Damascus

Senior Israeli and Syrian officials will meet Monday and Tuesday in US-mediated talks led by envoy Tom Barrack, the first such meetings since President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington.

Two rounds of Jordanian airstrikes hit smuggling targets in southern Syria, underscoring Amman’s demand for stronger action against drug gangs operating near its border.

BEHIND THE LINES: The Turkish foreign minister said, “We see that the SDF has no real intention of making significant progress in the negotiations on integration with the Damascus administration.”

More than a legal step, the repeal of the Caesar Act signals a political and economic shift that has put Syria back on the radar after years largely cut off from global markets.

Syria arrests ISIS leader Taha al Zoubi in Moadamiya after a joint security operation, seizing a suicide belt and military weapons during the raid.

Renewed clashes between Damascus forces and Kurdish units in Aleppo underscore how fragile efforts to integrate the SDF into Syria’s new security framework remain, despite ceasefire agreements.

Aleppo saw a wave of attacks on Monday that killed at least two civilians, with Syrian state media blaming SDF shelling and the SDF accusing government linked factions.

Turkish forces working in tandem with Israel claimed that the partnership is actually a major obstacle to ongoing negotiations with Damascus.

Israel has demanded that southern Syria be demilitarized, and this has caused a power vacuum as Syria seeks to see how it can police an area without creating tensions with Jerusalem.

The US policy toward Syria’s jihadists treats them as partners, and history shows that mistake leads to more conflict.