This is Beirut

Syria’s Sweida on Edge: Clerics’ Deaths Expose Fractures in Druze Heartland

Samar El-Kadi, 2025-12-05 09:25 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Four months after a ceasefire agreement halted a weeklong wave of clashes between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters in Syria’s southern province of Sweida, insecurity continues to plague the region. The truce, reached on July 19 with U.S. and Jordanian mediation, remains volatile and has been repeatedly violated by renewed outbreaks of violence, ...

UN Security Council Makes Historic First Visit to Syria Ahead of Assad Ouster Anniversary

This is Beirut, 2025-12-04 19:23 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria United Nations Bashar al-Assad

A United Nations Security Council delegation arrived in Syria on Thursday, state media reported, the first-ever visit to the country just days before the anniversary of the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. The delegation arrived via the Jdeidet Yabus border crossing between Lebanon and Syria and "is scheduled to meet a number of Syrian ...

Daraya Rises Again

This is Beirut, 2025-12-04 14:00 - Reading : less than a minute

Syria Daraya Memory

Daraya, just seven kilometers from Damascus, was once the city of roses and workshops, a symbol of creativity and spirit. In 2011, its residents greeted soldiers from the Assad regime with flowers during peaceful demonstrations. The response was a massacre, followed by a four-year siege that emptied the city of its 250,000 inhabitants. Destroyed ...

Syrian Security Forces Foil Hezbollah Landmine Smuggling Operation

This is Beirut, 2025-12-03 12:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Syria Hezbollah Lebanon

Syrian authorities said on Wednesday they had killed a man and arrested four others who were attempting to smuggle hundreds of landmines to Hezbollah. In a statement, the interior ministry said it launched a raid in Al-Jebbe, near the capital Damascus, during which "four people were arrested and a fifth neutralized after a clash." Khaled Abbas ...

Syria Launches First Official Print Newspaper Since Fall of Assad

This is Beirut, 2025-12-01 16:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Syria Al Thawra Al Souriya Newspaper media newspaper

Syria published the first print issue of the official Al Thawra Al Souriya newspaper Monday, the latest government-owned media outlet to launch since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. The move brings print media back for the first time in five years. Assad's government stopped printing dailies during the Covid-19 pandemic, citing rising ...

Syria: Explosion of Unknown Origin Injures Civilians in Idlib

This is Beirut, 2025-11-26 14:35 - Reading : less than a minute

Idlib Syria Explosion Rockets

An explosion of unknown origin shook the town of Kafr Takharim in western Idlib on Wednesday, injuring several civilians, according to local sources. A correspondent on the ground reported that the blast—likely linked to an ammunition depot containing rockets—sent a large plume of smoke into the air and caused significant damage in an ...

Kurds at a Crossroads as Middle East Shifts

Seth J. Frantzman , 2025-11-25 21:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Kurds Middle East Syria ISIS Iraq

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi’s November 19 trip to the autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq was an important moment, underscoring that Kurdish leaders now appear to understand the importance of cooperation amid sweeping changes in the region. Abdi—a close partner of the US military in Syria who spent ...

Syrian ISF Arrest Members of a Dangerous ISIS-Affiliated Cell in Latakia

This is Beirut, 2025-11-24 23:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Syria ISIS Latakia

The Syrian ISF command in Latakia announced on Monday that security units had apprehended members of one of the most dangerous ISIS-aligned cells during a precision operation in the al-Badrusiya area of northern Latakia countryside, as reported by SANA. Brigadier General Abdulaziz Hilal al-Ahmad, Commander of Internal Security in Latakia ...

Syria: Israeli Forces Conduct Incursions, Set Up Checkpoints in Quneitra

This is Beirut, 2025-11-24 19:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Syria Israel Quneitra Israel Army

Israeli army carried out multiple incursions into Syrian villages in the Quneitra countryside on Monday evening, a SANA correspondent reported. A unit of three vehicles entered the village of Ruweihina, establishing a checkpoint near the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) post along the road connecting Ruweihina with the villages ...

Netanyahu Visits Israeli Troops in Syria Beyond Ceasefire Line

This is Beirut, 2025-11-19 18:42 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Benjamin Netanyahu Syria Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday told Israeli troops deployed in Syria in a buffer zone intended to separate the two countries' forces that their presence was hugely important for safeguarding Israel. When Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power in December last year, Israel sent troops into the UN-patrolled ...

Aleppo: Trial Over Massacres of the Alawite Minority

This is Beirut, 2025-11-18 17:25 - Reading : less than a minute

Trial Syria alawite Bashar al-Assad massacre

The trial of fourteen people opened this Wednesday in Aleppo for their alleged role in the March 2025 massacres against the Alawite community. These attacks left more than 1,400 people dead, mostly civilians. Among the defendants: seven supporters of Bashar al-Assad and seven members of the new Islamist authorities.

Syrians in Lebanon: Returns Rise, But New Arrivals Continue

Samar El-Kadi, 2025-11-17 12:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Syria Lebanon refugees Beirut

Nearly a year after the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in December, the debate over the future of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has reignited. As conditions inside Syria evolve, Lebanon and international organizations – namely the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – are coordinating ...

syria