Syrian Civil War

Why does Trump wants Israel to withdraw from Syria, and what does it mean for the IDF? - analysis

For Israel, there is no real strategic or tactical need to keep up the friction with Syrian villages along the buffer zone - and a re-think may be necessary in the future.

|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
(L-R) Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the backdrop of Syrian and Israeli flags (illustrative)
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri meets with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani in Beirut, Lebanon, July 2, 2026.

Syrian FM visits Beirut after Trump suggests Damascus should fight Hezbollah

The Syrian minister, Asaad al-Shibani, met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on his first stop, and then headed for a meeting with the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah.

|ByREUTERS
A rabbi holds a Torah scroll at the Ifrange Synagogue in the Jewish quarter in Old Damascus on April 29, 2025.

Damascus synagogue tours highlight renewed interest in Syrian Jewish history and diaspora ties

Tours of synagogues and meetings with religious leaders highlight renewed interest in Jewish history and unresolved questions over historic sites, property, and diaspora ties.

|ByRIZIK ALABI/THE MEDIA LINE
A worker tears down the pictures of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Lebanon's late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a gas station in Nubl, in rural Aleppo, Syria, December 11, 2024.

Syria accuses Hezbollah-linked cells of plotting attacks, signaling break from Assad-era alliance

Damascus is moving against networks it says planned assassinations, bombings, and rocket fire, raising new questions about sovereignty and power after Bashar Assad’s fall.

|ByRIZIK ALABI / THE MEDIA LINE

Jackie Chan-produced film shoots scenes in former ISIS hotbed in Syria

Once a hotspot of ISIS activity, Hajar al-Aswad, located four kilometers south of Damascus, is now a shooting ground for a Jackie Chan-produced movie called Home Operation.

JULY 19, 2022ByJULIA ROBBINS
Crew members work on the movie set of a Jackie Chan-produced film 'Home Operation', in Hajar al-Aswad, an area on the southern outskirts of Damascus that was heavily damaged during Syria's civil war, Syria July 17, 2022.

Something needs to be done about the dying children in Syria - opinion

How the West can correct its mistakes and save Syrians drowning in a riptide of internal conflict, starvation and sanctions.

FEBRUARY 19, 2022ByHASAN ISMAIK
IRAN’S PRESIDENT Ebrahim Raisi meets with Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Tehran in December.

Syrian opposition groups meet in Qatar in search of unity

‘Syria is no longer Syria; for the international community this means dealing with Russia and dealing with Iran,’ said exiled negotiator Mariam Jalabi.

FEBRUARY 10, 2022ByDEBBIE MOHNBLATT/THE MEDIA LINE
People carry a banner while attending a protest against forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, Russia and the Syrian Democratic forces, in Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria February 29, 2016.

German court finds main suspect guilty in first Syria torture trial

Anwar R. was found guilty on 27 of out 58 counts of murder, rape and sexual assault carried out at a Damascus prison.

JANUARY 13, 2022ByREUTERS
Anwar R, a former Syrian officer of Syrian President Bashar el-Assad's intelligence agency arrives at the higher regional court of Koblenz before the verdict in his trial for crimes against humanity, including torture and killing in Koblenz, Germany, January 13, 2022.

This is the depth of suffering of the Syrian civil war

Levin believes his whole quest, and the unsavory individuals he meets along the way, reveals the corrupt and inhumane basis of the Syrian civil war.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021ByNEVILLE TELLER
A Syrian Civil Defence member carries a wounded child in the besieged town of Hamoria, Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria January 6, 2018.

The cradle of the Syrian revolution is burning again - analysis

A decade after Daraa rose up, the Assad regime is once more trying to break its will

AUGUST 8, 2021ByKSENIA SVETLOVA/THE MEDIA LINE
ighters loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad go through weapons near a tank after regaining control of Hamreet, a town south of Damascus, in the Daraa countryside March 1, 2015. Government forces say they've regained control of this and many other villages in the south - wresting them back fro

Turkish-controlled Islamist militia's ravaging of Afrin

BEHIND THE LINES: State Department, UN and NGO reports cite a pattern of grave human rights violations, assaults and targeting of women.

APRIL 8, 2021ByJONATHAN SPYER
SYRIANS LIVING in Turkey shout slogans during a demonstration in Istanbul last month marking the 10th anniversary of the Syrian conflict.

Egypt pushes for progress on Syria talks, inciting Turkish anger

There is little tangible progress in the wake of the talks last week, however Egypt’s position in general is part of a trend among many Arab states to deal with the Syrian regime again.

OCTOBER 25, 2020BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Ramallah, July 20, 2020.

Palestinian refugees displaced in Syria to finally return home to Yarmouk

Khaled Abdul Majid, the Syria-based leader of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, told Al-Monitor that 100,000 people are expected to return to their houses that suffered minimal damage.

OCTOBER 17, 2020ByIDAN ZONSHINE
Soldiers walk past damaged buildings in Yarmouk Palestinian camp in Damascus

Caesar: The sanctions doctrine and US foreign policy

The Caesar Act came into effect on Wednesday and has struck 39 individuals so far that are close to the Syrian regime.

JUNE 18, 2020BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
A woman walks past a poster depicting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria March 5, 2020