrian conflict. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST)

NATO Patriot Missiles Show Turkey's Military Weakness

Kadri Gursel writes that Turkey's request for NATO Patriot missiles reveals its lack of capacity and few other options to handle regional threats.

Residents pray near the bodies of people whom activists said were killed during fighting with forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad at Marat AL-Numan, during their funeral in Kafranbel, near Idlib December 26, 2012. REUTERS/Raed Al-Fares/Shaam News Network/Handout (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT)

Syria’s Future Is Vengeance

Shlomi Eldar writes that post-Assad Syria will be a vast campaign of retaliation.

Syrian children from the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain are pictured near the Turkish border fence as gunfire is heard between the Free Syrian Army and the armed Kurds of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the northern Syrian town of Ceylanpinar, November 25, 2012. Iran said Turkey's plans to deploy Patriot defensive missiles near its border with Syria would add to the region's problems, as fears grow of the Syrian civil war spilling across frontiers. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (TURKEY - Tags

Turkey Will Pay a High Price After Assad

By throwing its lot completely with Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey will sustain costs whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stays or goes, writes Kadri Gursel.

Turkish workers work to reinforce the border fence between the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain and the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province November 21, 2012. NATO member states have agreed to supply Turkey with an advanced Patriot missile system to defend against Syrian attacks and talks on its deployment are in the final stage, Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Turkey Prepares for Life After Its Syrian Quagmire

Cengiz Çandar writes that Turkey is counting down the last days of the Bashar al-Assad regime and in delight and relief.

Lebanon's Hezbollah supporters gesture as they pray during a ceremony to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs, November 25, 2012. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel on Sunday that thousands of rockets would rain down on Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities if Israel attacked Lebanon. In a speech marking the Shi'ite Muslim festival of Ashura, Nasrallah said Hezbollah's response to any attack would dwarf the attacks from Gaza during the eight-day conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas rule

Hezbollah Plans to Aid Displaced Syrians

As the year-end holidays approach, Hezbollah reportedly plans to donate food and blankets to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Nasser Chararah reports.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shake hands as they meet in Moscow's Kremlin December 19, 2006. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin (RUSSIA)

Russia Will Not Change Its Position on Syria

Fyodor Lukyanov writes that Russia's fundamental interests in Syria remain unchanged, and that while Moscow will support a political settlement to what it views as a sectarian and regional war, it will not support a Western intervention to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian Minister Says US Ignores 'Lessons of Afghanistan'

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, who rarely speaks to the Western press, cast violence in Syria as a war against Salafi terrorists backed by predominantly Sunni Arab nations. "If ending the violence was in the hands of the Syrian government, then I assure you we would have ended it yesterday," Moallem said.

Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attends a meeting with members of the United Russia party at the Gorki residence outside Moscow August 10, 2012. REUTERS/Dmitry Astakhov/RIA Novosti/Kremlin (RUSSIA - Tags: POLITICS) THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Is there a Syrian Medvedev?

To find a solution in Syria, the US should consider a renewed parallel diplomatic track with Moscow, Tehran and Ankara. The objective: Encourage the emergence of a "Syrian Medvedev," a transitional figure acceptable to the regime, the Syrian people and the relevant outside powers.