Updated 6/4/2025 2:00 PM Eastern For the first time since the regime change in Syria in December and the subsequent Israeli invasion of the southwest frontier of the country, Israel reported rocket attacks against their territory, in the occupied Golan Heights, coming...
Syrian Islamist Leader Sharaa to Visit US in September to Address UN
In December after the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took power in Syria, the Biden Administration lifted the $10 million bounty on the head of Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. Sharaa has gone on quite an effort to...
US Pulls 500 Troops Out of Syria, 1,500 Remain
The US has pulled about 500 troops out of Syria in recent weeks, bringing the total number of US servicemen in the country to about 1,500. The drawdown is part of a plan that the Pentagon announced in April to bring the total number of US troops in Syria to under...
US Blesses Idea of Syrian Military Integrating Foreign Islamist Fighters
The position of the United States on the Islamist Syrian government has been complex since the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took power in December. The HTS, after all, was effectively al-Qaeda’s Syria branch up until it distanced itself from the parent group, with...
ISIS Attacks Kurdish Patrol in Northeast Syria, Killing Three
At least three members of the Kurdish Asayish security forces were killed today in northeastern Syria, according to the group. They said they were targeted by an ISIS cell during a patrol on the road between Raqqa and Hasakeh. The patrol was targeted with a landmine,...
US Reopens Ambassador’s Residence in Damascus in Sign of Warming Ties
The US reopened the US ambassador's residence in Damascus on Thursday as the Trump administration is building ties with the new Syrian government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former al-Qaeda leader who led the assault that ousted former President Bashar al-Assad. "Our...
Israel, Syria Reportedly Engage in Direct Security Talks
According to reports citing unnamed sources, Israel and Syria have recent held direct security talks with one another. The talks are said to have happened in the wake of indirect talks between the two sides involving intermediaries, which have been confirmed. The...
Trump Envoy Meets Syria’s Leader After US Lifts Sanctions
On Saturday, President Trump's special envoy met with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former al-Qaeda leader who is now Syria's de facto president, after the State Department announced it was lifting some sanctions on Syria. Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey who now also...
Sectarian Tensions Erupt Across Syria, Posters Call for Religious Tax on Christians
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent warning that Syria may be on the verge of another “full scale civil war” seems increasingly more possible, with sectarian tensions erupting on multiple fronts, as the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government’s promise of...
Syrian Troops Clash With Kurdish SDF as Tensions Rise in Northern Syria
While the cooperation between the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government in Syria and the Kurdish SDF originally made it seem like the violence in northern Syria was on the decline, a new round of fighting between those groups has led to increased tensions and...