Syria Weekly: April 14-21, 2026

US military presence ends; Multiple Hezbollah cells captured; SDF integration accelerates, Hasakeh election prep begins, but problems emerging; Sharaa says still open to Israel deal; & a lot more.

SYRIA’S TRANSITION:

• Transition Meetings

• Appointments

• Political Developments

• Economic Developments

• Infrastructure Developments

• Security Developments

• Humanitarian Developments

• Justice Developments

• International Developments

CONFLICT & SECURITY:

• Israel

• ISIS

• Aleppo

• Latakia

• Tartus

• Homs

• Hasakeh

• Rif Dimashq

• Damascus

• Daraa

• Suwayda

• Quneitra

SYRIA’S TRANSITION:

Transition Meetings:

April 14:

• Minister of Finance Mohammed Barnieh and Central Bank Governor Abdulqader Husrieh chaired a technical round table meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group alongside World Bank Group Ousmane Dione on April 14. The meeting saw participation from the governments of Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, the US, the UK, Italy, Switzerland, the EU, IMF and other international partners.

  

• Later that day, Minister of Finance Barnieh and Central Bank Governor Husrieh also participated in the ministerial meeting of the G-24 on the sidelines of the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC.

  

• The Ministry of Energy co-hosted a workshop — alongside the ICRC and SARC — in Damascus on April 14, entitled “Protecting Essential Service Providers and Facilitating Their Safe Access During Conflict in Urban Areas.” Additional government participants came from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Justice, Emergency and Disaster Response, and Local Administration and Environment.

  

• The director of Syria’s General Authority for Civil Aviation, Omar al-Hosari, spoke by virtual call with the Assistant Minister of Investment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Ali Al-Dubaiqi, and the CEO of FlyNas, Bandar bin Abdulrahman Al-Mohanna, on April 14, during which they followed up on the agreement to establish the new “FlyNas Syria” airline and to resume Damascus-Riyadh flights from April 19.

• Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ibrahim Olabi, hosted a meeting with Major General Anita Asmah, Head of Mission and Force Commander of UNDOF in New York on April 14. They discussed mechanisms to enhance cooperation amid continued Israeli military incursions into Syrian territory.

• Later that day, Permanent Representative Olabi also met with Secretary General of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jonatan Vseviov, to discuss bilateral relations.

• The head of the Syrian General Authority for Civil Aviation and Air Transport, Omar al-Hosari hosted a meeting with Jordan’s Ambassador to Syria, Sufyan al-Qudah on April 14 to discuss further opportunities for cooperation in civil aviation, following the recent signing of memoranda of understanding.

• Minister of Information Hamza al-Mustafa met with French Ambassador Jean-Francois Faivre on April 14 to discuss proposals for cooperation in media.

• Minister of Higher Education Marwan al-Halabi hosted a meeting with French Ambassador Jean-Francois Faivre on April 14.

• Staff from the Presidential follow-up team helped to receive 800 Kurdish families as they returned to their places of origin in Afrin, Aleppo on April 14.

• A delegation from the Syrian Development Fund, led by its CEO Safwat Raslan, traveled to Deir ez Zour on April 14 to conduct a series of field tours ahead of the launch of fund-linked development work in the governorate.