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Syria

September 22, 2025

Damascus 5:46 pm

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Israeli troops patrol the border fence with Syria near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, July 23, 2025.

Analysis

Seeking leeway on Gaza, Netanyahu backs Trump’s Syria pact push

The US is working intensively to arrange a historic meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Syrian President Sharaa on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

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

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Analysis

From Palestine push to Sharaa’s UN debut: What to watch at UN summit

The annual international get-together will feature a wave of Palestinian statehood recognition, the Syrian president’s United Nations debut and possible 11th-hour diplomacy with Iran.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

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

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.

Latest News

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

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.

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

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

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

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

This picture shows a view of nightlife ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha at the Clock Square, Idlib, Syria, July 18, 2021.

Jihadi group seeks command of media, advertising in northwest Syria

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is seeking to organize media and advertising fields to serve its interests and the inclinations of its affiliated Salvation Government in Idlib in northwestern Syria.

The minarets of mosques and the steeples of churches are seen towering above rooftops in the Syrian capital Damascus, on June 26, 2013.

Jews of Syrian origin return to visit Damascus

The Syrian government has allowed some Jews of Syrian origin, residing in New York, to visit Damascus.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey's war of attrition against Syria's Kurds

Alongside shelling and drones, Turkey is weaponizing water supplies in northeast Syria, turning an already horrible situation into a nightmare

Smoke and fire billow after shelling on the Islamic State group's last holdout of Baghuz, in the eastern Syrian Deir ez-Zor province on March 3, 2019.

Intel: Pentagon chief briefed on 2019 Syria airstrike

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the briefing after reading an investigation into the strike by The New York Times.

A member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), made up of an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters, removes an Islamic State group flag in the town of Tabqa, about 55 kilometres (35 miles) west of Raqa city, on April 30, 2017, as they advance in their battle for the group's de facto capital.

Attack on Syrian prison holding Iraqi Islamic State captives raises concerns

Local forces backed by coalition air support reportedly prevented an attack on a prison housing thousands of Islamic State operatives in northeastern Syria under Kurdish-led administration.

Members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps march during the annual military parade marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran War, Tehran, Iran, Sept. 22, 2018.

IRGC Syria commander removed 'upon request from Assad'

The future of Iran’s presence in Syria seems to be dividing the Syrian leadership.

BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

Expensive private schools become many Syrian students' only option

As public schools struggle to accommodate an increasing number of students, thousands of students in the Aleppo area are being pushed into private schools.

The Arc of Triumph in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria, circa 1880.

Russia begins restoration of Arc of Triumph in Syria's Palmyra

Russia has begun the restoration of the Arch of Triumph, one of the historical landmarks in Palmyra, in cooperation with UNESCO.

Mansour Abbas, head of Israel's conservative Islamic Raam party, speaks in his capacity as Knesset deputy speaker during a plenum session on the state budget on Sept. 2, 2021.

Mansour Abbas’s star turn rattles Israeli politics

Also: Syrian Kurdish leader not worried — yet — about Turkish invasion (exclusive).

Camels in Raqqa

Camels weep as their young perish in Syria’s killer drought

Camels are a miserable canary in the coal mine of Syria, which is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years.

A member of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham holds the group's flag as others parade with their flags and those of the Taliban's declared "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" through the rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria, Aug. 20, 2021.

Syrian jihadist group mandates apologies, or imprisonment, for criticism

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which controls most of Idlib, enforces zero tolerance for critics.

A boy looks on next to a stack of olive oil containers at an oil pressing facility belonging to Syrian Kurds.

Backlash after Islamist group in Idlib taxes olive crops

The HTS-affiliated Salvation Government imposed Islamic taxes on olive crops, thus worsening farmers’ plight amid the water scarcity and drought.