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Syria

November 26, 2024

Damascus 1:31 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

Annabelle Chih/Getty Images

Syria, Iran condemn Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan

China is a close ally of both countries but has also made economic inroads recently with US partners in the Middle East.

A Syrian man whose shop was destroyed in a regime aerial bombardment the previous day walks around the area on May 15, 2019.

Syrian escalation risks all-out conflict involving Turkey, Russia, Iran

A military escalation on all axes and from all sides in Syria followed the Tehran summit.

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Five children dead as Russia resumes bombing in northwest Syria

Tensions escalated on the Idlib front in the wake of the Astana talks held in Tehran as Russian airstrikes killed several children.

This picture taken on Dec. 27, 2021, shows a view of a broken tombstone at the Roman Catholic monastery area in the town of al-Qanayyah.

Syrian jihadi leader Golani meets with Idlib’s Christians

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani met with Christians as part of efforts to reshape the terrorist group's image.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

US focus of ire as Turkey threatens Syria‘s Kurds

Syrian Kurdish leader says Turkish intentions unclear.

Chinese Ambassador to Syria Feng Biao (C) poses for a picture with crew members in Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood during the filming of "Home Operation," Damascus, Syria, July 14, 2022.

Syrians outraged over Jackie Chan movie shot over rubble of their homes

Syrians who were displaced from Hajar al-Aswad area of Damascus in the past years were shocked to see Chinese film crews standing on the rubble of their homes to shoot a new film by Jackie Chan.

The Assyrian Church of the Virgin Mary, which was previously destroyed in 2015 by the Islamic State, in the village of Tal Nasri, south of the town of Tal Tamr, Hasakah province, Syria, Nov. 15, 2019.

Assyrian family properties in Syria threatened by illegal seizures

The numerous parties to the Syrian war are ignoring the theft and forgeries of properties of minorities in the country, including the properties of Syriac Assyrians who have fled the war.

Turkey-backed Syrian fighters take part in a parade in the rebel-controlled town of Tell Abyad in Raqqa province, Syria, Oct. 13, 2020.

Syrian Kurds seek support amid Turkish threats of military action

Syrian government forces have deployed in north Syria in anticipation of a Turkish military operation.

SERGEI SAVOSTYANOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Iran's Khamenei tells Erdogan to avoid military action in north Syria

The Turkish president and his Russian counterpart were both in Tehran for a key regional meeting on the war-torn Syria.

Fighters affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham inspect the site of a reported drone attack that targeted a motorcycle on the eastern edge of the rebel-held Idlib province, Syria, early June 28, 2022.

Syrian government, Russia escalate attacks in Idlib amid looming Turkish operation

Syrian and Russian forces are intensifying their bombing campaign in Syria’s Idlib before the tripartite summit between the Russian, Turkish and Iranian leaders in Tehran, further worrying the Syrian factions.

Displaced Syrian children attend a class in Bab al-Salama camp for people fleeing the violence in Syria, on the border with Turkey, Oct. 27, 2014.

Syrian children in Turkey lose touch with Arabic language

The new generation of Syrian refugees in Turkey prefer to speak Turkish rather than Arabic in order not to be discriminated against.

Members of Syria's top jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

HTS arrests members of little-known Syrian group behind attacks against Turkish army in Idlib

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham announced that it arrested most members of the Ansar Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Brigade, a small, little-known jihadist group that is hostile to HTS and has repeatedly targeted Turkish forces in Idlib.