In a statement, the U.S. Department of Defense indicated that it will reduce the number of forces operating in Syria to less than one thousand, reflecting the “significant steps” the United States has made to degrade the Islamic States’ capabilities (U.S. Department of Defense)
Meanwhile, the UN Development Programme announced plans to disperse $1.3 billion of aid to Syria over three years to help country recover from war (Reuters)
Today, Syria also received its first shipment of wheat since the fall of the Assad regime; the shipment reportedly arrived from Russia which, along with Iran, provided the majority of wheat and oil to Syria under Syria’s previous president Bashar al-Assad (Reuters)
Israel Plans to Hold “Security Zones” Indefinitely
Israel will keep troops deployed in certain zones of Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria indefinitely, Defense Minister Israel Katz said yesterday; he added they would create buffer zones to protect Israeli communities (AP)
U.S. Reportedly Prepares to Reduce Troop Presence in Syria
Two defense officials reported the plans, indicating that the two-thousand troop presence could be slashed in half, though the exact amount remains uncertain given the tense state of ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations; currently, U.S. forces in Syria operate with local forces to monitor and counter the Islamic State (Reuters)
Reported Saudi Financial Aid for Syria
Saudi Arabia plans to pay off some $15 million in Syrian debt to the World Bank, three unnamed sources told Reuters; the debts have blocked the bank from issuing Syria new reconstruction finance (Reuters). Syria’s finance minister met with a World Bank delegation, the country’s state media said (Reuters)
Separately, Lebanon and Syria agreed to cooperate economically and coordinate over security issues in Cairo; last month, they saw deadly border clashes before reaching a cease-fire (Al Jazeera)
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s visit begins a phase of “restoration of trust,” Salam said; the leaders also discussed the case of Lebanese people who had gone missing in Syria in recent decades (Reuters)
Al-Sharaa and Lebanese Prime Minister Meet in Damascus
The Syrian president met with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to improve security coordination, increase economic cooperation, and resolve issues with land and sea border delineations (Reuters)
Israel, Turkey Talk Syria
Israel and Turkey held talks in Azerbaijan about creating a deconfliction mechanism to prevent unwanted incidents in Syria, unnamed Turkish officials told multiple news outlets (AP)
Israel earlier this month struck an airbase in Syria where it accused Turkey of trying to build a “protectorate” (AP)
Turkey supports Syria’s new government, which has criticized Israeli incursions in the country (NYT)
Trump Administration Reverses Food Aid Cuts to Syria
The administration informed the World Food Program (WFP) that it reversed aid cuts after USAID funds to the WFP in fourteen countries had been mistakenly cut, according to a U.S. Department of State spokesperson; USAID and UN officials stated that funding was restored for programs in Ecuador, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Somalia, and Syria, though funding cuts remain in Afghanistan and Yemen (AP)
Al-Sharaa to Visit the UAE and Turkey This Week
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) marks his first visit to the country and his second to a Gulf state after his February visit to Saudi Arabia (Reuters)
Kurdish Fighters Adhere to Deal With Damascus and Leave Aleppo
The fighters left two northern neighborhoods of the city in accordance with the deal between Syria’s new central government and the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF); the deal plans to integrate the SDF with the Syrian army and promises new constitutional rights, citizenship, and lingual freedom (AP)
Power Grid Malfunctions Cause Nationwide Blackout in Syria
Power gradually returned to Syria’s provinces, and the Syrian Ministry of Energy stated that no evidence pointed to an attack causing the outage; the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime led to supply cuts of Iranian electricity shipments, forcing the new government to import electricity from Jordan, Turkey, and Qatar (Al Jazeera)
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa Names Twenty-Three Person Cabinet
Al-Sharaa kept the defense, foreign, and interior ministries in the hands of close allies but also included religious minorities and one woman (NYT)
The head of the volunteer rescue group, White Helmets, will be the emergency minister (Reuters)
Western countries, such as those in the European Union, have been watching for the inclusivity of Sharaa’s government before making further decisions on aid and sanctions relief (France24)
Six Killed After Clash Between Israeli Soldiers and Syrian Militants in Southern Syria
The Israeli military stated that Syrian militants opened fire on its soldiers near the border buffer zone between the two states, after which Israeli soldiers returned fire and launched an airstrike, killing six Syrian militants; Israeli security forces currently occupy the demilitarized buffer zone between the two states (Reuters)
Lebanon and Syria Agree to Cease-Fire After Two Days of Deadly Border Clashes
Syria’s interim government accused Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah of abducting and killing three Syrian soldiers on Saturday (WaPo)
Amid subsequent fighting, seven Lebanese people were killed, Lebanon’s health ministry said; the truce agreement calls for “enhanced coordination and cooperation between the two sides,” Syria’s defense ministry said (AP)
Amid Israel’s increased strikes on military targets and sites in southern Syria, Damascus stated that a series of airstrikes on March 17 killed at least three civilians and injured nineteen others (Reuters)
Weekend Clashes Along Border Raise Tensions Between Syria and Lebanon
Damascus accused Hezbollah fighters of killing three Syrian soldiers in a cross-border attack on Saturday, which Hezbollah denied and instead accused Syrian soldiers of attacking Lebanese villages; both parties reportedly fired artillery shells at each other’s positions into early morning on Monday, prompting Beirut to deploy its troops to the border to ease the situation, and both the Lebanese and Syrian armies are reportedly maintaining communications (Al Jazeera)
Nine Civilians Killed in Airstrikes Near Kurdish-Majority City in Northern Syria
The Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claimed that Turkish forces were responsible for the bombings near the city of Kobani (Arab Weekly)
Israel Strikes Building in Damascus for First Time Since Ahmed al-Sharaa Took Over as Interim President
Israel’s military said it targeted a headquarters for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad; the militant group denied using the building for such purposes (FT)
On the heels of recent violence in coastal western Syria, Sharaa signed into effect a temporary charter for a five-year transitional governance period; it was not immediately made public (Guardian)
U.S.-Backed, Kurdish-Led Syrian Democratic Forces Agree to Integrate With New Syrian Government by End of This Year
The SDF controls an area of northwestern Syria that includes oil and gas fields and had been a holdout as the interim government sought to bring the country’s multiple armed groups under its umbrella; the deal reiterated interim leaders’ pledges to build an inclusive government (NYT)
Hundreds Killed in Recent Clashes in Western Syria
The deaths since last Thursday amount to Syria’s largest spate of violence since rebels ousted former President Bashar al-Assad in December, prompting international repudiation and calls for investigations (Reuters;UN)
The clashes occurred in a stronghold of Syria’s Alawite minority; Assad is Alawite, and many of his supporters still live in the area (BBC)
Armed men loyal to Assad ambushed government security forces on Thursday, kicking off a chain of violence (NYT)
As government forces fought back, civilians were broadly targeted, residents and monitoring groups said; unnamed Damascus authorities blamed armed militias who came to fight alongside government troops for summary executions of young people and raids of homes (WaPo;Guardian)
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom (UK)-based war monitor, counted more than one thousand people dead—over seven hundred of whom were civilians—while the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported more than six hundred people killed (NYT;CNN)
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Assad loyalists and unnamed foreign powers of trying to foment unrest, saying that his administration would hold accountable “anyone who is involved in the bloodshed of civilians” or exploits state power; his office said it was forming an independent committee to investigate the clashes and killings (BBC)
The commander of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) blamed the killings on Turkey-backed factions and Islamic extremists. The SDF called for Sharaa to reconsider his method for forming the new Syrian army, saying that some fighters could use the army “to create sectarian conflicts and settle internal scores” (Reuters)
United Kingdom Becomes First Country to Entirely Unfreeze Assets of Syria’s Central Bank
The UK also ended sanctions on oil groups and commercial banks, saying it supports rebuilding (FT)
Separately, armed individuals loyal to Assad killed at least sixteen Syrian government security personnel, a war monitor said; the clashes—some of Syria’s worst violence since December—broke out in a coastal region home to many in the Alawite minority, which includes the Assad family (NYT)
Syria Announces Intent to Dispose of Chemical Weapons From Assad Regime
Syria’s foreign minister visited the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the Hague, where he stated that the new government in Damascus is ready to comply with international norms and welcomes international assistance in the removal of the stockpiles; the OPCW aims to conduct inspections on roughly one-hundred potential chemical weapons sites (Reuters)
Syrian Forces Deployed to Jaramana After Weekend Clashes
Syrian forces negotiated for stability in the majority Druze and Christian suburb after violent unrest, which began with the killing of a Syrian security officer at a checkpoint and the subsequent withholding of suspects by local militia, according to Syrian state media (Al Jazeera)
One Killed in Clash Between Pro-Government Security Forces and Local Druze Gunmen
The shooting occurred in the predominantly Druze and Christian suburb of Jaramana near Damascus, which also left nine injured, though it remains unclear whether the person killed was a civilian or combatant (France24)
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz warned against any government-led violence against the Druze in Syria (Times of Israel)
Israel Lobbies to Maintain Russian Bases in Syria to Contain Turkey
Israeli officials posited that a continued Russian presence in the country will keep it decentralized and weak, as opposed to Turkey becoming its primary security guarantor and expanding its regional influence; Israel fears that Ankara’s support to the new government in Damascus could embolden Islamist groups and complicate its plans to demilitarize southern Syria (Reuters)
Syrians Call for Inclusive Governance, Free Expression, and End to Israeli Military Presence at National Dialogue
Hundreds gathered at the Damascus conference, where interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa spoke, in a step toward rebuilding the country after fourteen years of civil war; working groups met to discuss topics like a new constitution, transitional justice, and Syria’s economic model (Reuters)
Five of the seven members of the conference organizing committee were in or close to al-Sharaa’s rebel group, and no committee members came from the Druze or Alawite minorities (VOA)
Religious minorities and women did attend the conference (AP)
While the European Union announced it would lift some broad sanctions this week, U.S. economic steps have been more measured (EuroNews;VOA)
Amid war and embargos, Syria’s economy has shrunk by some 85 percent since 2011, according to World Bank estimates (DW)
Syrians Hold National Dialogue on Future of Country
Hundreds of Syrians are in Damascus today for a conference on the country’s political future; they will produce recommendations for an interim government that is slated to take office on March 1 (Reuters)
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia that controls much of the country’s northeast, was not invited; the interim government had demanded they disarm as a condition for participating (NYT)