United States

Syria

Economics

Politics

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to partially lift sanctions on Syria, the White House announced on June 30.

U.S., Syria: U.S. Lifts Some, but Not All, Sanctions on Syria

South Sudan

Angola

Benin

Burkina Faso

Cameroon

Cabo Verde

Cote d'Ivoire

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Djibouti

Ethiopia

Gabon

Gambia

Ghana

Liberia

Malawi

Niger

Nigeria

Sao Tome and Principe

Senegal

Tanzania

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Antigua and Barbuda

Dominican Republic

Saint Lucia

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Egypt

Cambodia

Tonga

Tuvalu

Vanuatu

Kyrgyzstan

Bhutan

The U.S. State Department issued a memo giving 36 countries 60 days to meet new department requirements or be added to a travel ban implemented on June 9, The Washington Post reported on June 14.

U.S.: Trump Administration Considers Adding 36 More Countries to Travel Ban

Israel

Military & Security

Syria's foreign ministry condemned a deadly Israeli attack on southern Syria that followed the first 2025 attack launched from southern Syria into the disputed Golan Heights, Al Jazeera reported on June 3. 

Israel, Syria: Damascus Condemns Israeli Response to Militant Attack Launched From Syria

Jordan

Turkey

China

The U.S. envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said the United States had begun reducing its troop presence in Syria "from eight bases, to five, to three. We'll eventually go to one," the Financial Times reported on June 3. 

Syria, U.S.: U.S. Begins Troop Drawdown in Syria

Russia

An attack on Russia's Hmeimim air base in Latakia, Syria, killed at least four people, including two militants and two people at the base, AP reported May 22.

Russia, Syria: Militants Conduct Deadly Attack on Russia's Hmeimim Air Base

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States would look to issue a 180-day waiver for Congressional sanctions on Syria, with eventual aspirations to permanently remove the sanctions, though that would require Congressional approval, Bloomberg reported May 16. 

U.S., Syria: Trump Administration Pushes for 180-Day Sanctions Waiver

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would soon lift U.S. sanctions on Syria, though he did not mention specific demands Syria had met to earn such sanctions relief, Al Jazeera reported on May 13.

U.S., Syria: Trump Says U.S. Will Lift Sanctions on Syria

Qatar will provide $29 million a month to Syria to help pay civil servant salaries for at least the next three months, Reuters reported on May 7, citing Syria's finance minister.

Syria: Qatar Gains U.S. Sanctions Exemptions To Pay Syrian Civil Servant Salaries

Columns

On Geopolitics

Iraq

Palestinian Territories

Yemen

U.S. President Donald Trump (right) interacts with Oman Deputy Prime Minister Sayyid Asaad (second from right) as they prepare to pose for photos with leaders during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Leaders' Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 14, 2025.

Energy

Despite Trump's recent sharp words on his predecessor's "forever wars," U.S. trade and energy interests will keep him engaged in the region, though in ways that rely more on economic and diplomatic leverage, as opposed to military campaigns.

Is the Era of U.S. Interventionism in the Middle East Over?

Assessments

Iran

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan hold the movement's flag during a demonstration in the capital, Amman, on Nov. 28, 2014.

Militant factions of the Muslim Brotherhood will likely go underground in Jordan following the government's ban on the organization, but Iranian influence and persistent socioeconomic grievances will sustain risks of violence.

In Jordan, a Ban Pushes the Muslim Brotherhood Underground

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters aboard Air Force One on May 14, 2025, as he flies to Doha, Qatar, for his first trip to the Middle East since returning to the White House. 

Trump's decision to lift sanctions will help kickstart Syria's war-torn economy and strengthen its new government, but sectarian infighting, Israeli aggression and a resurging Islamic State could still hamper progress.

In Syria, the Promise and Limits of U.S. Sanctions Relief

A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B aircraft over the North Sea having taken off from RAF Fairford on July 1, 2016 in Gloucestershire, England. The tactic designed to allow intervention without deepening withdrawalism will instead do the opposite, and Washington will face more and more calls to retrench from the Middle East.

The tactic designed to allow intervention without deepening withdrawalism will instead do the opposite, and Washington will face more and more calls to retrench from the Middle East.

Washington Bumps up Against the Limits of Airpower in the Middle East

Fighters gather outside a building that was seized by jihadists in Syria's northern Aleppo province on Nov. 29, 2024, amid the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) offensive against government forces.

The two countries will seek to avoid direct conflict amid U.S. pressure to de-escalate tensions, but their competing military presence in Syria and elevated risk tolerances leave the door open to miscalculations and limited clashes.

Can Israel and Turkey Avoid a Conflict in Syria?

Lebanon

A Lebanese flag painted on a damaged building in the village of Meiss El-Jabal in southern Lebanon is seen from a position on the Israeli side of the border on Jan. 23, 2025, in northern Israel. 

Hezbollah's military losses and the formation of Lebanon's new government have opened the door to a new chapter in Lebanese history, although external pressure will complicate the country's next steps.

Hezbollah's Future in Lebanon

An Israeli army vehicle patrols near the fence leading into the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone, which separates Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights, on Jan. 5, 2025. 

An open-ended Israeli military campaign in southern Syria risks destabilizing the country's fragile political transition and pushing Damascus back toward anti-Israeli forces like Hezbollah and Iran.

Israel's Effort To Secure Post-Assad Syria Risks Doing the Opposite

Syrian Kurds wave independence-era flags in support of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on Dec. 19, 2024, in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli.

A rapprochement would boost the odds of Turkish constitutional reform needed to give Erdogan another term, while its failure could presage regionwide violence.

Hints Emerge of a Turkish-Kurdish Thaw

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan welcomes his Syrian counterpart Asaad Al-Shaibani before attending an Arab officials' meeting in Riyadh on Jan. 12, 2025.

Saudi Arabia's re-engagement with Lebanon, Syria and Iraq aims to counterbalance Turkey, Qatar and Iran but faces limits due to sectarian politics and foreign interference, which may make Riyadh more assertive over time.

Saudi Arabia Moves To Counterbalance Turkey and Qatar, Replace Iran in the Levant

Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand atop a humvee in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province during a joint military exercise with the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State on Sept. 7, 2022.

The threat of a Turkish offensive and decreasing U.S. aid will increasingly pressure the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces to reach a deal with Syria's new government. 

The Uncertain Future of U.S.-Backed Kurds in Syria

Sub-Saharan Africa

Americas

Brazil

Colombia

Cuba

Haiti

Nicaragua

Venezuela

Indonesia

Europe

North Macedonia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Serbia

Albania

Kosovo

Ukraine

South Asia

Afghanistan

Bangladesh

India

The lobby of the headquarters for the U.S. Agency for International Development is seen on Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. 

Social Issues

Cuts to U.S.-funded humanitarian and development programs could worsen global health outcomes, destabilize security environments, accelerate democratic backsliding, and create opportunities for rival powers to expand their influence.

The Global Implications of Trump's Foreign Aid Cuts

A shuttered hotel is seen in Aleppo, Syria, on Jan. 24, 2025. 

To secure sanctions relief from the West, Syria's new leaders will likely take some symbolic steps toward forming an inclusive government, but any relief may prove temporary if Damascus diverges from its democratic promises.

The Prospect of Sanctions Relief for Post-Assad Syria

<p>Modern Syria is located along the eastern Mediterranean Sea, bordering Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq. Syria&rsquo;s main geographic challenge is uniting its diverse ethnic groups under one domestic power. This is the result of mountainous terrain and ethnic cores that contradict the state&rsquo;s current borders. Syria&rsquo;s population is composed of Sunni Arabs, Alawites, Kurds, Druze, and Christians, among others. The traditional core of Syria&#39;s ruling Alawite minority sits on the northern coastal plain to the west of the Jabal an Nusayriya mountains and to the north of the Anti-Lebanon mountains. Between these two ranges, the Homs Gap has often been the point of invasions from the Mediterranean Sea. The interior region is dominated by the majority Sunni Arab peoples. The Syrian Desert divides this area into two competing regions with strong local identities. The first, Damascus, is the historical capital and the modern seat of power for the Alawites. The other, Aleppo, is situated in the agricultural heartlands of the Aleppo plateau. The Euphrates river divides this plateau from the much more arid Jazirah plateau and allows for irrigation in an otherwise desert region. Syria&rsquo;s modern boundaries fall short of the historical concept of Greater Syria&mdash;spanning from Lebanon to the west and Jordan and Israel to the south. Its current borders were set by the League of Nations&#39; French Mandate, following the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Lebanon, especially Beirut, has always been important to Syria because of its trade ports and access to Mediterranean markets. Syria&rsquo;s recent civil unrest is the latest example of its geographic challenge. Maintaining unity remains difficult so long as its current boundaries continue to overlap regional and ethnic fault lines.</p>

SITUATION REPORTS

U.S., Syria: U.S. Lifts Some, but Not All, Sanctions on Syria

U.S.: Trump Administration Considers Adding 36 More Countries to Travel Ban

Israel, Syria: Damascus Condemns Israeli Response to Militant Attack Launched From Syria

Syria, U.S.: U.S. Begins Troop Drawdown in Syria

Russia, Syria: Militants Conduct Deadly Attack on Russia's Hmeimim Air Base

U.S., Syria: Trump Administration Pushes for 180-Day Sanctions Waiver

U.S., Syria: Trump Says U.S. Will Lift Sanctions on Syria

Syria: Qatar Gains U.S. Sanctions Exemptions To Pay Syrian Civil Servant Salaries

Forecasts

ANALYSES

SECTIONS

Explore

Subscribe

Help & Support