The Middle East is undergoing a dramatic shift in power structures, as key players such as Syria, Israel, Iran, and the Gulf states position themselves for future influence. Central to this transformation is Syria’s post-Assad future and Israel’s continued territorial expansion

Turkish Airlines said Wednesday that it would resume flights to Damascus from January 23 after more than a decade, following the fall of Syria's strongman president Bashar Al-Assad. "We will begin our flights to Damascus on January 23, with three flights per week," the airline's chief executive Bilal Eksi posted on X. Turkey, which supports…

Syrian authorities foiled an attempt by Islamic State group jihadists to blow up a revered Shiite shrine in a Damascus suburb, a source within Syria's intelligence agency told state news agency SANA Saturday. Intelligence and security forces "succeeded in thwarting an attempt by IS to carry out a bombing inside the Sayyida Zaynab shrine," the…

More than 528,500 people were killed in the Syrian civil war, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said on Wednesday. The overall toll includes thousands killed since 2011 that were only confirmed dead recently, with access to detention centres and mass graves easier following the rebel overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. The Britain-based monitory…

French aircraft have bombed Islamic State positions in Syria, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Tuesday, in its first such strike on the country's soil since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. "Our armed forces remain engaged in battling terrorism in the Levant," Lecornu wrote on X while on a New Year visit to French UN peacekeepers…

Nearly 31,000 Syrians have returned home since the fall of strongman Bashar al-Assad, Turkey's interior minister said Friday, the figure rising by about 5,000 in just three days. "The number of people who went back is 30,663," Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told TGRT news channel, saying "30 percent" of them had been born in Turkey.…

Syria's new authorities launched an operation in a stronghold of ousted president Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, with a war monitor saying three gunmen affiliated with the former government were killed.

Two weeks after seizing power in a sweeping offensive, Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has stepped up regional contacts, vowing in a meeting Sunday not to "negatively" interfere in neighbouring Lebanon. Sharaa also met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, video released by the Anadolu state news agency showed, after Ankara-backed rebels played a key…

The military chief of Syria's victorious Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, said on Tuesday it would be "the first" to dissolve its armed wing and integrate into the armed forces. "In any state, all military units must be integrated into this institution," Murhaf Abu Qasra, known by his nom de guerre Abu Hassan al-Hamawi, said…

Foreign countries stepped up efforts Sunday to establish contacts with Syria's interim rulers, a week after Islamist-led rebels sent president Bashar al-Assad fleeing to Moscow, ending decades of brutal rule. The United Nations special envoy for Syria was among those arriving in the Syrian capital. "We need to see of course justice and accountability for…

Residents of Qusayr in central Syria are finally returning home after the departure of Hezbollah fighters, who helped Bashar al-Assad's forces seize the city a decade ago and left with his fall. Many of the houses are now in ruins, after years under the control of the Lebanese armed group, a key Assad ally which…

The United States said on Saturday it has made contact with Syria's victorious Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels, as Western and Arab states along with Turkey jointly voiced support for a united, peaceful Syria. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comment on "direct contact" with the HTS rebels came despite the United States having designated the group…