Syria
Explosion Wounds 14 Near Damascus
Syria's Health Ministry revised its account of Thursday's Jaramana bombing on Friday, saying no one died and 14 people were wounded, three critically — reversing an initial report of two deaths that officials said stemmed from misidentified limbs later traced to surviving surgical patients. The device was planted inside a minivan taxi carrying passengers and detonated on a crowded transit artery during peak hour. A little-known group calling itself Minbar Ansar Al-Rasoul claimed responsibility Friday; no arrests have been announced, according to Arab News. The bombing reads less as an isolated incident than as a structural test for President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government, which has yet to fold Druze and Christian self-defense networks — built after Assad's fall and reinforced by lingering distrust — into a unified state security structure, particularly following the 2025 Sweida killings, in which a UN probe found more than 1,700 dead and implicated government-aligned forces alongside…
Al-Sharaa: Syria Seeking Security Deal With Israel
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in an interview aired Sunday that Damascus is actively working toward a security agreement with Israel that involves several other countries, expressing hope it could serve as a gateway to comprehensive peace, according to Al Jazeera. He said any such agreement would not compromise Syria's claim to the occupied Golan Heights, and that Syria has no interest in confronting Israel. The talks are focused on securing an Israeli withdrawal from the buffer zone it seized in southern Syria after Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December 2024, building on a January agreement between the two countries to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism. On Lebanon, al-Sharaa said Syria would not intervene militarily to help dismantle Hezbollah's arsenal, but supports keeping weapons and decisions on war and peace exclusively under Lebanese state authority. He also acknowledged delays in implementing a separate January agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces.The interview came…
Israeli Troops Raid Syrian Border Village
Israeli forces entered the village of al-Samdaniyah al-Sharqiyah in the northern Quneitra countryside on Sunday, setting up a temporary checkpoint and searching civilians, according to SANA. A patrol of five military vehicles carried out the operation before withdrawing, with no arrests reported.Israeli forces also fired three mortar rounds and one smoke shell from positions in the town of al-Hamidiyah toward the area between al-Hamidiyah and Salam City, SANA reported. No casualties resulted from the shelling.The incursion is one of hundreds of similar operations Israel has carried out in southern Syria in recent months. Local monitors cited by SANA say Israeli forces have conducted approximately 300 military operations or violations in Daraa and Quneitra provinces, including roughly 70 ground incursions and 28 raids, in violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.Israeli forces have also established at least nine forward military positions in Quneitra, expanding control over roughly 235 square kilometers within and…
Syria Intercepts Weapons Shipment Allegedly Bound for Hezbollah
Syrian customs authorities said Thursday they intercepted a shipment of advanced weapons concealed inside an oil tanker at the al-Tanf border crossing with Iraq, describing it as one of the largest arms seizures since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government.According to Syrian officials, inspectors discovered long-range missiles, guided anti-tank weapons and drones hidden inside the tanker, which was reportedly traveling toward the Baniyas refinery on Syria's Mediterranean coast. Authorities said preliminary investigations indicate the shipment was intended for Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, though they did not identify the smugglers or disclose where the weapons originated. Hezbollah had not publicly commented at the time of publication.The interception came less than two weeks after Syrian and Iraqi border-security officials met on July 6 to strengthen cooperation against cross-border smuggling networks. It also followed President Ahmed al-Sharaa's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump during the NATO summit in Ankara, where Trump again urged…
Trump Presses Netanyahu as Doctrines Collide
President Trump's call urging Prime Minister Netanyahu to withdraw forces from Syria and Lebanon reads less like a request than a rebuke, exposing a strategy Israel seems intent on locking in place, according to Axios.Netanyahu's insistence on "security zones" is not merely defensive. With elections three months away and his political survival at stake, holding territory abroad doubles as political cover at home, letting him claim security gains rather than negotiate withdrawals that his coalition would treat as capitulation.That entrenchment now collides with Washington's broader project. Trump's meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Turkey signals a bet on fast-tracked normalization to pull Damascus from Iran's orbit. The IDF's continued presence in southern Syria is a direct obstacle to that timeline, exposing a clash between Trump's deal-driven realignment and Netanyahu's tactical territorialism, where occupied ground grows more valuable the longer it's held.The Rome talks over Lebanon's "pilot zones" show a…
Russia Finds a Way to Stay in Tartous
Russia has found a way to keep its foothold in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, pairing a reduced naval presence at Tartous with a new commercial logistics hub. Under the plan, one of the port's two berths would handle cargo while the other stays open to the Russian navy, Reuters reported, citing Syrian officials and project documents.The hub, run by the Syrian logistics firm Rus Line alongside Russian companies, would open a regular route between Novorossiysk and Tartous carrying grain, timber, coal and steel — about 250,000 tonnes a month, starting in mid-July. The project was discussed when Russian President Vladimir Putin met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Moscow in January.Damascus is not united behind it. The General Authority for Land and Sea Ports called reports of a Russian hub "entirely false," even as other officials push it forward. Syria is caught between an $800 million DP World…
