Syria | DD News

January 9, 2026 9:53 AM

Syria signals renewed cooperation on chemical weapons destruction

Syria’s current government under Ahmed al-Sharaa has indicated a renewed willingness to cooperate with international efforts aimed at dismantling the country’s chemical weapons programme. The United Nations has described this as a critical opportunity to address long-standing gaps in verification. Briefing the Security Council, Adedeji Ebo, officer-in-charge of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, said Damascus is now working with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, ...

January 8, 2026 10:58 AM

Israel and Syria agree to share intelligence following Paris talks

Israel and Syria reached an agreement to exchange intelligence information and pursue commercial opportunities aimed at reducing military tensions and strengthening diplomatic relations. The arrangement emerged from discussions held in Paris under the oversight of US special envoy Tom Barrack, where both nations committed to establishing a joint coordination mechanism. The talks resulted in plans for a US-supervised 'fusion' cell designed to facilitate intelligence sharing, military de-escalati...

January 4, 2026 11:11 AM

Britain says it and France bombed suspected Islamic State arms dump in Syria

Britain's and France's air forces conducted a joint operation on Saturday evening to bomb a suspected underground arms cache previously used by the Islamic State group in Syria, Britain's defence ministry said. Western aircraft have been conducting patrols to stop a resurgence of the Islamist militant group that ruled parts of Syria until 2019. Intelligence analysis identified an underground facility believed to be used to store weapons and explosives in mountains north of Palmyra, Britain said...

January 1, 2026 3:36 PM

Syria Introduces New Banknotes from January 1

Syria has introduced redesigned banknotes from January 1, bringing into circulation a new series of currency that removes images of former leader Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad in a symbolic break with the past. The new currency was formally unveiled by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa at a ceremony in Damascus. It reflects a revaluation in which two zeros have been removed from existing bills and includes denominations of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 and 500 Syrian pounds. The redesign...

December 29, 2025 3:12 PM

Syria secures Assad-era mass grave revealed by Reuters and opens criminal investigation

Syria’s government has ordered soldiers to guard a mass grave created to conceal atrocities under Bashar al-Assad and has opened a criminal investigation, following a Reuters report that revealed a yearslong conspiracy by the fallen dictatorship to hide thousands of bodies on the remote desert site. The site, in the Dhumair desert east of Damascus, was used during Assad’s rule as a military weapons depot, according to a former Syrian army officer with knowledge of the operation. It was late...

December 26, 2025 8:06 PM

Explosion at Alawite mosque in Syria’s Homs kills eight

Eight people were killed in an explosion at a mosque of the Alawite minority sect in the Syrian city of Homs on Friday, Syrian state news agency SANA said. SANA cited Syrian Health Ministry official Najib al-Naasan as saying 18 others were wounded and that the figures were not final, indicating they could rise. The city's press office said an explosive device had detonated inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib mosque and that security forces had cordoned off the area. A local security official tol...

November 16, 2025 10:07 AM

Syria, Saudi Arabia reluctant to make peace with Israel as Trump pushes to expand Abraham Accords

On 10 November, Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa strides into the Oval Office. He becomes the first Syrian leader ever to do so since the country's independence in 1946. Al-Sharaa, the 43-year-old former Al-Qaeda commander who toppled Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, meets President Trump for the third time this year. Al-Sharaa enters the White House through West Executive Avenue, a less visible and non-ceremonial route, rather than the traditional front driveway where foreign dignitaries are...

November 11, 2025 10:18 AM

Trump vows to do everything he can to help Syria after landmark talks with Sharaa

U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on Monday to do everything he can to make Syria successful after landmark talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who until recently was sanctioned by Washington as a foreign terrorist. Sharaa's visit capped a stunning year for the rebel-turned-ruler who toppled longtime autocratic leader Bashar al-Assad and has since traveled the world trying to depict himself as a moderate leader who wants to unify his war-ravaged nation and e...

November 10, 2025 1:56 PM

Trump to meet Sharaa at White House, capping major turnaround for Syria

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday caps a stunning year for the rebel-turned-ruler who toppled a longtime autocratic leader and has since toured the world as he seeks to end Syria's international isolation. Trump is set to welcome Sharaa in the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House, six months after the pair first met in Saudi Arabia and just days after Washington said the former al Qaeda member was no longer a "...

November 9, 2025 10:35 AM

Syria carries out pre-emptive operations against Islamic State cells

Syria has carried out nationwide pre-emptive operations targeting Islamic State cells, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. Syrian security forces carried out 61 raids, with 71 people arrested and explosives and weapons seized, the spokesperson told state-run Al Ekhbariya TV. The raids come ahead of a trip by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and join an anti Islamic State U.S.-led coalition. The U.S. State Department...