“The lifting of sanctions is the primary step toward revitalizing the Syrian economy,” Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa told President Donald Trump during a phone call on May 31. In...
On May 31, President Donald Trump said he was naming US Ambassador Tom Barrack as special presidential envoy to Syria and Iraq. The announcement came a day after it had appeared that Barrack’s role as...
Syria held elections in Kurdish-majority areas of the country on May 24, with some politicians and commentators criticizing them for not being representative. Days after the local elections,...
A dispute over Kurdish political representation and cultural rights is emerging as the primary fault line in the Syrian government’s process of integration with the Kurdish-run semi-autonomous region...
On May 19, a car bomb exploded near a Ministry of Defense building in central Damascus’s Bab Sharqi area. One Syrian soldier was killed, and 23 civilians were wounded, the official Syrian Arab...
Protesters in Hasaka in eastern Syria tore down a government billboard at the Justice Palace on May 7. The protests by local Kurdish residents came after the Syrian government changed the...
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made an important announcement when he said that Washington is developing a plan to pursue Hezbollah’s disarmament by building up trusted units within the Lebanese...
Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa met with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi in Damascus on April 16. The meeting came two and a half months after an agreement between...
On April 9, Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad Hassan al Shaibani traveled to Turkey, where he met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. It was Damascus’s second meeting with...
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan did not mince words as he toured the Middle East as the war in the region escalated: “It should be especially noted that the primary responsible party...
Serious concerns are emerging over the ability of the Syrian government to maintain security in the northeast of the country following its recent offensive against the Kurdish-led, U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic...
The Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continued transitioning control of portions of Syria as US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had carried out strikes on the Islamic...
After surviving numerous Islamic State (ISIS)-linked assassination plots, Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa — himself a former jihadi — governs with a target on his back. Moreover, ISIS is resurging...
Latest Developments Al-Tanf Withdrawal: U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) stated on February 12 that U.S. forces had completed the “orderly withdrawal” from the al-Tanf base in northeastern Syria....
US Central Command (CENTCOM) has facilitated the transfer of around 5,000 Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq, according to Iraqi media reports on February 11. The US began the...
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler could not have been blunter. “We have no agenda for withdrawing or leaving those areas,” Guler told the Turkish daily Hurriyet when asked whether Turkey...
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al Shaibani took part in a meeting of the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition in Saudi Arabia on February 9. Syria joined the coalition in November as its...
Damascus’ entrance into the energy market will require it to update its dilapidated infrastructure.
Masoud Barzani’s February 6 meeting with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi spotlights a decade of U.S. partnering that helped defeat ISIS in eastern Syria, but never produced a political endgame. After holding territory east of the Euphrates, the SDF suffered setbacks in mid-January clashes and then reached a January 30 understanding that allows Damascus to expand security control in remaining SDF areas. Some fighters could be absorbed into Syria’s army, while U.S. forces weigh next steps for ISIS detainee operations and their remaining footprint.
Syrian government forces began deploying to cities in northeastern Syria after an agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the interim government on January 30. Syrian...