The main political, security and economic events in Syria since 8 December 2024, each in a sentence or two with the sources it was checked against. From September 2026, each event links to what Syrians were saying that day on the tracker.
· Governance · Coast
Syrian intelligence said it arrested Ali Kayali (Mihrac Ural), accused over the 2013 Bayda and Baniyas killings, as he tried to cross a border; Lebanese media and a war monitor said he was seized in Lebanon.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Asharq Al-Awsat
· Economy · International
The World Bank set up a multi-donor trust fund for Syria's recovery at the government's request; Norway pledged about NOK 90 million. The Bank puts the cost of reconstruction at at least $216 billion.
Sources: Government of Norway, World Bank (2025 plans)
· Governance · International
Speaking to the 81st session, al-Sharaa described a new phase of recovery, cited the return of about 3.5 million refugees and displaced people, and called on Israel to withdraw from Syrian territory.
Sources: UN News, Al Jazeera
· Governance · International · Key event
The United States rescinded the designation Syria had carried since 1979, after a 45-day notice to Congress, and delisted Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist entity.
Sources: Khaleej Times, Cleary Gottlieb
· Security · South
Officials discussed ways to halt Israeli strikes and incursions and to revive negotiations on a security agreement, which had stalled when the war on Iran began; Israeli incursions in Quneitra continued.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Khaleej Times
· Governance · Nationwide · Key event
A Damascus court convicted Bashar al-Assad in absentia of killings, torture and arbitrary arrest and sentenced him to death, along with Maher al-Assad; Atef Najib, tried in person, received the same sentence. Assad remains in Russia.
Sources: Khaleej Times, Pajhwok (Reuters)
· Governance · Nationwide · Key event
The assembly elected Abdul Hamid al-Awak as speaker with 99 votes. It is tasked with drafting a permanent constitution; Suwayda's seats remained vacant.
Sources: AP (PBS), The New Arab
· Economy · International
The EU Council ended the 2011 partial suspension of the EU-Syria Cooperation Agreement, restoring its full application.
Sources: Al Jazeera, WAM
· Governance · Nationwide
Al-Sharaa made the first changes to the government since Assad's fall, replacing the presidency's secretary-general, several ministers and the governors of Homs, Quneitra and Deir ez-Zor, amid protests over economic conditions.
Sources: Al Jazeera, The New Arab
· Governance · Nationwide
The Damascus criminal court opened the trial of Atef Najib, former head of Political Security in Daraa, and referred Bashar al-Assad and other former officials for trial in absentia.
Sources: Enab Baladi, Al Jazeera
· Security · Nationwide · Key event
Syria took control of all the major bases where US forces had been deployed, ending a US military presence of about a decade; US Central Command said it would keep supporting counter-terrorism operations.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Al-Monitor
· Security · Suwayda
Clashes involving government forces, Bedouin tribes and Druze factions resumed in Suwayda. Israel struck Syrian army positions in the south, saying it was responding to attacks on Druze civilians; the government said it was conducting a security operation.
Sources: Al Jazeera, North Press
· Security · International
The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Iranian missiles aimed at Israel fell in southern Syria, causing deaths and injuries; a tentative ceasefire was announced about 40 days later.
Sources: Airwars, Enab Baladi
· Security · North-east
Syrian authorities closed al-Hol, which had held families linked to suspected Islamic State fighters, after moving its remaining residents. Aid groups criticised an abrupt closure, and Human Rights Watch said the fate of about 8,500 people from the north-east's camps was unknown.
Sources: Al-Monitor, MSF
· Security · East
US Central Command completed its withdrawal from the al-Tanf garrison near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders, and Syrian government forces took control of the base.
Sources: Al Arabiya, North Press
· Governance · North-east · Key event
A US-brokered agreement set out a comprehensive ceasefire, the phased integration of the SDF and the north-east's civil institutions into the state, the deployment of Interior Ministry forces into Hasakah and Qamishli, and guarantees of Kurdish civil and educational rights.
Sources: AP (Stars and Stripes), Enab Baladi
· Security · North-east · Key event
After an offensive launched on 13 January, government forces took Tabqa and its dam. A ceasefire on 18 January provided for the SDF to withdraw from areas west of the Euphrates and hand Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor to the government.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Euronews
· Security · Aleppo
Government forces and the SDF fought again in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh. A ceasefire followed, with SDF fighters in the two districts to be moved to the north-east.
Sources: Al Jazeera, AP (Stars and Stripes)
· Economy · Nationwide
The central bank began replacing banknotes with a new currency that removes two zeros, exchanging 100 old pounds for one new pound, with old notes circulating alongside for a transition period.
Sources: Kuwait Times, Khaleej Times
· Economy · International · Key event
President Trump signed the 2026 defence bill, which repeals the Caesar Act sanctions (reports give 18 or 19 December). The Senate had passed it 77 to 20; the law requires regular reports on Syria's conduct.
Sources: Enab Baladi, The National
· Security · Central Syria
A gunman killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter near Palmyra. US officials said the Islamic State group was probably behind it; local officials told Reuters the attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces.
Sources: TimesLIVE (Reuters), The War Zone
· Governance · International · Key event
Al-Sharaa became the first Syrian president to visit the White House. Syria announced it would join the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, and Caesar Act sanctions were suspended for another six months.
Sources: Axios, Al-Monitor
· Governance · International
The Council voted 14 to 0, with China abstaining, to remove al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab from its ISIL and al-Qaeda sanctions list.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Anadolu Agency
· Governance · International
On his first official visit to Russia, al-Sharaa told President Putin that Syria would honour past agreements with Moscow, a pledge read as securing Russia's two main bases.
Sources: Al-Monitor, Euronews
· Security · Aleppo
Fighting broke out between government forces and the SDF in the two Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods of Aleppo, ending with a ceasefire the next day.
Sources: Enab Baladi, Al Arabiya
· Governance · Nationwide
About 6,000 members of electoral colleges chose 119 of the 140 elected seats in a 210-seat assembly; the president appoints a third of the seats. Voting was not held in Suwayda, Raqqa and Hasakah.
Sources: Inter-Parliamentary Union, International IDEA
· Governance · International
Al-Sharaa told the General Assembly that Syria was reclaiming its place among nations, vowed to prosecute those responsible for violence and criticised Israeli military action.
Sources: AP, The New Arab
· Economy · International
Syria and Saudi Arabia signed 47 investment agreements and memoranda worth about $6.4 billion at a forum in Damascus, covering real estate, infrastructure, telecommunications and energy.
Sources: bne IntelliNews, Gulf News
· Security · Suwayda · Key event
Clashes between Druze factions and Bedouin tribes drew in government forces, and Israel struck government forces and the Defence Ministry in Damascus. A ceasefire took hold around 19 July. Death tolls range from 260 (the Health Ministry's hospital count) to about 1,490 (a war monitor).
· Economy · International
Executive Order 14312 ended the US Syria sanctions program from 1 July, while keeping sanctions on Assad and his associates, captagon traffickers and terrorist groups. The Caesar Act remained law.
· Security · Damascus
A suicide attack during Mass at the Greek Orthodox Mar Elias church in Damascus killed at least 22 people. The interior ministry said the attacker belonged to the Islamic State group.
Sources: Arab News, Vatican News
· Economy · International
EU foreign ministers decided to lift economic sanctions on Syria; the legal acts followed on 28 May. Measures against people linked to the Assad government and on security grounds stayed in place.
Sources: EU (EEAS), European Commission
· Economy · International · Key event
In Riyadh, President Trump said the United States would lift its sanctions on Syria, and met al-Sharaa the next day, the first meeting between US and Syrian presidents since 2000.
· Security · Damascus
Days of fighting between Druze and Sunni gunmen in Jaramana and Sahnaya, set off by a recording insulting the Prophet, killed more than 100 people according to a war monitor. Israel then struck near the presidential palace in Damascus, saying it was protecting the Druze; Syria called it a dangerous escalation.
· Governance · Nationwide
Al-Sharaa announced a 23-member cabinet with no prime minister, including Alawite, Druze and Christian ministers. The autonomous administration in the north-east said it did not reflect the country's diversity.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Khaleej Times
· Governance · Nationwide · Key event
The declaration set a five-year transitional period, made Islamic jurisprudence the main source of legislation and required the president to be Muslim. Supporters pointed to its rights provisions; critics said it concentrated power in the presidency.
Sources: Anadolu Agency, Al-Monitor
· Governance · North-east
Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed a short framework agreement to merge the civil and military institutions of the north-east into the state by the end of the year, with committees to work out the details.
Sources: Enab Baladi, Enab Baladi
· Security · Coast · Key event
Attacks on security forces by gunmen loyal to the former government were followed by days of killings in the coastal region, mostly of Alawite civilians. A government inquiry counted more than 1,400 dead and the UN Commission of Inquiry about 1,400, most of them civilians; a war monitor put the toll above 1,700. The UN commission said abuses by government forces and allied groups may amount to war crimes.
Sources: AP, Al-Monitor
· Governance · Nationwide
Hundreds of participants met in Damascus on 24 and 25 February. The final statement stressed the country's unity and called for a committee to draft a new constitution; some political and opposition figures criticised the preparation and representation.
Sources: Al-Monitor, Vatican News
· Governance · Nationwide · Key event
At a meeting of armed factions in Damascus, Ahmed al-Sharaa was named president for the transitional period. The 2012 constitution was suspended, and parliament, the former army and security agencies, the Baath party and the armed factions, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, were declared dissolved.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera
· Governance · Nationwide
Mohammed al-Bashir, who had headed the Salvation Government in Idlib, was named caretaker prime minister with a mandate until 1 March 2025.
Sources: Al Jazeera, L'Orient-Le Jour
· Security · South · Key event
Israeli troops crossed into the UN-patrolled buffer zone and onto the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, while Israel carried out hundreds of strikes on Syrian military assets. Critics said the move violated the 1974 disengagement agreement; Israel said it was acting in self-defence.
Sources: L'Orient-Le Jour, Al-Monitor
· Governance · Nationwide · Key event
After an offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that began on 27 November, opposition forces entered Damascus. Bashar al-Assad left for Moscow, where Russian state media said he was granted asylum, ending more than five decades of Assad family rule.
Sources: AP, AP (Anchorage Daily News)
Each event was checked against at least two published sources; where sources give different figures, the range is shown. Descriptions are neutral and attribute disputed claims. To suggest a correction or a missing event, use the contact page. Last checked: 19 October 2026.