14 July 2026. Syria’s representative to the global conference on the Montreal Protocol, the global treaty universally ratified by UN members in 1987, called for measures to enhance its enforcement, including holding in-person meetings rather than virtual ones to strengthen consensus-building and cooperation.Read more at: SANA
13 July 2026. Dr. Abdul Hamid Aqil al-Awak, a constitutional lawyer, former judge, academic and public servant, was elected Speaker of Syria’s new legislature. Having opposed the previous regime while serving as a judge, he went into exile in 2014 to Turkey, where he laid out legal policies and procedures for Syria’s path to becoming a constitutional democracy.Read more at: SYRIAN OBSERVER
13 July 2026. When Syria’s new parliament convened for oath-taking and electing its leader and presidential council, President al-Sharaa urged lawmakers to prioritize public duty, strengthen accountability and help build a responsible, consensus-based legislature. He said the Assembly must serve as a platform for truth and justice.Read more at: SYRIAN OBSERVER
13 July 2026. The CEO of the new high-tech center, a public-private venture, said its goal is to connect entrepreneurs with experts and investors in an integrated environment. He said the center will incubate startups from the earliest stages, help develop prototypes, and connect entrepreneurs with partners and financial backers.Read more at: SANA
11 July 2026. Minister al-Shaibani described Syria’s relationship with Qatar as a partnership based on trust and mutual respect that will foster regional stability. They discussed ways to enhance collaboration across various sectors and signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of diplomacy.Read more at: SANA
10 July 2026. Syria’s Minister of Awqaf [Religious Endowments], Mohammed Abu al-Khair Shukri, urged deeper collaboration among Islamic religious and academic institutions along with renewed efforts to promote peace across the Islamic world.Read more at: SANA
9 July 2026. The village of Jinwar, one of several women-led communities in the northeast region, provides a safe haven for Kurdish, Arab and Yazidi women seeking independent lives. It offers healing, cooperation, and self-confidence while fostering peace, resilience, and collective strength. One resident said: “When women take steps forward, everything changes.”Read more at: THE GUARDIAN
8 July 2026. The appointment of Huda Atassi, a prominent advocate for Syrians exiled and displaced by civil war, reflects the inclusion of civil society figures in Syria’s new parliament. Trained as an architect, she left Syria in 2012 for Lebanon and then Turkey, where she served Syrian families suffering in exile.Read more at: SYRIAN OBSERVER
The urgency of restoring Syria’s textile industry goes beyond economic revival; it is about preserving irreplaceable connections to the nation’s cultural soul and ensuring that the knowledge, stories, and social practices embedded in textile creation continue to exist for future generations.
Signs of a new style of leadership are appearing around the world. As old systems fail to respond to accelerating change, people are looking for leaders who can move beyond age‑old patterns of established authority and embrace emerging realities. In many countries — including those that have endured profound upheaval — leaders are arising who emphasise social cohesion, inclusiveness, compassion, responsibility and building trust.
A quiet revolution is taking place in Syria today. Its source is an approach to national unity and peace rooted in inclusion, mutual dignity, and shared responsibility. This essay highlights a dramatic example of change in an area heavily conflicted for decades, where armed violence broke out last year several months after the new government came to power, and where police officers from groups once considered mortal enemies now serve side by side. Syria’s new leaders are modeling pathways to peace that speak to the challenges of human coexistence in a divided world.
Largely unnoticed in the West until recently, Syria played an important role in shaping European architecture through a remarkable 12thcentury cultural exchange between Islamic builders and Knights Templar. The Islamic impulse contributed significantly to the Gothic architecture of Western Europe, starting in the 12th century. It later made its influence felt in India through the distinctive Mughal style of architecture displayed in the Taj Mahal (1648) and also influenced figures like Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), the architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
There is no rational explanation for what has occurred. A despotic regime backed by a military superpower was deposed in a bloodless coup by a band of revolutionaries in eleven days. The coup was orchestrated by a militia leader who seamlessly assumed the role of head of state, rapidly gaining respect at home and abroad. A despondent people, living in fear and despair for many decades, experienced the ecstatic joy of liberation, unleashing a flood of creative energy for rebuilding homes, schools and hospitals, drawing millions of Syrians to return from exile. A country in ruins quickly became a vast construction site.
In these turbulent times, as the world appears to slip further into chaos, people are turning to end-times prophecies for guidance or for comfort. Such prophecies exist in several major world religions—Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the three Abrahamic religions—and some lesser-known ones such as Zoroastrianism. All of these ancient revelations predict the appearance of a messianic figure who will raise humanity from the depths of darkness and inaugurate a new era of light.
The Middle East stands at a potential turning point with the emergence of a new government in Syria. After nearly fourteen years of devastating civil war, foreign incursions, and humanitarian crises, the rise of new Syrian leadership offers an extremely rare opportunity for regional recalibration.
The Home that Was Our Country is a deeply insightful and engaging memoir that interweaves the textures of Syrian history, during the time of the author’s great-grandfather, with her personal experience of Syria in the years following the Arab Spring. Born in the US, she decided to move to Damascus in 2011 when hopes of freedom filled the air, to reclaim the apartment of her grandmother that was lost to the family during the first Assad regime.
In Syria, where the culture has traditionally revolved around sharing food, gracious hosting and generosity have always been highly valued. Meals are seen as occasions for familial and communal closeness. The content of the cuisine was historically influenced by Syria’s unique geography. Lying at the crossroads of trade in the ancient world, interactions with neighbouring countries—along with those as distant as China and Rome—continuously fed into what became the national cuisine.
The White Helmets lived the meaning of sacrifice—leaving their own families to save others under fire. “It’s hard to be away from your family,” one volunteer said, “but life requires sacrifice.” In a global culture that is shaped by the desire for personal comfort and that exhibits indifference to the suffering of others, their courage stands as a quiet challenge.
Those who liberated Syria from dictatorship face the daunting task of uniting groups that have seen each other as enemies for generations. Ancient resentments and the desire for revenge cannot be erased overnight. The new government is seeking to establish trust in a land and region of the world where there has been little trust in those who ruled, where brutal leaders were frequently replaced by violent coups, and where dynasties held onto power through harsh and often cruel mechanisms of control.
The word ‘understand’ carries several meanings, but one of the most significant ones is the ability to show a sympathetic or tolerant attitude toward others. Achieving this kind of understanding is a result of our collective evolution—an expression of the wisdom born from the union of heart and mind.
To understand any nation, especially one whose origins date back many thousands of years, we need to know something about the forces that shaped it. A positive outcome of the long history of trade, turmoil, and constant population shifts is that ancient Aram/Syria became a true melting pot, laying the foundations for a pluralistic civilization. Syria is one of the most multicultural nations in the Middle East, if not the world.
Can a person who committed acts of terrorism become a national leader and a warrior for peace and unity? To most people this would seem like an unresolvable paradox, a virtual impossibility. Yet world history provides numerous examples of individuals who have used violence in struggles for just causes and who later became admired political figures, leading nations and fighting for the welfare of their people.
In less than six months, a nation that was on the brink of failure has been revived and is undergoing a transformation, an unfathomable occurrence in the normal course of events. Signs point to the presence of a new generation of leaders, whose sole motive is to serve their people and bring peace to a region embroiled in conflict over centuries.
For peacefully protesting against the dictatorship, the Syrian people lived in terror of endless war and repression… and its population became increasingly impoverished, with large sections of cities destroyed and lying in ruins… The new leaders quickly began to establish the rule of law and an environment of freedom for all Syrian peoples… demonstrating a strong will to reconstruct the nation as a democratic state that respects human rights, seeks unity among the diversity of peoples, and is committed to the common good.
Humanity stands at a crossroads. We have the power to reject our inheritance of mutual destruction and build, instead, a future based on mutual understanding, respect, and cooperation. This possibility rests on potentials of our species that have been largely untapped until now: an active willingness to listen, a capacity for forgiveness, the aspiration to reach across human divides, and the awareness that no group or nation thrives when others suffer… In the case of Syria, the new leadership has held up these qualities as paramount for the rebirth of the country.
7 July 2026. Calling Emmanuel Macron’s visit a historic milestone, President al-Sharaa said that Syria and France are “laying the foundations for a partnership built on tangible projects that serve the interests of our two peoples.” They restored ambassadorial ties and agreed on broad political, economic and security cooperation.Read more at: SANA
7 July 2026. The signing of a declaration of intent between the French and Syrian foreign ministers will initiate the process of recovering €50 million in Syrian assets confiscated by France’s judicial system. The agreement includes the restoration of 23 artifacts that had been on loan to the Arab World Institute in Paris.Read more at: SANA
6 July 2026. Jointly sponsored by government and humanitarian agencies, the event highlighted the importance attached by Syria to supporting orphaned children. Ministry officials stated that caring for children of martyrs is a national humanitarian responsibility, and that investing in people is central to the new Syria.Read more at: SANA
5 July 2026. The 3-day Eco-Innovate program aims to empower technologically savvy youth to find solutions to Syria’s economic and development challenges that integrate environmental goals. The program seeks to immerse Syrian youth in a culture of environmental innovation.Read more at: SANA
3 July 2026. The purpose of the grant from the GCF—the world’s largest fund dedicated to financing climate change adaptation and mitigation projects in developing countries—is to address water scarcity in regions of Syria most affected by reduced rainfall and drought resulting from climate change.Read more at: SANA
3 July 2026. President al-Sharaa and First Lady Latifa al-Droubi met with a delegation of US women in healthcare, education, and community work on ways to strengthen women as active partners in Syria’s rebuilding, aiming to prepare a younger generation with requisite knowledge and skills.Read more at: SANA
2 July 2026. With 70 appointments by the president, adding to 137 elected members, Syria’s transitional parliament is complete. The appointees include figures from diverse spheres of Syrian life, including 15 women, plus individuals who suffered years of detention and loss of limbs in Syria’s liberation struggle.Read more at: SANA
2 July 2026. Minister al-Shaibani announced that Syria and Lebanon are entering a new phase of relations, through a Joint Higher Committee, aimed at long-term cooperation based on mutual interests. He reaffirmed Syria’s commitment to regional stability, constructive dialogue and shared development.Read more at: SANA
By Zeina Yagan After landing at Damascus International Airport, and while being transferred to the airport building, I could not hold back my tears. Am I really in Damascus? From the very first glance, I felt a deep sadness. The airport simply does not suit you, Damascus. You deserve a better one. And yet, amid this feeling of heaviness, there was warmth. The people working inside the airport were highly professional, generous, and smiling. They were doing their best to leave a warm first impression on Syrians coming back home. In that moment, longing prevailed over everything else. Read More …
30 June 2026. The Zain Group of Kuwait has agreed to invest $1.5 billion in a 20-year license to operate Syria’s mobile network, a move demonstrating confidence in the new government. President al-Sharaa called the agreement a step toward modernizing the country’s digital infrastructure.Read more at: LEVANT 24
29 June 2026. With the launch of the Syria Smart Industrial Cities Platform in Beijing, Syria will draw on Chinese expertise and advanced technologies in reconstruction and economic development. The platform, initiated by the Syrian-Chinese Business Council, reflects growing cooperation between the two nations.Read more at: LEVANT 24
29 June 2026. Syria’s Transport Minister announced that highway rehabilitation projects have begun, with modern international equipment and technical standards, funded by the state to ensure rapid completion. The first major project will extend from Syria’s border with Jordan to Turkey; the second will link Damascus and northeastern Syria, with more being planned.Read more at: LEVANT 24
29 June 2026. The Syrian delegation, led by Social Affairs and Labor Minister, Hind Kabawat, and Syria’s envoy to Germany, Mohammad Shukri, took part in discussions on the ramifications of the Hormuz crisis and development issues, along with high level representatives of 115 countries.Read more at: SANA
28 June 2026. The Arab Parliament, consisting of 22 member states, reaffirmed its backing of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, while condemning Israel’s repeated attacks on Syria and Lebanon. It reaffirmed its support for the inalienable rights of Palestinians and called for closer coordination among the member states.Read more at: SANA
27 June 2026. Syria deployed members of its national emergency rescue team to Venezuela for earthquake response operations, in partnership with Qatar. This humanitarian response marks the country’s first emergency rescue mission beyond its borders.Read more at: SANA
26 June 2026. Sweden appointed a new ambassador to Syria and advanced plans to reopen its Damascus embassy. The appointment comes following the EU’s May 2026 agreement to renew cooperation with Syria—ending the 2011 partial suspension of cooperation with Syria due to the previous regime.Read more at: ENAB BALADI
25 June 2026. Syrian Airlines is restoring direct service to Europe with a Damascus–Amsterdam route beginning July 2nd in a significant step toward reconnecting Syria to international markets. Along with boosting passenger travel, this route will strengthen economic and cultural exchanges with Europe.Read more at: SANA
![Rahmah [meaning compassion] Worldwide Foundation honours 180 orphaned children during a ceremony at the Damascus Opera House, July 5, 2026. (SANA)](https://i0.wp.com/newfaceofsyria.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Rahmah-meaning-compassion-Worldwide-Foundation-honours-180-orphaned-children-during-a-ceremony-at-the-Damascus-Opera-House-July-5-2026.-SANA.jpg?resize=796%2C620&ssl=1)
