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September 18, 2025

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UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Otto Pedersen addresses a press conference in Damascus on Jan. 22, 2025.

Breaking | Last Updated: September 18, 2025, 12:56 pm

UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen steps down after six years

Pedersen is leaving as Syria continues to grapple with political upheaval, humanitarian crises and ongoing conflict.

UMIT BEKTAS/AFP via Getty Images

In first visit in 25 years, Syrian FM pushes sanctions relief in Washington

Asaad al-Shibani’s visit to Washington comes as Syria seeks sanctions relief and engages in US-mediated talks with Israel on a security agreement.

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The news comes along with reports that Syria has withdrawn heavy weaponry from the south, seemingly complying with Israel's demands for a demilitarized zone in southern Syria.

Latest News

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

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

Top US general discusses SDF integration with Sharaa in Damascus

CENTCOM

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.

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

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greets Syrian President Bashar Assad during the Arab summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday. Saudi Press Agency / Saudi Press Agency via AP

Gulf thaw with Syria gains steam: UAE sends envoy, Saudi diplomats plan visit

The reports about the Saudi visit come after the UAE’s first ambassador to Syria in more than a decade took up his post.

Security and emergency personnel search the rubble of a building destroyed in a reported Israeli strike in Damascus on January 20, 2024. An Israeli strike on Damascus killed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' intelligence chief for Syria and three other Guards members on January 20, Iran said, in an attack that tore into a multi-storey residential building. (Photo by Louai BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel carries out strikes in Syria targeting south Damascus: government

A number of Iranian IRGC members have been killed in strikes in Syria attributed to Israel in recent weeks.

US soldiers participate in the annual military exercises known as "Eager Lion", near Maan some 200 kilometres south of the capital Amman on May 17, 2017.

Breaking | Last Updated: January 29, 2024, 4:45 pm

3 US troops killed, 25 wounded in Iran-backed drone attack in Jordan

President Joe Biden has vowed to respond after US troops were killed by a suspected Iran-backed militia for first time since Israel's war in Gaza began.

Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand 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.

Pentagon floats plan for its Syrian Kurd allies to partner with Assad against ISIS

The proposal, which the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces denounced as a "rotten plan," comes as part of a renewed review of Syria policy by the US State Department.

Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) armed military personnel are monitoring an area while standing guard next to an Iranian Majid anti-aircraft missile system during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran.

Breaking | Last Updated: January 16, 2024, 8:18 am

Iran’s IRGC strikes 'spy centers' in Iraq with ballistic missiles

The IRGC also said it struck Syria in response to the recent ISIS attack in Iran.

Smokes billows in Qamishli in northeastern Syria close to the Turkish border on Dec. 25, 2023, amid Turkish military strikes in the area.

Breaking | Last Updated: January 13, 2024, 2:36 pm

Turkey launches retaliatory strikes in Syria & Iraq, Erdogan convenes security meeting

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold an emergency national security meeting on Saturday.

Volunteers unload a truck as a convoy carrying humanitarian aid arrives in Syria after crossing the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, on Sept. 19, 2023.

Syria extends humanitarian aid deliveries via Turkey to rebel-held zone

The crossing is the sole artery for UN supplies for the rebel-held northwest of the country.

KHALIL MAZRAAWI/afp/AFP via Getty Images

As Captagon war heats up, Jordan escalates airstrikes in Syria

Jordan has clashed with and struck alleged drug smugglers several times in recent weeks as the Captagon trade continues to thrive the region.

Hatira, a Saluki who runs “like a bullet,” in Aliyaa, Syria on Nov. 22, 2023.

Syrian Kurdish village breeds ancient Saluki dogs amid ravages of war

Wealthy Arabs from the Gulf — sheikhs, emirs and princes included — are some of the top customers of Syria's Saluki breeders.

A metal cutout of an Israeli soldier at an army post in Mount Bental near the Syrian border in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on February 9, 2022. - Israel launched strikes against targets in Syria early today, hitting anti-aircraft batteries in response to a missile fired from Syria, the military said. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel launches strikes in Syria, Lebanon, targets 'Hezbollah infrastructure'

The airstrikes near Damascus follow the Christmas Day death of a top Iranian commander in Syria in a strike widely attributed to Israel.

A vehicle of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is pictured along a road as fighters deploy to impose a curfew in the town of al-Busayrah in Syria's northeastern Deir Ezzor province on September 4, 2023, during a guided media tour organised by the SDF. Days of deadly clashes between the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and local fighters have rocked Deir Ezzor, threatening a fragile balance in the strategic area.

Suspected Islamic State attack leaves nine dead in Syrian desert

Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters in eastern Syria came under a surprise attack attributed to the Islamic State, which remains active in the area despite losing territory.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greets Syrian President Bashar Assad during the Arab summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday. Saudi Press Agency / Saudi Press Agency via AP

2023 in review: Syria triumphant in Arab League as Israeli strikes, Iran ties continue

Coming in from the cold, Damascus — still riddled with economic challenges and Western sanctions — restored crucial relations with Saudi Arabia and the Arab League, fortifying its regional position after being frozen out for over a decade.