The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) formally dissolved on Aug. 25, as the commander announced completion of the regional Kurdish-led army's integration into the Syrian national army. The move ends the existence of the force that served as Washington's main partner against ISIS in Syria and once controlled a large autonomous zone in the country's northeast. "We announce today the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces and declare, with full responsibility, their dissolution as an independent military force," Mazloum Abdi said in a televized speech at the presidential palace in Damascus, following meetings with President Ahmad al-Sharaa. (EuroNews)

Israel bombed an air-base in northwest Syria on Aug. 18, bringing into sharp relief the simmering rivalry between Israel and Türkiye. The attack reportedly came shortly after a Turkish delegation visited the Abu Duhur base in Idlib province. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel had attacked the base because Syria was on the verge of breaching the agreed "status quo in security matters" by allowing in Turkish troops. Ankara condemned the Israeli bombing and seemed to deny it was planning to deploy at Abu Duhur, which it has reportedly been rebuilding. The two countries are increasingly at odds over each other's regional presence. A campaign billboard for Netanyahu's Likud party in the upcoming Israeli elections places Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan alongside the leaders of Iran, Hezbollah, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. "They want Netanyahu to lose," it says, refering to his political opposition. "Don't let them win."

A Damascus criminal court sentenced ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia Aug. 11 after convicting him of murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity. This was the first judgment issued by Syria's own courts against the head of a government that ruled the country for decades and put down a 2011 uprising with a wave of harsh repression, sparking a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The trial of Syria's former grand mufti, Ahmed Bareddin Hassoun, opened at the Palace of Justice in Damascus on June 26. Hassoun led Syria's official religious establishment under the Bashar Assad dictatorship. He is accused of incitement to murder and abusing his position as a mufti to provide religious cover for the crimes of the regime, as well as participation in war crimes and crimes against humanity. He famously issued fatwas justifying the bombing of civilians and called the regime's use of indiscriminate barrel bombs "liberation," winning him the epithet "Barrel Bomb Mufti." He also issued a fatwa in 2017 authorizing the execution of detainees held at the notorious Sednaya Prison, where the Assad regime killed thousands, many through torture and starvation.

A suspected US-led coalition strike on a site used by Uyghur militants in Syria's Idlib province on June 21 has renewed debate over the future of foreign fighters under the country's post-Assad government. Sources told The New Arab on that an aircraft targeted a compound used by a faction formerly known as the Turkistan Islamic Party, in al-Zainiya area near Jisr al-Shughour in western Idlib. While no confirmed information has emerged regarding casualties from the strike, Syria TV reported that the site was largely empty. Preliminary reports suggested that a leader of Hurras al-Din, a former al-Qaeda affiliate which formally dissolved in January, may have been killed. 

US President Donald Trump suggested June 16 that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa could wipe out Hezbollah if Israel was unable to do so without causing heavy civilian casualties. The comment came in spite of repeated statements from Damascus ruling out any military intervention in neighboring Lebanon.

Polling stations opened May 24 in Syria's northeast as the region held its first elections for the national People's Assembly in areas formerly controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The vote marks a significant step in the country's transitional process, and integrating the previously autonomous region into national institutions.

Syria's Interior Ministry announced May 8 the arrest of deposed regime brigadier Khardal Ahmad Dayyub (Dioub), a former head of Air Force Intelligence in Daraa, for his involvement in systematic human rights violations committed against civilians. Dayyub is accused of running an "assassination committee" in Daraa, as well as involvement in the chemical attacks on Eastern Ghouta during his later service in the Damascus regional branch. He is also said to have had a key role in coordination with Hezbollah and Iranian forces in Syria that were introduced to back up the Bashar Assad dictatorship. (SANA)