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Syria

November 24, 2024

Damascus 4:19 am

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A picture taken during a tour organized by the Syrian Ministry of Information shows flags of Russia and Syria atop a damaged building in the district of Daraa al-Balad of Syria's southern city of Daraa, on Sept. 12, 2021.

Shootings in Daraa leave 9 dead as instability plagues Syria’s south

Daraa, located close to the Jordanian border, is experiencing competition between armed groups and rampant drug smuggling amid the government’s inability to control the situation.

In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a flower-laying ceremony at the Monument to Minin and Pozharsky on Red Square on the National Unity Day in Moscow on November 4, 2024. (Photo by Mikhail TERESHCHENKO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MIKHAIL TERESHCHENKO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

With leverage in Syria, can Russia's Putin broker Israel-Lebanon deal?

Israel is considering accepting the Russian push for some sort of involvement in the talks or in the implementation of a deal with Hezbollah.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 03: Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (R-HI) speaks during a Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump campaign rally at Lancaster Airport on November 03, 2024 in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Trump begins his day campaigning in battleground state of Pennsylvania, where 19 electoral votes up for grabs, where a recent New York Times and Siena College polls show a tie with Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump will head to North Car

Trump hands intel post to Tulsi Gabbard, ex-Democrat with Assad controversy

Gabbard, a former congresswoman-turned Trump diehard, is likely to face scrutiny for her secret 2017 meeting with Syria's dictator.

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 13: U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan participate in a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on November 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. The two leaders had a meeting in the Oval Office before speaking to the media at the news conference. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

After Trump win, Turkey hopeful on Syria reconciliation, US withdrawal

Ankara expresses hope for mending ties with Damascus as well as a potential US military exit from northern Syria following Trump’s victory.

Latest News

US strikes Iran-backed militias in Syria in latest round of retaliation

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Israel steps up strikes in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza despite diplomatic push

People check the destruction at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the eastern village of Bazzaliyeh in the Hermel district of Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, near the border with Syria, Nov. 1, 2024.

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Erdogan invites Trump to Turkey, seeking end to US-Syrian Kurd alliance

US President Donald Trump (L) talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) at NATO headquarters in Brussels during a NATO summit, July 11, 2018.

Analysis

Kamala Harris, Donald Trump sent messages to Israel to end Lebanon war by Jan. 20

US Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Vice President's ceremonial office at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, on July 25, 2024. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

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

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

In London, 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

Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Danny Makki

In London, reporting on Syrian politics and culture

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, on the right, received his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi at the presidential palace in Damascus on May 3, 2023

Iran's President Raisi meets Assad in Syria, first such visit in 13 years

The two countries are expected to sign several economic agreements in a show of friendship.

An exterior view of the building of US Department of the Treasury is seen on March 27, 2020 in Washington, DC.

US, Turkey blacklist Syrian militants' financial facilitators

The new sanctions target members of US-designated terrorist groups Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad.

The silhouette of an Israeli soldier is outlined in the sky by a flare fired to search for a rocket that landed near Kibbutz Meitsar in the Israeli annexed Golan Heights, April 9, 2023. - Israel launched artillery strikes on Syria early morning on April 8 after several rockets were fired from there and landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel's retaliatory strike to rocket attacks from Syria -- which no one has claimed -- is the latest episode in escalating violence in the region. (Photo by JALA

Israel carries out airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria: local media

The incident near Aleppo followed suspected Israeli strikes on a Hezbollah center in central Syria over the weekend, and as Arab foreign ministers meet in Jordan to normalize relations with Assad.

BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

US does not confirm Turkey’s claim of killing Islamic State leader in Syria

The US administration said it had no information to support Ankara’s claim to have killed the Islamic State leader.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan (L), Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (R) arrive for a regional meeting on Syria, in Amman on May 1, 2023. - Arab foreign ministers will gather in Jordan on May 1, to discuss Syria's long-running conflict and ending Damascus's diplomatic isolation in the region, the foreign ministry in Amman said. (Photo by Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP) (Photo by KHALIL MAZRAAWI/afp/AFP v

Jordan hosts meeting to facilitate Syria’s return to Arab League

Diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq are meeting in Jordan as Syria’s political reintegration into the Arab world accelerates.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan meets Syrian President Bashar Al Assad in Damascus on April 18, 2023.

Syria's Arab League return still uncertain, even as Assad normalization continues

The Saudi-led tide of normalization with Syrian President Assad may end his regional isolation, but just on a diplomatic level for now.

A soldier mans a machine gun mounted on an army vehicle during a Turkish and Russian military patrol in the countryside of Rumaylan (Rmeilan), in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province bordering Turkey, on April 27, 2023. (Photo by Delil souleiman / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Syrian refugees abused, shot at by Turkey's border guards: HRW report

Syrian refugees are under mounting pressure in Turkey as the president seeks to mend ties with the Syrian government.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar is seen standing at the start of the North Atlantic Council meeting of defence ministers during the second and final day of the NATO defence ministers' meeting at the NATO headquarters on October 13, 2022 in Brussels, Belgium. The North Atlantic Council (NAC) Defence Ministers are convening at the NATO headquarters in Brussels for a two-day summit as the war in Ukraine continues into its seventh month. (Photo by Omar Havana - Pool / Getty Images)

Turkey, Syria defense chiefs meet in Russia, discuss ‘normalization'

The Moscow meeting was described as “positive” by both sides since Syrian-Turkish rapprochement took off last year.

SANA/AFP via Getty Images

EU slaps Captagon sanctions on relatives of Syria's Assad

The European Union adopted new restrictive measures today against Syrian individuals and entities accused of trafficking narcotics and supporting the oppressive Syrian government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) arrive for a joint press conference with their Iranian counterpart following their summit in Tehran on July 19, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey, Syria send defense, intel chiefs to meet in Russia

The meeting will mark the second round of talks that began late last year.

Israeli fighters Lebanon

Israel shells Hezbollah targets in Syria in latest escalation

The shelling targeted Hezbollah positions in southern Syria, local outlets reported, but the Syrian government notably has not commented.

Kurdish Syrians protest the death of victims reportedly killed in a Turkish drone bombing the previous day, on Nov. 10, 2021 in the Syrian Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli.

Syria’s Kurds make their own pitch as Arab states court Assad

Syrian Kurds, whom Bashar al-Assad once labeled “traitors” and “collaborators,” now seek a new peace with the Syrian government.