Syria

UN Syria Envoy Geir Pedersen Resigns After Seven Years in Post

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen announced Wednesday that he is resigning “for personal reasons” after nearly seven and a half years in the post. Speaking before the UN Security Council, the Norwegian diplomat said he was “deeply indebted and deeply grateful to the Syrian people, who have shown extraordinary courage and humanity ...

Syria to Strike Security Deals with Israel by End of 2025

Syria expects to finalize security and military agreements with Israel this year, an official said Thursday, in what would be a breakthrough less than a year after Bashar al-Assad's ouster. With the United States pushing for a settlement between the two neighbors, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani arrived in Washington to discuss talks with ...

Syria FM Heading to US, a First in 25 Years

Syria's foreign minister is heading to Washington on Thursday, a foreign ministry source rold AFP, in the first such visit in more than 25 years. "Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani will travel to Washington to discuss the lifting of the remaining sanctions," the source said, requesting anonymity as they were not allowed to brief the ...

Buffer Zones and Broken Red Lines: Israel’s New Security Architecture in Syria and Lebanon

For decades, Israel and Lebanon have lived under a paradox: perpetual hostility punctuated by temporary ceasefires. The 1949 Armistice created quiet without peace until the Lebanese state allowed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to operate from its south in 1969. That decision transformed southern Lebanon into a launchpad for attacks on ...

Al-Sharaa: Syrian Security Talks with Israel Could Yield Results "in Few Days"

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said Wednesday that ongoing security talks with Israel could produce results “in the coming days,” describing a security agreement as a “necessity.” Al-Sharaa added that if the security deal succeeds, it could pave the way for “other agreements,” but emphasized that “peace and normalization” with ...

Thousands of Syrian Kurds Rally for Decentralization

Thousands of people in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria rallied Wednesday in support of their autonomous administration and called for decentralization as negotiations with Damascus over the region's future stall. Damascus and Syria's Kurds have been in talks to integrate Kurdish civil and military institutions into the central government ...

Syria: The Province of Sweida Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

In southern Syria, since the summer, the Druze province of Sweida has become the scene of bloody clashes and geopolitical rivalries. The violence that took place in July, which pitted Druze militias against Bedouin clans and government forces, deeply shook the region, leaving behind thousands of dead and accusations of massacres. As autumn ...

Syria Working with US on 'Security Understandings' with Israel

Syria said on Tuesday that it was working with the United States to reach mutual "security understandings" with Israel, which has demanded the demilitarization of the country's south. The announcement was part of a US- and Jordan-backed roadmap for restoring stability in the south following sectarian violence that drew Israeli intervention, and a ...

Progressive Socialist Party Hails Damascus Agreement on Sweida Crisis

The Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) welcomed on Tuesday the agreement signed in Damascus on the situation in Sweida, describing it as a step that echoes the party’s long-standing proposals and regional outreach. In a statement, the PSP said the deal reflected ideas it had previously advanced in meetings with US envoy Tom Perriello, during ...

ISF Dismantles Syrian Counterfeiting Network in Beirut Suburbs

The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced on Tuesday that it had dismantled, last August, a network of Syrian counterfeiters specializing in forging official Lebanese and Syrian stamps. According to the statement, the ISF’s intelligence bureau had received information that members of the network were obtaining ...

Syria Announces Plan with Jordan, U.S. to Restore Calm in Druze-Majority Sweida

Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani announced on Tuesday a plan backed by Jordan and the United States to restore calm to Druze-majority Sweida province, which witnessed deadly sectarian violence in July. The situation in the province has been tense since the clashes, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed more than 2,000 ...

Al-Sharaa’s High-Stakes Test in New York: Iran Wagers on His Downfall

Even as Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government implements the army’s plan to enforce the decision that all weapons be held exclusively by the state—monitoring progress monthly—and follows up on Syrian detainees in Lebanese prisons as well as displaced Syrians in preparation for their return, concern over border demarcation remains strong ...