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Syria

September 18, 2025

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Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin gives a press conference following talks with Sweden and Finland over their bids to join NATO at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on May 25, 2022.

Turkey’s spy chief in Damascus as Israel, Syria weigh new security map

Ibrahim Kalin’s visit comes as Israel presses Syria on a buffer zone plan and Turkey frets over Kurdish autonomy.

Bedouin and tribal fighters deploy at the western entrance of Syria's Druze heartland of Suwayda on July 18, 2025.

Syria, Jordan, US unveil road map to stabilize Suwayda after clashes: What to know

The news comes along with reports that Syria has withdrawn heavy weaponry from the south, seemingly complying with Israel's demands for a demilitarized zone in southern Syria.

Interim Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa appears in the Citadel of Aleppo in Syria, on May 27, 2025.

Syria holds first post‑Assad parliamentary vote: What to know

Syria’s first post-Assad parliamentary elections — with seats chosen by local committees rather than a public vote — spark backlash as the government postpones voting in Druze- and Kurdish-majority regions.

CENTCOM

Top US general discusses SDF integration with Sharaa in Damascus

The CENTCOM commander's involvement adds heft to US diplomatic requests as lawmakers float future defense ties between Washington and Damascus.

Latest News

Syria claims Hezbollah cell plotting attacks arrested in Damascus: What we know

Syria

Russia sends second Syria delegation since Assad’s fall to safeguard military interests

His Excellency the President of the Republic, Ahmed al-Sharaa, meets at the People's Palace in the capital, Damascus, with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak.

After sanctions, GitHub reopens to Syrian coders in boost for digital revival

A photo illustration shows a laptop screen displays welcome screens and messages on the Github developer platform website, on February 23, 2024 in London, England.

Exclusive

UK-based oil firm victim of standoff between Damascus, Syria’s Kurds

This picture shows pumpjacks in an oil field and smoke plumes rising in the background, following reported Turkish drone strikes near the town of al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey, on Nov. 23, 2022.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Pentagon 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

ISIS kills five Hezbollah-linked fighters in Syria: war monitor

The clashes come amid reports of an ISIS resurgence in Syria as well as an increase in activity in Europe.

JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Israel confronts Iran’s 'belt of fire': What’s next after Syria missile facility raid?

Tensions are rising not only on Israel’s northern front along the border with Lebanon, but also on the border with Syria and further off, with Iran.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addresses media after a visit at the site of a knife attack in Solingen, Western Germany, on August 26, 2024.

Analysis

What’s behind the flurry of ISIS attacks in Europe?

ISIS’ network in Europe includes an older generation of fighters who have returned from Iraq and Syria, as well as younger, self-radicalized ones that are harder to contain, said one expert.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente , Rosaleen Carroll

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Russia ups mediation efforts between Turkey, Syria as Assad drags feet

While Turkey is embracing Russia's role in attempting to mediate between Ankara and Damascus, the Syrian government wants a timetable for Turkey withdrawing its troops from the country.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

PKK tunnel

Exclusive

From mountaintops to underground: PKK responds to Turkey’s drones

Serdar Yektas, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Workers Party's armed wing, told Al-Monitor that Turkey’s use of its home-manufactured drones has drastically changed the nature of the conflict between them.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images

Iran says IRGC member killed in coalition strike in Syria

Iranian news outlets blamed the IRGC member’s death on “coalition forces,” but did not offer further details.

This combination of file photographs created on July 7, 2024, shows Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) in Ankara on May 29, 2023, and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on July 16, 2023.

Turkey’s defense chief: Syria wants timetable for troop withdrawal to resume talks

The defense minister said that Turkey "perceives" such a condition as an unwillingness to return to peace.

Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) gather near a US Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) during a joint military exercise with forces of the US-led "Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve" coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group in the countryside of the town of al-Malikiya (Derik in Kurdish) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on Sept. 7, 2022.

Clashes between Arab tribes, SDF forces in Syria pose challenge to US

The clashes between Iranian-backed Arab tribes and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, supported by the United States, come at a time of heightened tensions in the region ahead of an imminent Iranian response to the killing of Hamas’ leader.

This picture taken on April 25, 2023, shows a shrapnel-pocked walled in the village of Hiror near the Turkish border in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Turkey says PKK attack kills Turkish soldier in northern Iraq

The attack comes at a time when Turkey has intensified its offensive against the militant group in an effort to clear the PKK from the Iraq-Turkey border areas and establish up to a 40-kilometer-deep (24 miles) security zone in northern Iraq.

Smoke billows from a site targeted by the Israeli military in the southern Lebanese border village of Kafr Kila, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters, July 29, 2024.

Strikes in south Lebanon, Syria as Israel's northern front heats up

The situation in Lebanon is at a boiling point amid growing fears of an Israeli retaliatory strike to a deadly rocket attack in the Golan Heights that could lead to a wider regional conflict.

NICOSIA, CYPRUS - JULY 20: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Turkey's invasion of Cyprus on July 20, 2024 in occupied northern Nicosia, Cyprus. Fifty years has passed since Turkey's invasion and occupation of northern Cyprus, spurred in 1974 by Greece's attempts to oust the Cypriot president and forge a political union with the island. Over time, the northern part became the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is largely populated

Analysis

As Assad softens tone, can Turkey and Syria normalize relations?

As news of normalization between Turkey and Syria and a meeting between the Turkish president and his Syrian counterpart abound, many strategic and technical questions need to be addressed.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

Italy appoints ambassador to Syria in latest sign of European thaw

Syria’s relations with the international community are gradually improving amid the ongoing civil war.