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Syria

November 24, 2024

Damascus 6:12 pm

12°C

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

Russia fighter

Pentagon sees ‘spike’ in armed Russian flyovers of US troops in Syria

CENTCOM commander Michael “Erik” Kurilla told Congress about ongoing 'aggressive' behavior by Russian pilots, following the downing of a US MQ-9 drone over the Black Sea.

VLADIMIR GERDO/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey-Syria summit postponed at last minute as Russia nudges rivals to reconcile

The two countries' deputy foreign ministers plus those of Russia and Iran had been due to meet to discuss further rapprochement efforts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 15, 2023.

Syria, Russia to sign 40 investment deals after Assad’s visit

Syrian President Assad also said in an interview with Sputnik that he would not meet with Turkish President Erdogan until Turkey removes its troops from Syria.

Amphetamine

Saudi Arabia seizes 4.6 million amphetamine pills in bathroom shipment

A Jordanian national was apprehended in Jeddah while receiving the amphetamine shipment hidden in ceramic toilets, sinks and washbasins.

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)

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.