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Bedouin tribal gunmen engage in combat with Druze fighters in a neighbourhood in Sweida in Syria's southern province

Death toll from Syria violence rises to 940 - monitor

The death toll from violence in Sweida province, the heartland of Syria's Druze minority, has risen to 940 since last weekend, a war monitor has said, despite the announcement of a ceasefire.

Middle East • 19 Jul

A damaged building following an airstrike in Syria

Syria troops quit Sweida as clashes leave nearly 600 dead

Syrian troops have pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed nearly 600 people, according to a war monitor.

Middle East • 18 Jul

Damage after Israeli airstrikes hit the Syrian Ministry Of Defence and a site near the presidential palace in Damascus

Israel's strikes on Syria: What we know

Israel has bombed Syrian government sites and other targets since Monday, saying it was seeking to defend the Druze minority after bloody sectarian clashes in southern Syria.

Analysis and Comment • 17 Jul

SUWAYDA, SYRIA - JULY 17: An aerial view of homes belonging to Bedouin Arabs are seen set on fire by members of the Druze community in Suwayda, Syria on July 17, 2025. Local armed groups have reportedly begun expelling families at gunpoint, prompting many

Syrian leader vows to protect Druze as truce strained

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority today after US intervention to help achieve a truce in fighting between government forces and Druze fighters.

Middle East • 17 Jul

Watch: Moment strikes hit Syria as reporter live on air

An Al Jazeera reporter could be seen shielding himself while on air, as a large explosion hit a building behind him earlier today.

Middle East • 16 Jul

DAMASCUS, SYRIA - JULY 16: Smoke rises from the Syrian army's General Staff Complex after Israeli warplanes carried out multiple airstrikes in Damascus, Syria on July 16, 2025. The building was targeted three times throughout the day, with visible flames

Israel hits Syria army HQ, areas near presidential palace

Israel launched powerful airstrikes in Damascus, blowing up part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.

World • 17 Jul

DAMASCUS, SYRIA - JUNE 22: People survey the scene following a blast in the Mar Elias Church on June 22, 2025 in Damascus, Syria. A suspected suicide bombing has killed at least 20 people and injured 52 others who were attending a service at the Mar Elias

Arrests after attack on Damascus church kills 25 people

Authorities in Syria have made a number of arrests after an attack on a church in which the health ministry said that 25 people were killed and 63 injured.

World • 23 Jun

Syrian banks were largely cut off from the world during the civil war after a crackdown by Bashar al-Assad on anti-government protests in 2011 led Western states to impose sanctions

Syria completes first global SWIFT transfer since war

Syria has carried out its first international bank transaction via the SWIFT system since the outbreak of its 14-year civil war, its central bank governor said today, a milestone in Syria's push to reintegrate into the global financial system.

Business • 19 Jun

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc would continue to stand by Syrians

EU to lift economic sanctions on Syria, says Kallas

EU foreign ministers have agreed to lift economic sanctions on Syria, the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

World • 21 May

Syrian Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri condemned what he called a 'genocidal campaign' against his people, after two days of deadly sectarian clashes

Israel attacks target near Syrian presidential palace

Israel's military has said it launched air strikes near the presidential palace in Damascus after the country's defence minister threatened intervention if Syrian authorities failed to protect the Druze minority.

Middle East • 02 May

Loujin Shakerdi says the 13-year war has 'devastated' Syria's health infrastructure

A city 'destroyed' - Irish-Syrian woman's visit to Aleppo

An Irish-Syrian citizen who fled Aleppo in 2014 has said her home city was "completely destroyed" after a recent visit.

Middle East • 19 Apr

A group among those fleeing Rafah after Israel told residents to leave

Hundreds of thousands flee as Israel seizes Rafah

Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have fled Rafah and sought shelter in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war.

Middle East • 04 Apr

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa makes a speech during the swearing-in ceremony for the first cabinet

Syria's president forms new transitional government

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced a transitional government, appointing 23 ministers in a broadened cabinet seen as a key milestone in the transition from decades of Assad family rule and to improving Syria's ties with the West.

World • 30 Mar

The declaration was signed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa

Syria keeps role for Islamic law in transitional period

Syria has issued a constitutional declaration that guarantees women's rights and freedom of expression during a five-year transitional period.

World • 13 Mar

Security forces loyal to the interim Syrian government are seen in Latakia

Syrian military operation against Assad loyalists ends

Syria's new authorities have announced the end of an operation against loyalists of deposed president Bashar al-Assad, after a war monitor reported more than 1,000 civilians killed in the worst violence since his overthrow.

World • 10 Mar

Syrian leader Ahmed Sharaa is scrambling to contain some of the deadliest violence in 13 years of civil war

Syrian forces kill 830 Alawite civilians, monitor says

A Syrian war monitor has said that security forces and allied groups killed 830 Alawite civilians over the past four days.

World • 09 Mar

The new Syrian government's army dispatched reinforcement units consisting of hundreds of vehicles to Latakia

Syria security forces kill over 700 Alawites - monitor

A Syrian war monitor said that security forces and allied groups have killed 745 Alawite civilians over the past three days.

World • 08 Mar

Fighters with the new Syrian government have been sent to the Tartus region

Scores killed as Syrian forces fight Alawite insurgency

Syrian security forces have battled for a second day to crush a nascent insurgency by fighters from Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, with scores reported killed as the Islamist-led government faced the biggest challenge yet to its authority.

World • 08 Mar

The court said nine Yazidi women and children were kept as slaves by Lina Ishaq

Woman jailed in Sweden for keeping Yazidi slaves in Syria

A Swedish court has sentenced a 52-year-old woman to 12 years in prison on genocide charges, in the country's first court case over crimes committed by the so-called Islamic State group against the Yazidi minority.

World • 11 Feb

Previously banned foreign goods are now openly on sale in Damascus in Syria

Syria's economy reborn after being freed from Assad

When Bashar al-Assad ruled Syria, merchants like Youssef Rajab kept much of their imported stock hidden for fear of arrest for breaking the law.

Business • 23 Jan

Israeli soldiers stand guard at the Hermon ski resort, bordering Syria and Lebanon, during a media tour organised by the Israeli army on 8 January

Strikes on Lebanon-Syria border smuggling routes - Israel

Israel carried out air strikes in Lebanon, targeting areas in the east and south according to Lebanese state media, with the Israeli military saying it hit Hezbollah targets including smuggling routes along the border with Syria.

Middle East • 13 Jan

Prisons were emptied after Bashar al-Assad's fall as officials and agents of the deposed regime fled

Syria's new intel chief vows reforms to end abuses

The new head of Syria's intelligence services announced a plan to dissolve the institutions that were so feared under the rule of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.

World • 28 Dec 24

Syria's new intel chief vows reforms to end abuses

The new head of Syria's intelligence services announced a plan to dissolve the institutions that were so feared under the rule of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.

World • 28 Dec 24

Ousted Assad regime soldiers line up in front of a reconciliation centre opened by the interim administration in Jamiliyeh, Syria

Tensions flare as Syrian authorities heighten security

Syria's new authorities launched a security crackdown in a coastal region where 14 policemen were killed a day before, vowing to pursue "remnants" of the ousted Bashar al-Assad government accused of the attack.

Middle East • 26 Dec 24

Boys walk in front of the destroyed Sakina Shrine in Daraya suburb, Damascus

Syrian police impose curfew in Homs after unrest

Angry protests broke out in the heartland of deposed Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority, a war monitor and witnesses have said, after a video circulated showing an attack on a shrine.

Middle East • 25 Dec 24