The Latest Breaking News from Damascus

Western leaders and Gulf states clash over return of Syrian president after years of war against his own people

The return to the Arab fold of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is deeply shameful, and that shame should be shared by the US and its allies

Bab Alsalama and al-Ra’i will remain open for an additional period of three months ending on 13 August.

The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group has denied reports that linked one of Syria’s most well-known drug dealers who was killed earlier this week to the Iran-backed group

The talks are taking place as Syria mends ties with regional powers after more than a decade of isolation.

Saudi Arabia has invited Syrian President Bashar Assad to the upcoming Arab League summit in the oil-rich kingdom

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received an invitation to next week's Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, the presidency said Wednesday, the first such invitation since the country's war began.

Foreign ministers for Turkey, Syria, Russia and Iran met on Wednesday in Moscow, marking the highest-level talks so far on rebuilding ties between Ankara and Damascus after years of animosity during Syria's civil war.

A video said to show Syrian President Bashar al-Assad walking without escort through a joyous crowd in Damascus has been circulating online since April 25. However, this is an old video and one that actually shows the president during an orchestrated event in a secure location.

Saudi Arabia will reopen its diplomatic mission in Syria, the Saudi foreign ministry said on Tuesday, nearly a decade after diplomatic ties were cut and two days after Syria was readmitted into the Arab League.

Having brought President Bashar al-Assad in from the cold, Arab states want him to rein in Syria's flourishing drugs trade in exchange for even closer ties. But as Damascus makes its own demands, the way ahead appears far from simple.