Syria Weekly: February 2-9, 2026

NE integration continues; multibillion dollar Saudi investments; Chevron offshore exploration deal; Lebanon prisoner deal agreed; Syria assumes D-ISIS national leadership; Suwayda tensions & more.

SYRIA’S TRANSITION:

• Transition Meetings

• Appointments

• Political Developments

• Economic Developments

• Infrastructure Developments

• Education Developments

• Health Developments

• Security Developments

• Humanitarian Developments

• Justice Developments

• International Developments

CONFLICT & SECURITY:

• Israel

• ISIS

• Idlib

• Aleppo

• Latakia

• Tartus

• Hama

• Homs

• Raqqa

• Hasakeh

• Deir ez Zour

• Rif Dimashq

• Damascus

• Daraa

• Suwayda

SYRIA’S TRANSITION:

Transition Meetings:

February 3:

• Approximately 120 Syrian MOI personnel - led by MOI Internal Security commander Marwan al-Ali and MOI spokesman Nour al-Din Baba - entered Qamishli, Hasakeh on February 3 to establish a position at the city’s former Baath Party HQ.

  Later that day, speaking in Qamishli, MOI spokesman Nour al-Din Baba declared:

"Today we're starting a new chapter… no disputes, no hate speech & no division among Syria’s communities… Syria belongs to all of us & there's no differences between us… We're equal in our rights & duties… together we'll rebuild our country"

• The Foreign Ministry’s Director of International Cooperation, Qutaiba Qadesh, hosted a meeting with a delegation from Germany’s BMZ, headed by its Syria and Iraq Director, Annette Chammas.

  

• Later that day, Director Qadesh also hosted a meeting with the Director General of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Jakob Granit.

  

• Minister of Finance Mohammed Barniyeh and Central Bank Governor Abdulkader Husriyeh met with Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF on February 3 in Dubai, UAE, on the sidelines of the World Government Summit 2026.

• Minister of Agriculture Amjad Badr hosted a meeting with UNHCR Syria representative Nathalie Fustier on February 3 to discuss necessary coordination in demining and the removal of unexploded munitions across Syria.

• The General Authority for Ports and Customs signed an agreement with the Jordanian National Center for Police Dogs (JK9) on February 3 to help support the development of Syria’s inspection and detection capacity at border crossings, with the training of specialized police dog teams.

• Minister of Emergency and Disaster Response Raed al-Saleh presided over a preparatory conference in Damascus on February 3 ahead of the planned Syria International Security and Safety Exhibition (FORTIX 2026), which will be held in October 2026. The conference will highlight domestic Syrian and foreign companies specializing in the fields of security and safety, industrial security, digital identity and information security.

• Minister of Information Hamza al-Mustafa led a Syrian delegation at the Web Summit Doha on February 3, during which he held side meetings with META and with Qatar’s Government Communication Office.