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August 30, 2026

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Sharaa taps Visa as Syria reconnects to global finance: What to know

Visa and Mastercard announced Wednesday that their networks can now be used to make international card payments in Syria.

Latest News

Analysis

Capitulation or compromise? What SDF's dissolution means for Sharaa, Turkey and Syria's Kurds

Mazloum Kobane, leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during a televised speech at the People's Palace in Damascus on Aug. 25, 2026.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Syrian Airlines expands Europe comeback with Vienna, Copenhagen flights

A Syrian Air passenger jet lands at Aleppo airport on March 18, 2025, the first aircraft to land after it was shut during the offensive that toppled former President Bashar al-Assad.

Exclusive

Israel recalibrates Syria policy, explores path to security deal

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (C) watches as US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack prepares to sign an agreement in Damascus on September 16, 2025. Shaibani announced on September 16 a plan backed by Jordan and the United States to restore calm to Druze-majority Sweida province, which witnessed deadly violence in July. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

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

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hold a meeting in Damascus on January 7, 2020. - Putin met his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad during an unprecedented visit to Damascus as the prospect of war between Iran and the United States loomed over the region. (Photo by Alexey DRUZHININ / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by ALEXEY DRUZHININ/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Syria’s Assad arrives in Russia for talks with Putin

Assad’s visit comes ahead of a meeting between Syrian and Turkish diplomats in Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) speak after a news conference in Ankara, on June 8, 2022. -

Russia to host Turkey, Syria, Iran diplomats on Wednesday

Senior Turkish, Syrian, Iranian and Russian diplomats are set to meet to advance the stalled rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Freedom House

MidEast freedom rankings: Syria worst, Tunisia in decline, says Freedom House

Syria remains to be the least and Israel the best performing country when it comes civil and political freedoms while the biggest one-year decline has been observed in Tunisia.

Syria sheep

Islamic State kills three, steals sheep in central Syria

IS continues to carry out attacks throughout Syria despite no longer holding territory.

Barbara Leaf (L), US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and Dana Stroul (C), US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence (DASD) for the Middle East, join a media roundtable in Kuwait City on October 19, 2022. (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

US will 'protect' its technology against China theft in Middle East: Leaf

Barbara Leaf, top Middle East official at the State Department told Al-Monitor that the Syrian government is participating in the drug trade, and blamed Iran for the failure of the nuclear deal.

A woman dressed in traditional clothing poses for a picture while standing on a rock in the Mazqaft water reservoir in the countryside of the town of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province close to the border with Turkey, during Syrian Kurdish celebrations on the second day of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on March 21, 2021. (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Culture

A decade into Kurdish autonomous rule, what changed for northeast Syria's women?

Since 2013, the province of Hasakah in northeastern Syria has been ruled by an autonomous administration guided by overtly feminist principles. Ten years later, what has changed for rural women? What challenges remain?

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey, Syria, Iran to hold 'technical talks' in Russia next week

The technical meeting is aimed at achieving progress in the stalled high-level dialogue process between Ankara and Damascus.

AFP via Getty Images

Syria's Aleppo airport out of service after Israel's airstrike

Israel is suspected of carrying out several attacks on Syria this year as the Netanyahu government continues military planning related to Iran.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) is welcomed by US Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake as he arrives at Incirlik Air Base near Adana on February 19, 2023, for an official visit after a 7,8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey's south-east. - The death toll on February 18 rose to more than 44,000 from the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria in the early hours of February 6, 2023. (Photo by CLODAGH KILCOYNE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey summons US ambassador over top general's Syria visit

Washington's top general Mark Milley met with senior American commanders, but not with Kurdish officials, US officials said.

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images

US slaps visa sanction on Syrian military officer over Tadamon massacre

The State Department hit Amjad Yousef and his family with visa bans for his alleged involvement in the 2013 killing of 41 unarmed Syrian civilians.

Passengers are seen at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, the day S7 Airlines canceled all its international flights due to sanctions imposed on Russia over the country's invasion of Ukraine, March 5, 2022.

Russia to add Gulf countries to visa-free travel list

Russia stated that it was preparing visa-free travel agreements with a total of 17 countries, which include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Syria.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley speaks during a press briefing after a virtual Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at the Pentagon on Nov. 16, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia.

Top US general Mark Milley makes surprise visit to Syria

Gen. Mark Milley's visit to US troops fighting the Islamic State came as Pentagon officials warn Russia's arms transfers to Iran will embolden the IRGC and its proxies in the Middle East.