The Latest Breaking News from Damascus

Dispute with Damascus over who controls aid hinders efforts to get supplies into rebel-held north

Dozens of countries offer help as rescue workers and residents frantically search for survivors after devastating 7.8-magnitude tremor

Relations between Syria and Iran appear to have weakened amid reports that Tehran has been stalling in helping out its ally out of its unprecedented months-long fuel crisis. The “strategic” relations between Damascus and Tehran appear to have also taken a hit through the launch of normalization talks between Syria…

The global chemical weapons watchdog on Friday said a nearly two-year investigation had found that at least one Syrian military helicopter had dropped gas cylinders on to residential buildings in the opposition-held Syrian city of Douma in 2018, killing 43 people. The April 7, 2018, attack on the outskirts of…

The global chemical weapons watchdog on Friday said a nearly two-year investigation had found that at least one Syrian military helicopter had dropped gas cylinders on to residential buildings in the rebel-held Syrian city of Douma in 2018, killing 43 people.

Open and secret political and security contacts have expanded in recent days to choose the best path to normalize relations with Damascus. Syria and Türkiye have held security meetings in the Latakia countryside with the aim of reopening the Aleppo-Latakia highway. A Kurdish delegation from Qamishli even visited the Syrian…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a phone call conversation on Monday, discussed developments in Syria. Turkish and Iranian media reported that Iran’s top diplomat, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, might be visiting Ankara on Tuesday to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. Meanwhile, developments in northern…

Clashes escalated between the Turkish forces and the regime forces in northern Syria, amid preparations for the foreign ministers meeting of Türkiye, Syria, and Russia, within the framework of the second phase of normalizing relations between Ankara and Damascus. A Turkish soldier was killed, and others were injured, after the…

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad said on Saturday that Türkiye would have to end its military presence in his country to achieve a full rapprochement. "We cannot talk about resuming normal ties with Türkiye without removing the occupation," he said after meeting his Iranian counterpart in Damascus. Türkiye has been…