Syria Notes

Informing UK policy debates on Syria.
Facebook: by @SuperpowerPtnrs

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

Syria Notes archive:
https://t.co/L2IQ9On8mt
All of our work since 2015.

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[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

Head of committee investigating fate of children of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons, Raghadah Zeidan, says they identified 314 children placed in care homes under previous regime. 150 of the children have returned to their families.
@enabbaladi
https://t.co/sREYWjJ4kW

[Enab Baladi @EnabBaladi_Eng]

Clashes erupted around al-Sheikhan and al-Layramoun roundabouts in Aleppo, leaving casualties and disrupting key roads. Residents also began leaving al-Ashrafieh as tensions escalated.

Read more: https://t.co/PPqUtnKuO8
#Enab_Baladi

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

“The paradigmatic counterexample is media activist Raed Fares, whose assassination by HTS, mentioned only in passing, exposes how narrow this supposed openness actually was.”

@SashRu88 on narratives of HTS moderation along its path to power.
https://t.co/Cs0eDBDVsn

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

Syrian and Israeli officials to resume US-mediated talks in Paris in hopes of reaching a security agreement.

Syria’s aim is to reactivate a 1974 disengagement agreement and to secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the UN-patrolled zone.
@sewella
https://t.co/Luf9wjAu8w

[Levant24 @Levant_24_]

According to local sources, Israeli forces have seized a herd of approximately 250 livestock while grazing in the Yarmouk Basin area in western Daraa.

[Hussam Hammoud | حسام @HussamHamoud]

New: Syria–Israel security talks resume in Paris today, the 5th external round since Assad’s fall, with a US envoy mediating between the new authorities in Damascus and Netanyahu’s government.

🧵reported from Paris

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

German health associations warn rising anti-Syrian rhetoric risks worsening staff shortages in hospitals, clinics and care homes.

Sixteen per cent of foreign doctors working in Germany are Syrian, according to German Medical Association.
@FinancialTimes
https://t.co/mhLx7ZiJfY

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

UK and France bomb suspected ISIS arms dump in Syria

UK’s MoD said intelligence analysis identified an underground facility believed to be used to store weapons in mountains north of Palmyra, in an area “devoid of any civilian habitation.”
@The_NewArab
https://t.co/9KfcIJDzJ3

[Qalaat Al Mudiq @QalaatAlMudiq]

#Syria: 3 rockets were fired tonight in area of Mazzeh (#Damascus), causing material damage.

One fell close to the Airbase without damage while the other 2 impacted Mazzeh Villas & district 86, piercing the dome of a Mosque.

The impact indicates that powerful ordnance was used, which could have caused significant casualties if it had hit a residential building.

This is the 3rd rocket attack on the same area in Damascus since November, without clear motive (other than terror) or the party behind being identified.

In both previous incidents, rocket launchers were found and a timer was also recovered, indicating the attacks were pre-planned, with no one present at the sites when they occurred.

For previous attacks, see:
https://t.co/pexz5KNcJx
https://t.co/ih0mqsuHgP

[Samir @obretix]

map of the Jordanian airstrikes in southern Suwayda on 24/25 Dec 2025 (including a strike in Umm Shama https://t.co/BNayOsoBu1 and on a farm south of Malah https://t.co/sRuZPVChHI)

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

Lebanon: Investigations launched into activities of individuals linked to Assad regime

Investigation follows a series of reports and leaks, suggesting the individuals have a strong presence in the country.
@The_NewArab
https://t.co/4e38a1DSsB

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

SNHR recorded 1,108 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention in 2025:
252 cases by Syrian govt forces;
768 by the SDF;
88 cases by armed factions.
@snhr
https://t.co/pPzVKXGb79

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

Israeli forces expand incursions into southern Syria countryside
@The_NewArab
https://t.co/OxbNFkNPEb

[Levant24 @Levant_24_]

Israeli forces entered Ain Ziwan in southern Quneitra, marking the third reported incursion today.

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

Turning the tax system on its head: Assessing Syria’s new fiscal reform

Reform offers immediate relief to households while aiming to attract capital, but risks fiscal sustainability and administrative challenges.
@KShaar_Advisory
https://t.co/xKlU7cVLHh

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

Leaked calls reveal plot by al-Assad regime officers to destabilise Syria

An Al Jazeera Arabic investigation obtains recordings of Suheil al-Hassan discussing Israeli support, regrouping efforts.
@AJEnglish
https://t.co/AWQ8pZwVNq

[Syria Notes @SyriaNotes]

European Court of Human Rights questions UK govt on 2019 decision to remove Shamima Begum’s UK citizenship, asking how it complies with UK responsibilities to victims of trafficking. Begum had gone to Syria in 2015 at age 15 and married an ISIS fighter.
https://t.co/MJpTopoDWg

[Rena Netjes [email protected] @RenaNetjes]

"Acc to the sources, the talks addressed a request for Israeli support for the Syrian coastal regions, in parallel with presenting ideas related to managing the security situation there. At the same time, the sources said that Moscow showed a decline in the level of commitment"

[Rena Netjes [email protected] @RenaNetjes]

"...the beginning of December where meetings were held with officials in the Israeli internal security service (Shin Bet)."