DAMASCUS, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The Syrian government and Druze factions controlling the southern city of Sweida on Thursday carried out their first prisoner exchange since deadly clashes in the predominantly Druze city last summer, according to the Syrian government’s Sweida media office.
The swap involved Damascus releasing 61 prisoners from the Druze factions detained in Adra Central Prison near the capital, in return for the Druze’s National Guard Forces freeing 25 Syrian government personnel, the media office said.
(Reporting by Firas Al DaalatiEditing by Ros Russell)
BRUSSELS, Feb 24 (Reuters) – An EU internal memo has raised security concerns about the escape of thousands of people from a detention camp holding relatives of suspected Islamic State fighters in northeastern Syria, suggesting militant groups could recruit from them.
The memo, sent from the Cyprus presidency of the Council of the European Union to member states and dated February 23, said the status of third-country nationals who had fled the camp at al-Hol remained unclear and that it was reported that a majority of them had escaped.
“This raises concerns about how terrorist groups might seek to capitalise on the current situation to increase recruitment efforts among escapees,” said the memo, which was reviewed by Reuters.
PRISONERS INCLUDED THOUSANDS OF FOREIGNERS
Al-Hol, near the Iraqi border, was one of the main detention camps for relatives of suspected Islamic State fighters who were detained during the U.S.-backed campaign against the jihadist group in Syria.
Control of the camp changed hands in January, when Syrian government forces under President Ahmed al-Sharaa drove the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces from the area.
The SDF had guarded the facility for years.
The camp’s population was 23,407 people the day before the government takeover, including 6,280 foreigners from more than 40 nationalities, Reuters reported last week, citing official data from the camp.
The U.S. military said on February 13 it had completed a mission to transfer 5,700 adult male Islamic State fighters from jails in Syria to Iraq. It had originally said up to 7,000 prisoners could eventually be transferred. The EU memo noted that the initial target was not met.
In a section entitled “Security concerns stemming from the evolving situation in northeast Syria”, the EU memo said the “chaotic takeover led to the collapse of security and services in the al-Hol camp, triggering the escape of a significant portion of its population”.
The U.N. refugee agency in Syria and the Syrian government “have confirmed that an uncontrolled exodus has occurred over the past few weeks”, it added.
Damascus has accused the SDF of withdrawing from al-Hol on January 20 without any coordination. The SDF has said its forces had been “compelled” to withdraw from the camp to areas surrounding cities which it said were under threat.
A Syrian government security source told Reuters last week that the security authorities, working in cooperation with international partners, had established a unit to “pursue those who are wanted”.
The SDF had guarded prisons holding thousands of Islamic State militants in northeast Syria, in addition to al-Hol and a second camp at Roj, which also holds relatives of suspected jihadists.
The EU memo said the capacity of Damascus “to manage these facilities is assessed as limited and facing significant operational challenges”. It noted that the government’s stated intent to gradually phase out al-Hol camp had “been overtaken by recent events, which raise grave security concerns”.
The EU memo said that al-Hol and Roj camps were hosting around 25,000 people, primarily women and children, “with many of these being highly radicalised and living in degrading humanitarian and security conditions”.
Roj camp remains under the control of the SDF for now.
Last week, the SDF released 34 Australian nationals from Roj, only for them to return later. The Australian government has ruled out helping families of IS militants return home. Roj is also home to British-born Shamima Begum.
The EU memo said there was “reason for concern regarding the possible escape of families” from Roj once the Syrian government takes control.
Syria’s Information Ministry and the U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Additional reporting by Firas Dalatey; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alex Richardson)
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Saturday that it had carried out ten strikes against over 30ISIS targets in Syria, in recent days as part of a joint military effort to “sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.”
CENTCOM said, from Feb. 3 – 12, its forces “struck ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage targets with precision munitions delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft.”
Recently,CENTCOM forces conducted five strikes against an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node, and weapons storage facilities in Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2.
Operation Hawkeye Strike targets over 30 ISIS sites following a December ambush that killed US troops. (CENTCOM)
“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement at the time.
“Operating in coordination with coalition and partner forces to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS makes America, the region and the world safer,” he added.
On Jan. 27, President Trump told reporters he had a “great conversation with the highly respected” President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck.(CENTCOM)
“All of the things having to do with Syria in that area are working out very, very well,” said President Trump. “So we are very happy about it.”
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS “ambush” attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead on Dec. 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria.
“More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck with hundreds of precision munitions during two months of targeted operations,” states CENTCOM.
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS “ambush” attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead.(CENTCOM)
On Thursday, CENTCOM announced it has completed its withdrawal of American forces from al-Tanf Garrison in Syria pointing to a broader shift in U.S. posture in the region.
“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” said Adm. Brad Cooper.(CENTCOM)
Operation Inherent Resolve was launched in 2014 to combat ISIS with American troops maintaining a limited presence to support partner forces and prevent ISIS from returning after it was territorially defeated in 2019.
More Americans think the U.S. is losing ground in scientific achievements compared to other countries, and a clear split emerges when the numbers are analyzed by political parties, according to a new poll.
DAMASCUS, Jan 22 (Reuters) – A U.S. envoy called for a truce between the Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces to be upheld, urging steps to build trust after Damascus captured swathes of the northeast in a push to reassert central authority.
Tensions between President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spilled into conflict this month as the SDF resisted government demands for its fighters and enclaves to be integrated into the state.
Under a ceasefire announced on Tuesday, the government gave the SDF four days to come up with a plan for its remaining enclaves to merge, and said government troops would not enter two remaining SDF-held cities if an agreement could be reached.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said he met SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and leading Syrian Kurdish politician Ilham Ahmed on Thursday, and reaffirmed U.S. support for an integration process set out in a January 18 agreement.
“All parties agreed that the essential first step is the full upholding of the current ceasefire, as we collectively identify and implement confidence-building measures on all sides to foster trust and lasting stability,” he wrote on X.
The SDF, dominated by the Kurdish YPG militia, and the government have accused each other of violating the ceasefire since Tuesday.
The SDF was once Washington’s closest ally in Syria but its position has been weakened as President Donald Trump has deepened ties with Sharaa. Barrack said on Tuesday the original purpose of the SDF had largely expired.
The SDF has now fallen back to Kurdish-majority areas.
ABDI MEETS IRAQI KURDISH LEADER
Abdi also met Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, on Thursday. Iraqi Kurdish politician Wafa Mohammed of Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said the meeting had been convened at the request of the Iraqi Kurdish leadership to discuss the SDF’s deal with Sharaa.
“There is strong U.S. and international pressure on the Syrian Democratic Forces to end the disputes and implement the agreement, but that does not necessarily mean the U.S. pressure will lead to a positive outcome. The problem is that the SDF does not trust the promises made by (Sharaa),” Wafa Mohammed told Reuters.
A second Iraqi Kurdish source close to the meeting said talks would also focus on a proposal for both sides to withdraw forces by around 10 km (6 miles) from the outskirts of Hasakah city, which is ethnically mixed and still in SDF hands.
The territories seized by the Syrian government from SDF control in recent days have included Syria’s biggest oil fields, agricultural land, and jails holding Islamic State prisoners.
The SDF, which once held a quarter or more of Syria, has sought to preserve a high degree of autonomy for areas under its control, expressing concern that the Islamist-led government in Damascus aims to dominate the country, despite Sharaa’s promises to protect the rights of all Syrians.
A Syrian foreign ministry official said the government had preferred a political solution from the outset, and continued to, adding the rights of Kurds were guaranteed and they would not be marginalized as they had been under the ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
All “options were on the table”, the official told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity, urging the YPG to “heed the voice of reason and come to the negotiating table”.
(Reporting by Feras Dalatey in Damascus and Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by William Maclean)
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had accepted his invitation to join Trump’s Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts, a statement that Putin quickly countered, saying that the invitation was only under consideration.
“He was invited. He’s accepted,” Trump told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland after meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Soon after Trump’s comments, Putin told the Russian security council that the foreign ministry was still studying the proposal and would respond in due course.
(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Jeffrey Dastin and Ronald Popeski; Writing by Ryan Patrick Jones; editing by Scott Malone)
STOCKHOLM, Jan 21 (Reuters) – A Swedish court on Wednesday sentenced a 19-year-old man to seven years and 10 months in prison for planning an attack on a cultural festival in Stockholm on behalf of the Islamic State militant group.
The Stockholm District Court said in a statement that the Syrian-Swedish dual national had intended to carry out an attack in the city-centre’s Kungstradgarden area in August 2025. His sentence included convictions for other crimes, including membership of a terrorist organisation.
“Among other things … he reconnoitred Kungstradgarden and recorded a martyr film that was intended to be published after the crime,” the court said.
“The District Court believes the planned terrorist crime could have seriously harmed Sweden,” it added.
The man, described by prosecutors as “self-radicalised”, denied all the charges against him. He was also found guilty of planning to murder a man in Germany in 2024.
The Stockholm Culture Festival, which was the intended target, drew 2 million visitors over five days last year.
Islamic State, which imposed hardline Islamist rule over millions of people in Syria and Iraq from 2014 to 2019, is attempting to stage a comeback after the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Simon Johnson and Ros Russell)
A U.S. military strike in northwest Syria resulted in the death of a leader affiliated with Al-Qaeda who was linked to an ISIS attack last month that resulted in the death of two U.S. Army soldiers and a U.S. civilian interpreter, the U.S. Central Command announced Saturday.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, conducted the strike on Jan. 16, killing Bilal Hasan al-Jasim, authorities said. Al-Jasim was allegedly directly connected with the ISIS gunman who killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard and the interpreter and injured three other U.S. service members in Palmyra, Syria, on Dec. 13.
“The death of a terrorist operative linked to the deaths of three Americans demonstrates our resolve in pursuing terrorists who attack our forces,” Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement. “There is no safe place for those who conduct, plot, or inspire attacks on American citizens and our warfighters. We will find you.”
After last month’s ambush attack, President Trump vowed “very serious retaliation” in a Truth Social post.
On Dec. 19, the U.S. launched airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria in retaliation. More than 70 targets were hit in those strikes, a U.S. official told CBS News at the time.
Last week, the U.S. launched more attacks in Syria, conducting large-scale strikes against multiple Islamic State targets, according to Central Command. In total, the operation “Hawkeye Strike” resulted in U.S. and partner forces hitting more than 100 ISIS infrastructure and weapons site targets, officials said.
In an earlier statement on Saturday, Cooper said the U.S. was welcoming efforts by all parties in Syria “to prevent escalation and pursue resolution through dialogue” and urged the Syrian government to stop attacks in areas between Aleppo and al-Tabqa.
“Aggressively pursuing ISIS and relentlessly applying military pressure requires teamwork among Syrian partners in coordination with U.S. and coalition forces. A Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors is essential to peace and stability across the region,” Cooper said.”
Syrian government forces entered two northern towns Saturday morning after the command of Kurdish-led fighters said it would evacuate the area in an apparent move to avoid conflict.
Two soldiers were killed and others wounded in the latest clash, state media reported. The town of Deir Hafer changed hands after deadly fighting erupted earlier this month between government troops and the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest. It ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from three neighborhoods taken over by government forces.
An Associated Press reporter on Saturday saw government tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles, including pickup trucks with heavy machine guns mounted on top, entering Deir Hafer after bulldozers removed barriers. There was no SDF presence on the edge of the town.
The Syrian military said its forces were in full control of Deir Hafer, captured the Jarrah air base to the east, and were in the process of clearing mines and explosives. It added that troops would move toward the nearby town of Maskana, where an AP reporter saw a military convoy rolling in hours later.
A convoy of Syrian government forces drive on a road leading to the town of Deir Hafer, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026.
Ghaith Alsayed / AP
The SDF said in a statement that according to an agreement, Syrian forces were supposed to enter Deir Hafer and Maskana after the Kurdish-led force ended their withdrawal. “Damascus violated the terms of the agreement and entered the towns before our fighters had fully withdrawn, creating a highly dangerous situation with potentially serious repercussions,” the SDF said.
State news agency SANA reported that SDF fighters “violated the agreement” by targeting an army patrol near Maskana, leaving two soldiers dead and others wounded. SANA added that government forces kept moving east, reaching two villages in the northern province of Raqqa.
Over the past two days, more than 11,000 people fled Deir Hafer and Maskana using side roads to reach government-controlled areas, after the government announced an offensive to take the towns.
On Friday night, after government forces started pounding SDF positions in Deir Hafer, the Kurdish-led fighters’ top commander Mazloum Abdi posted on X that his group would withdraw from contested areas in northern Syria. Abdi said SDF fighters would relocate east of the Euphrates River starting 7 a.m. local time Saturday.
The easing of tension came after U.S. military officials visited Deir Hafer on Friday and held talks with SDF officials in the area. The United States has good relations with both sides and has urged calm.
A convoy of Syrian government forces drives on a road leading to the town of Deir Hafer, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026.
Ghaith Alsayed / AP
Abdi was scheduled to hold talks with U.S. special special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on Saturday.
The SDF’s decision to withdraw from Deir Hafer was made after Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree Friday boosting the rights of the country’s Kurds, who made up about 10% of Syria’s population of 23 million before the conflict began in 2011. Over the past decades, Syria’s Kurds had been marginalized and deprived of their cultural rights under the rule of the Baath Party that ran Syria for six decades until Bashar Assad’s fall in December 2024.
Al-Sharaa’s decree recognized Kurdish as a national language, along with Arabic, and adopted the Newroz festival, a traditional celebration of spring and renewal marked by Kurds around the region, as an official holiday.
The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria said Saturday that the rights of Kurds should not be protected by “temporary decrees” but by mentioning them in the country’s constitution. It added that a decree “does not form a real guarantee for rights of Syria’s ethnic groups.”
Kurdish fighters were evacuated from a contested neighborhood in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, officials said early Sunday local time, a move that could bring an end to several days of violent clashes with government forces.
State-run news agency SANA reported buses transported the last of the fighters from the Aleppo neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
“Through international mediation to halt the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo, we have reached an understanding leading to a ceasefire and the safe evacuation of martyrs, the wounded, trapped civilians, and fighters from the Achrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods to northern and eastern Syria,” SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said in a post on X.
Buses carrying Kurdish fighters depart Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood under an evacuation agreement following army operations, with a four-bus convoy leaving the area and heading toward Tabqa, in Aleppo, Syria, on Jan. 10, 2026.
Izz Aldien Alqasem/Anadolu via Getty Images
He called for “mediators to uphold their promises to stop the violations and work towards the safe return of the displaced to their homes.”
An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw buses leaving Sunday and was told by officials that the transports carried 360 fighters. Other buses carrying civilians and detained fighters departed on Saturday.
Syrian security forces deployed Saturday in Sheikh Maqsoud after days of clashes with Kurdish fighters that killed and wounded dozens.
During the day, several drone strikes were reported in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, leading authorities to stop civilian flights at Aleppo International Airport until further notice, state TV said.
On Saturday afternoon, an explosive drone hit the Aleppo Governorate building shortly after two Cabinet ministers and a local official held a news conference on the developments in the city. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Syria’s state TV aired footage showing a drone exploding as it slammed into the building and blamed Kurdish fighters for the attack. The SDF denied the reports, saying its fighters did not attack a civilian target.
The fighting between the two sides is the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad in December 2024. At least 22 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced.
U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack held talks in Damascus Saturday with top officials, including President Ahmad al-Sharaa, and called on all parties to cease hostilities and return to dialogue.
“Violence risks undermining the progress achieved since the fall of the Assad regime and invites external interference that serves no party’s interests,” Barrack said in comments posted on X. “We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, immediately cease hostilities, and return to dialogue,” he added, saying that fighting undermines the deal reached in March between the government and the Kurdish leadership.
He said recent developments in Aleppo were “deeply concerning,” and Washington’s objective “remains a sovereign, unified Syria — at peace with itself and its neighbors — where equality, justice, and opportunity are extended to all its people.”
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that two Kurdish fighters blew themselves up while surrounded by security forces without inflicting casualties, as gunfire was still heard in the neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud around noon Saturday.
From the early hours, Syrian security forces were sweeping the neighborhood after calling on residents to stay home for their own safety.
Hundreds of people who fled the neighborhood days earlier were waiting at Sheikh Maqsoud’s entrances to be allowed in once the military operations are over.
Clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid, after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge their forces into the national army. Security forces have since captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
Kurdish forces said at least 12 civilians were killed in the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods in the five days of fighting, while government officials reported at least 10 civilians were killed in the surrounding government-controlled areas.
Syria’s Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa told state TV that Kurdish fighters used civilian buildings including hospitals and clinics during the fighting. Each side has accused the other of starting the violence and of deliberately targeting civilian neighborhoods and infrastructure, including ambulance crews and hospitals.
The Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which controls much of Syria’s northeast, said that security forces targeted Khaled Fajr Hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud, putting the lives of patients and paramedics in danger. It called on the international community to intervene to force government forces to stop shelling.
State TV reported that at least one security member was wounded when a drone fired by the SDF struck the neighborhood.
This also comes as the U.S. on Saturday conducted large-scale strikes against multiple Islamic State targets across Syria. The strikes targeted at least 35 locations.
WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke over the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, a U.S. official said, without providing additional details.
While the American official did not mention the topics discussed in the call, Axios reported earlier that the two of them spoke about Gaza, Syria and the protests in Iran.
Iran, which had a 12-day war with Israel last year and whose nuclear facilities were bombed by the U.S. in June, is seeing its biggest anti-government demonstrations in years.
In Gaza, a fragile ceasefire has not progressed beyond its first phase since it began in October, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of major breaches of the deal. The two sides remain far apart on the more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase.
Earlier this week, Israel and Syria agreed during U.S.-mediated talks in Paris to set up a communication mechanism to coordinate on security and commercial issues.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, Netanyahu has visited the United States five times to meet the Republican president while Trump visited Israel in October.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Andrea Ricci, Sergio Non and Kate Mayberry)
The U.S. has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Islamic State in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.The large-scale strikes, conducted by the U.S. alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Islamic State targets across Syria.Video above: U.S. airstrikes target ISIS militants in NigeriaSaturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly ISIS attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.”Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday.The administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.
WASHINGTON —
The U.S. has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Islamic State in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.
The large-scale strikes, conducted by the U.S. alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Islamic State targets across Syria.
Video above: U.S. airstrikes target ISIS militants in Nigeria
Saturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly ISIS attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
The administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.
It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.
Dec 29 – 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 later emptied of personnel in 2018 to ensure secrecy for a plot that involved unearthing the bodies of thousands of victims of the dictatorship buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus and trucking them an hour’s drive away to Dhumair.
The plot, orchestrated by the dictator’s inner circle, was called “Operation Move Earth.” Soldiers are stationed at the Dhumair site again, this time by the government that overthrew Assad.
The Dhumair military installation was also reactivated as a barracks and arms depot in November, after seven years of disuse, according to an army officer posted there in early December, a military official and Sheikh Abu Omar Tawwaq, who is the security chief of Dhumair.
The Dhumair site was completely unprotected over the summer, when Reuters journalists made repeated visits after discovering the existence of a mass grave there.
Within weeks of the report in October, the new government created a checkpoint at the entrance to the military installation where the site lies, according to a soldier stationed there who spoke to Reuters in mid-December. Visitors to the site now need access permits from the Defense Ministry.
Satellite images reviewed by Reuters since late November show new vehicle activity around the main base area.
The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the reactivation of the base is part of efforts to “secure control over the country and prevent hostile parties from exploiting this open strategic area.” The road through the desert connects one of Islamic State’s remaining Syrian strongholds with Damascus.
In November, police opened an investigation into the grave, photographing it, carrying out land surveys and interviewing witnesses, according to Jalal Tabash, head of the al-Dhumair police station. Among those interviewed by police was Ahmed Ghazal, a key source for the Reuters investigation that exposed the mass grave.
“I told them all the details I told you about the operation and what I witnessed during those years,” said Ghazal, a mechanic who repaired trucks carrying bodies that broke down at the Dhumair grave site. Ghazal confirmed that during the time of “Operation Move Earth,” the military installation appeared vacant except for the soldiers involved in accompanying the convoys.
Syria’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment about the re-activation of the base or the investigation into the mass grave.
The National Commission for Missing Persons, which was established after Assad’s ouster to investigate the fate of tens of thousands of Syrians who vanished under his rule, told Reuters it is in the process of training personnel and creating laboratories in order to meet international standards for mass grave exhumations. Exhumations at Syria’s many Assad-era mass graves, including the site at Dhumair, are scheduled for 2027, the commission told Reuters.
The police have referred their report on Dhumair to the Adra district attorney, Judge Zaman al-Abdullah. Al-Abdullah told Reuters that information about Assad-era suspects involved in the Dhumair operation, both inside and outside Syria, is being cross-referenced with documents obtained by security branches after the dictator’s fall in December 2024. He would not describe the suspects, citing the ongoing investigation.
According to military documents reviewed by Reuters and testimony from civilian and military sources, logistics for “Operation Move Earth” were handled by a key man, Col. Mazen Ismander. Contacted through an intermediary, Ismander declined to comment on the initial Reuters report or the new investigation into the mass grave.
When the conspiracy was hatched in 2018, Assad was verging on victory in the civil war and hoped to reclaim legitimacy in the international community after years of sanctions and allegations of brutality. He had been accused of detaining and killing Syrians by the thousands, and the location of a mass grave in the town of Qutayfah, outside Damascus, had been reported by local human rights activists.
So an order came from the presidential palace: Excavate Qutayfah and hide the bodies on the military installation in the Dhumair desert.
For four nights a week for nearly two years, from 2019 to 2021, Ismander oversaw the operation, Reuters found. Trucks hauled corpses and dirt from the exposed mass grave to the vacated military installation in the desert, where trenches were filled with bodies as the Qutayfah site was excavated.
In revealing the conspiracy, Reuters spoke to 13 people with direct knowledge of the two-year effort and analyzed more than 500 satellite images of both mass graves. Under the guidance of forensic geologists, Reuters used aerial drone photography to create high-resolution composite images that helped corroborate the transfer of bodies by showing color changes in the disturbed soil around Dhumair’s burial trenches.
(Reporting by Feras Dalatey. Additional reporting by Ryan McNeill. Edited by Lori Hinnant.)
A bombing at a mosque located in the Syrian city of Homs during Friday prayers killed at least eight people and wounded 18 others, authorities said.
Images released by Syria’s state-run Arab News Agency showed blood on the mosque’s carpets, holes in the walls, shattered windows and fire damage. The Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque is located in an area of the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood dominated by the Alawite minority in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city.
SANA, citing a security source, said that preliminary investigations indicate that explosive devices were planted inside the mosque. Authorities were searching for the perpetrators of the attack. A security cordon was placed around the mosque, Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Tensions have flared across several parts of Syria in recent weeks as long-running sectarian, ethnic and political fault lines continue to destabilize the country, even as large-scale fighting has subsided. The U.S. conducted strikes in the country last week after an ambush by ISIS fighters killed two American soldiers and a U.S. citizen working as an interpreter.
Syrian security forces inspect the damage after an explosion in the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in Homs, Syria, Dec. 26, 2025.
AP Photo
The country has experienced several waves of sectarian clashes since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last year. Assad, himself an Alawite, fled the country to Russia. Members of his sect have been subjected to crackdowns.
In March, an ambush carried out by Assad’s supporters against security forces triggered days of violence that killed hundreds of people, most of them Alawites.
Local officials condemned Friday’s attack, saying it came “within the context of repeated desperate attempts to undermine security and stability and sow chaos among the Syrian people.”
“Syria reiterates its firm stance in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added in a statement.
Syrian security forces inspect the damage after an explosion in the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in Homs, Syria, Dec. 26, 2025.
AP Photo
“Remnants of the former regime, ISIS militants and collaborators have converged on a single goal: obstructing the path of the new state by undermining stability, threatening civil peace, and eroding the shared coexistence and common destiny of Syrians throughout history,” the Syrian information minister said in a post on X.
Neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon, also condemned the attack. In a statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed “Lebanon’s support for Syria in its fight against terrorism.”
On Monday, clashes erupted intermittently between Syrian government forces and Kurdish-led fighters, the Syrian Democratic Forces, in mixed neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo, forcing temporary closures of schools and public institutions and prompting civilians to shelter indoors. A late-evening ceasefire was then announced by both sides amid ongoing de-escalation efforts.
DAMASCUS, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Three people were killed and five injured when an explosion struck a mosque in an Alawite neighbourhood in the Syrian province of Homs on Friday, a local official said.
Syrian state media said security forces had imposed a cordon around the area and were investigating.
Local officials told Reuters it may have been caused by a suicide bomber or explosives placed there.
(Reporting by Khalil Ashawi, Firas Makdesi, Feras Dalatey, and Ahmed Elimam in Dubai, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
This week, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Matt Welch are joined by Reason reporter Eric Boehm to discuss Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest and the GOP coalescing around Vice President J.D. Vance as President Donald Trump’s successor. They analyze Sen. Rand Paul’s (R–Ky.) opposition to endorsing Vance as the party’s next standard-bearer, and whether this signals he will challenge Vance for the nomination in 2028. Katherine also shares what it was like attending the conference, plus her debate over marijuana legalization as the Trump administration moves to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.
The editors then turn to the bipartisan backlash over the latest Jeffrey Epstein file release, in which more than 500 pages were completely redacted, prompting Reps. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) to threaten charges of “inherent contempt” against Attorney General Pam Bondi. The panel also discusses the Trump administration’s seizure of additional Venezuelan oil tankers, plus the announcement of new military strikes in Syria. They dig into Minnesota’s widening welfare fraud scandal, and whether conservative media is using it to scapegoat Somali immigrants. A listener asks whether Christmas expands our “socialist bubble” of family and community and what that says about capitalism, socialism, and human nature.
0:00—Debating marijuana at Turning Point USA
4:10—J.D. Vance is the MAGA heir apparent
14:47—Massie and Khanna react to Epstein file release
25:14—U.S. foreign policy in Venezuela and Syria
38:09—Listener question on socialism and Christmas
JULIS, Israel — Nestled in a quiet corner of a quaint village in Israel’s north, the building appears, at the outset, to house an elegant meeting salon with giant chandeliers, ornate but uncomfortable chairs and trays of sweets.
But past an improvised divider made of plywood and a stern attendant who places stickers over smartphone cameras, sits a team of volunteers working amid large screens and laptops: The nerve center of an all-hands-on-deck humanitarian operation to aid the Druze religious minority in Syria.
Druze in Israel have long sent donations to their coreligionists in the southwestern Syrian province of Sweida, but since July — when around 1,000 Druze civilians were slaughtered in a sectarian killing rampage — a complex aid operation has emerged to serve tens of thousands of people more than 40 miles of hostile territory away.
“What were we supposed to do? Watch them get slaughtered and be silent?” said Muwaffaq Tarif, the spiritual chieftain of the 150,000-strong Druze community in Israel.
Marshaling family ties in Syria and links to Israel’s military and government, the operation headquartered in the salon now provides funds, humanitarian and medical aid, along with logistical and intelligence support — this despite a months-long blockade on Sweida by Syrian forces.
The assistance has become part of a vital lifeline for the province, and has empowered Druze militias and spiritual leaders calling for secession from Syria and an alliance with Israel.
Demonstrators dance with the Druze flag as they gather in front of the Berlin Cathedral to voice solidarity for Druze communities in Syria on Aug. 30 in Berlin.
(Omer Messinger / Getty Images)
The needs are vast. As Tarif sat with volunteers at the salon, his phones racked up calls and messages — the grand majority from Druze in Syria.
“I’m getting 500, 800, sometimes even a thousand people, every day. All need my help. It makes you cry,” Tarif said.
The Druze — a sect that combines elements of Islam and other religious traditions — constitute 1 million people worldwide; some 500,000 live in Syria, or roughly 3% of the population. Hard-line Muslims consider them infidels.
During Syria’s 14-year civil war, the dictatorial President Bashar Assad let them establish their own militias in Sweida and run affairs in the Druze-majority province, so long as they didn’t fight government troops or allow opposition rebels to enter. But they had little love for Assad or the Islamist-dominated opposition.
After Assad’s much-reviled regime fell last December, the new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, tried to mollify concerns about the new government’s jihadist roots; Al-Sharaa was once an Al Qaeda-affiliated rebel leader but renounced the group years ago.
A poster of Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, graces a windshield in Damascus as Syrians mark the first anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime.
(John Wreford / LightRocket via Getty Images)
Al-Sharaa promised to protect Syria’s minorities and excise extremists among his allies. That won him support from the U.S., Europe and his Arab neighbors, but Israel took an adversarial stance, occupying swaths of Syria’s south and launching thousands of airstrikes to destroy the fallen government’s arsenal.
Meanwhile, Al-Sharaa urged Druze leadership to dissolve their militias and surrender arms. Some wanted to cooperate, but Syria’s top Druze cleric, Hikmat al-Hijri, refused, saying his groups would disarm only when Al-Sharaa formed an inclusive government.
Syria is home to a diverse collection of religions, and as the new government sought to establish itself, sectarian unrest broke out. In March, government-linked gunmen massacred some 1,500 people, mostly Alawites. In May, clashes erupted in Druze-majority areas near Damascus.
Then came the massacres in Sweida.
They started in early July as tit-for-tat kidnappings between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes but soon devolved into street fighting. The government negotiated a ceasefire and sent security personnel, but rather than restoring order, they joined the Bedouins in a blood-soaked rampage.
They systematically burned and looted some 32 villages, executed civilians, then mutilated their bodies and abused men by cutting off their mustaches, which among Druze are considered a sign of spiritual maturity. And they filmed themselves doing so, proudly posting trophy videos to social media.
Families are evacuated by the United Nations in southern Syria in July after violent clashes between Bedouin fighters and members of the Druze community.
(Bakr Alkasem / AFP via Getty Images)
By the rampage’s end, nearly 200,000 people were forced to flee their homes. More than 100 women and girls were abducted. Dozens remain missing.
Al-Hijri urged President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to save Sweida, adding that “we can no longer coexist with a regime that knows only iron and fire.”
Once word reached Tarif of what happened, he raced to action.
“We called everyone, the [Israeli] army, the government, the prime minister, the defense minister, the chief of staff, to stop the massacres. The Syrian government was entering with tanks, drones, artillery. It was an army versus against civilians with a pistol or rifle,” Tarif said.
Israel, which has made overtures to Syria’s Druze, mobilized. Netanyahu ordered airstrikes on Syrian personnel blitzing through Sweida’s provincial capital, along with the Damascus headquarters of the Syrian army and the presidential palace.
Al-Sharaa accused Israel of fomenting internal divisions and said Al-Hijri’s call for international intervention was unacceptable. He formed a committee to investigate atrocities against the Druze and others, and vowed in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September “to bring every hand stained with the blood of innocents to justice.”
Al-Hijri and many Druze previously conciliatory toward Al-Sharaa were unconvinced and demanded to secede.
At the same time, a tense standoff ensued: Syrian government forces surrounded the province, ostensibly to keep Bedouins and Druze separated, though critics accused them of replicating Assad’s surrender-or-starve tactics to force Sweida into submission.
Many among Israel’s Druze wanted to help.
“The world was ignoring what happened, so we have to do this. Our women sold their gold, people sold property, others took loans to raise money,” Tarif said, adding that some $2.5 million was collected.
With no land link between Sweida and areas Israel occupied in southern Syria, the only way to deliver aid was via the Israeli air force. But the amounts proved inadequate. That was the spark for the operations room.
Standing amid an array of workstations, a volunteer explained how his team identified sympathetic individuals to buy medicine and food from Damascus, and middlemen who bribed supplies past government checkpoints into Sweida. They also smuggled in equipment and paid workmen to rehabilitate water and electricity infrastructure. Some convoys entered with the Syrian Red Crescent with Damascus’ knowledge, Tarif said.
“If we use $10,000 here, it’s nothing. But in Syria, they go a long way, and buy plenty of supplies,” the volunteer said.
The center funded converting a judiciary building in Sweida into a displacement center housing 130 families, complete with a workshop where women could sew clothing, including uniforms for Druze militias.
Other volunteers brought their specialties to bear: With Sweida’s medical facilities ravaged, the center managed four hospitals in the province.
Programmers built an app-based humanitarian ecosystem, enabling Sweida residents to register for medical care, while doctors used WhatsApp messages to consult specialists in Israel and elsewhere.
Other programs coordinated aid requests and deliveries, or helped residents document atrocities.
“We took advantage of our skills to defend ourselves,” said one 28-year-old activist with the operations room technical team, taking out his phone to demo some apps. One for medical procedures included drop-down menus and a simple interface he said has been used by thousands.
Some assistance veered into intelligence. Because Sweida was still under threat, the team, some of whose members retired from military service, tracked events on the ground. They deployed bots to monitor posts on social media that could indicate an attack, hacked phones of commanders in the area, and relayed the information to the Israeli military and Druze militias.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military supplied the militias with limited amounts of weapons and ammunition, activists in Sweida say, and maintain drone surveillance over the area.
Members of the Druze community in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights gather for a rally in July to show solidarity with Druze in Syria.
(Jalaa Marey / AFP via Getty Images)
All that has made the Sweida militias more effective. But it has also strengthened Al-Hijri’s plan to secede and ally the province — which is some 60 miles southeast of Damascus — to Israel. In recent speeches, he refers to Sweida as Bashan, its Hebrew biblical name, and forces under his control have raised the Israeli flag along the Druze banner. Last week, Al-Hijri-affiliated forces revealed new uniforms and logos that critics point out incorporate the Star of David in their design.
For his part, Tarif, who says he is in daily contact with Al-Hijri as well as intermediaries to Al-Sharaa, insists “the ball is in Jolani’s court,” employing Al-Sharaa’s nom de guerre.
“Do this tomorrow. Open an international humanitarian corridor to Sweida. Bring people back to their homes. Return the kidnapped. Simple,” Tarif said.
At the same time, local opposition to Al-Hijri is intensifying after his forces tortured and killed two Druze clerics he accused of “treason” for contacting state authorities.
“He’s gathering thugs around him, silencing any voice seeking a solution with the state,” said one activist in Sweida who refused to be named for fear of reprisals. Many in Sweida feel trapped between Al-Hijri and a government in Damascus they’ve learned to fear.
“As a Druze, if I want to stand against Al-Hijri and his gangs, who can I go to?” the activist asked. “The state that committed massacres against my people? How can we trust them?”
The U.S. confirmed that it seized an oil tanker near Venezuela, the second such seizure this month. The U.S. Coast Guard led the operation, which took place in international waters. Meanwhile, the U.S. military hit more than 70 targets in a retaliatory assault against ISIS in Syria. Willie James Inman has more.
The Iowa National Guard says two of the three soldiers wounded in action in Syria last Saturday are back in the United States. Video above: U.S. strikes ISIS targets in SyriaAccording to the Iowa National Guard, the two soldiers made it back to the U.S. on Saturday. They are in stable condition with their families by their sides at a dedicated military facility as they continue recovering.”Caring for our impacted families and the safe return of our service members is our highest priority,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Osborn, the adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard. “We are incredibly proud of their courage and sacrifice, and our focus is now on providing them and their families with the comprehensive support they need during this time. We ask that all Iowans keep them in their thoughts and prayers as they recover.”The third soldier injured was treated locally and returned to duty. None of the wounded soldiers have been publicly identified.All three soldiers were injured in the Dec. 13 attack in Syria that killed Iowa soldiers Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and a U.S. civilian who was a contracted linguist working with the soldiers.More coverage of deadly attack in SyriaCENTCOM releases video of U.S. military strikes against ISIS targets in Syria.Trump comments on US retaliatory strikes on ISIS in Syria
According to the Iowa National Guard, the two soldiers made it back to the U.S. on Saturday. They are in stable condition with their families by their sides at a dedicated military facility as they continue recovering.
“Caring for our impacted families and the safe return of our service members is our highest priority,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Osborn, the adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard. “We are incredibly proud of their courage and sacrifice, and our focus is now on providing them and their families with the comprehensive support they need during this time. We ask that all Iowans keep them in their thoughts and prayers as they recover.”
The third soldier injured was treated locally and returned to duty. None of the wounded soldiers have been publicly identified.
All three soldiers were injured in the Dec. 13 attack in Syria that killed Iowa soldiers Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and a U.S. civilian who was a contracted linguist working with the soldiers.
More coverage of deadly attack in Syria
CENTCOM releases video of U.S. military strikes against ISIS targets in Syria.
Trump comments on US retaliatory strikes on ISIS in Syria
