Damascus

The End of the Middle East’s Oil Bonanza

The Middle East has finally arrived at the grim reckoning long barreling toward it: a ruinous collapse of oil revenues that renders government deficits utterly unsustainable. Among the wealthy Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, four are running persistent annual budget deficits that are eroding their sovereign wealth reserves and plunging ...

Iraq Opens Probe Into ISIS Detainees Transferred From Syria

Iraq’s judiciary announced on Monday that it has begun investigations into more than 1,300 suspected members of the Islamic State (ISIS) group who were recently transferred from Syria as part of a U.S.-led operation. In a statement, the judiciary’s media office said investigative proceedings had started against 1,387 members of the “Daesh ...

Syria Says Hezbollah Weapons Used in Damascus Airport Attacks

Syrian authorities said on Sunday they had detained a group responsible for a series of rocket attacks targeting the Mezzeh military airport in the capital, adding that investigators traced the weapons used in the strikes to Hezbollah. In a statement, the Syrian Interior Ministry said security units arrested all members of the group after weeks ...

A Month of Crisis in Syria and Its Regional Ramifications

Syria has experienced another dramatic transformation. After a month of clashes that began in Aleppo and spread to eastern Syria, Damascus announced on January 30 that it had reached an agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for a ceasefire and its military integration. The Syrian transitional government now controls most of the ...

Syria–Kurds Reach Integration Deal After Weeks of Fighting

Syria’s government and Kurdish forces on Friday reached a broad agreement to gradually integrate Kurdish military units and administrative structures into the central state, following weeks of clashes that ended in a ceasefire. The deal, confirmed by both the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian state television, comes ...

Syrian Security Thwarts Weapons Smuggling Attempt Bound for Lebanon

Syrian internal security forces announced on Monday that they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of weapons into Lebanese territory, following coordinated operations in central and southern Syria. According to the Internal Security Directorate in the Al-Qusayr area of Homs, acting in cooperation with the Internal Security ...

Kurdish SDF Fighters Leave North Syria Prison Under Govt Deal: State Media

Syria said early Friday that government forces had begun transferring Kurdish fighters from a prison in the north where they had been holding Islamic State group detainees, as part of a weekend agreement. An AFP correspondent in Raqa saw buses and cars heading away from the Al-Aqtan prison on the city's outskirts overnight, escorted by ...

Erbil Set to Host New Syria-Kurdish Talks as Ceasefire Strains in the North

A new round of negotiations between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is set to take place in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, according to Kurdish sources cited by Al Arabiya, as efforts intensify to salvage a ceasefire and revive talks over the future of northeastern Syria. The planned meetings come just days after ...

PM Salam: Arms Consolidation Plan Covers All Lebanese Territory

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam reiterated on Thursday that the Lebanese Army’s (LAF) plan to consolidate all arms under state authority applies to the entirety of Lebanon, not only areas south of the Litani River, underscoring the government’s commitment to restoring the state’s exclusive control over weapons. In an interview with ...

Lebanon and Syria Seek Rapprochement Amid Lingering Distrust

Since the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime in December 2024, Lebanon and Syria have been in the process of rebuilding trust and repairing relations. The challenging endeavor, supported by Saudi Arabia with Washington’s backing, follows decades of recriminations and Lebanon’s former subjugation under Syria’s Baathist rule. Syria did not ...

Syria Says 7 Soldiers Killed, Accuses Kurdish Force of Truce Breach as Army Enters IS-linked Camp

Syria on Wednesday accused Kurdish-led forces of breaching a ceasefire after seven soldiers were killed in a strike, while authorities entered a camp holding suspected relatives of Islamic State jihadists. The government announced a new truce with the Kurds on Tuesday after taking swathes of north and east Syria that had long been under the ...

Talks Between Damascus And Kurdish-led Forces "Collapse"

Negotiations have collapsed between the Syrian president and the chief of the country's Kurdish-led forces, a Kurdish official told AFP, as the army deployed reinforcements to flashpoint areas in the north. President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), were meeting to discuss a ceasefire ...