Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on July 19 announced a sweeping reshuffle of Syria's security and intelligence leadership, naming a new director for the National Security Office and a new chief of General Intelligence; Al Jazeera reported the government said the changes were aimed at strengthening security and clearing the way for reconstruction; Asharq Al-Awsat cited an analyst describing the move as a fundamental restructuring driven by domestic concerns and mounting international pressure
Iraq's Oil Minister Bassem al-Abadi signed an agreement with Syria on July 17 to rebuild the long-dormant Kirkuk-to-Baniyas pipeline during Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's Washington visit; the US-backed project would create a Mediterranean export route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and is part of a broader Chevron-anchored package of oil deals
Iran's army announced on July 16 that it had targeted US military installations across three countries, Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait, in retaliation for a new US strike wave that included the first US attack on targets near Tehran in the current conflict
Syria's People's Assembly convened for the first time on July 12, 19 months after opposition forces led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad; al-Sharaa told lawmakers to be 'a model of responsibility and competence' and named improving the economy and public services as top priorities; the chamber's current powers remain limited, marking a transitional milestone
An IED planted under a table in a lawyers' cafe on al-Nasr Street killed at least 9 and wounded 22 on July 2; no group has claimed responsibility but the attack came hours after Syria's first post-Assad parliament began to take shape
A synthetic stimulant that generated an estimated US$2.7 billion annually for Assad's Syria, captagon is now a fragmented warlord trade threatening Gulf Arab normalization efforts.
Syria's civil war, begun in 2011 and formally ended by Assad's fall in December 2024, has left a fragile transitional government managing sectarian rifts, an Israeli occupation, and 7 million internally displaced people.
Damascus arrests two top traffickers and seizes 600,000 pills; the state monopoly gives way to warlords, with Jordan striking smuggling hubs across the southern border
The Aletar subsea cable between Tartous and Alexandria was severed on June 15; Syria rerouted via Cyprus and Turkey before splicing it back
Al-Sharaa calls a pact a 'necessity' and says results may come 'in coming days'; he calls a strike near the presidential palace 'a declaration of war' but refrains from responding
After a January government offensive took most DAANES territory, a US-brokered integration agreement holds on paper while fighting flickers and Mazloum Abdi's control wobbles