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Syria

November 26, 2024

Damascus 5:27 pm

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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

Aerial view of the destruction in the city of Raqqa, Syria, Nov. 7, 2021.

Pentagon could have done more to prevent casualties in key Syria battle, report

A 2017 decision to encircle the Islamic State's capital at Raqqa inhibited the possibility of civilian escape corridors, a Pentagon-sponsored report found.

Members of the Free Syrian Army wave the flag of the Syrian opposition as they travel in a truck through the town of Hazano, in Idlib's northern countryside, as reinforcements are deployed from Aleppo's northern countryside to Idlib's countryside to counter an ongoing pro-regime offensive, Syria, Feb. 5, 2020.

HTS explores rapprochement with Turkey-backed factions in north Syria

Regular meetings between the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army factions and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leaders in northwestern Syria will open a new page in relations between the two parties and might pave the way for military integration in the future.

A Syrian beekeeper prepares medicine to inject into hives at a bee farm in the rebel-controlled town of Hamouria, in the eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Oct. 2, 2016. Honey is used as a homoeopathic treatment for burns and wounds.

Syrians resort to herbal medicine amid drug crisis

The deteriorating living conditions in northwestern Syria and the expensive medical consultations and medicines have prompted Syrian patients to resort to herbal medicine to treat their diseases.

Syrians wave the flag of Russia.

Pro-Russia rallies continue throughout Syria

Syria has been one of the most vocally supportive countries of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Members of the Syrian National Army, an alliance of Turkey-backed rebel groups, ride in an armored personnel carrier in the town of Sarmin as they take part in a military offensive on the village of Nayrab following an artillery barrage fired by Turkish forces, near Idlib, Syria, Feb. 24, 2020.

Syrian Christian militia leader ready to join Russian forces in Ukraine war

The leader of a Syrian Christian militia loyal to the Syrian government is mobilizing fighters willing to fight in Ukraine alongside the Russian army by luring them with high salaries.

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Displaced Syrians in Idlib hold classes in Roman ruins

Volunteers have made ancient ruins in the middle of a displacement camp in Idlib into classrooms for displaced women and children.

Members of Syria's top jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, parade with their flags and those of the Taliban's declared "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" at the Clock Square in the center of the rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria, Aug. 20, 2021.

HTS faces backlash from jihadis over Syrian revolution anniversary celebrations

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham celebrated the anniversary of the Syrian revolution amid much fanfare, while preventing Islamic banners at the celebrations, in what provoked the jihadis who oppose it and led them to accuse HTS of trying to court the West.

People wave the Kurdish flag during a Syrian Kurdish celebration marking Nowruz in the town of Qahtaniyah, Hasakah province, Syria, March 21, 2022.

Nowruz not what it used to be for Afrin’s Kurds

Kurds in Syria have been celebrating Nowruz in secrecy for the past years, under the Assad regime and now under the control of the Turkish-backed rebels.

Walid Khweilid, surrounded by bodyguards.

Syrians outraged by luxurious lifestyle of Turkish-backed rebel leaders

Videos of Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army leaders and members showing off their luxurious lifestyle have sparked controversy in the opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria, where inhabitants live in poverty.

Commander of US Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie arrives to testify during a Senate Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill, Washington, March 15, 2022.

Russia not sending Syrians to Ukraine just yet, top US general says

US CENTCOM has seen no sign of widespread recruitment of Syrians to fight in Ukraine.

Routes to Palmyra-Deir ez-Zor and Damascus-Iraq.

Islamic State takes advantage of Ukraine war to increase attacks

The Islamic State has recently intensified its activity against the Syrian government forces and its allies, setting up a number of ambushes in the Syrian desert and killing dozens.

A street vendor displays pastries and bread, as Syrians buy food products at a market ahead of iftar, the evening meal that ends the daily fast at sunset, on the second day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Ariha, Idlib province, Syria, April 15, 2021.

Jihadi group raises prices in Syria’s Idlib as war rages in Ukraine

While some believe the Russian war on Ukraine has upped prices in northwest Syria, others accuse Hayat Tahrir al-Sham of exploiting the crisis to make gains.