Overview
- Speaking in London on Tuesday at Chatham House, President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Syria would not join the U.S.-Israeli fight with Iran unless Syria is targeted.
- Syria has moved thousands of troops to the borders with Lebanon and Iraq this month to tighten control as fighting spreads across the region, the defense ministry said.
- UNHCR reported more than 200,000 people crossed from Lebanon into Syria in the past month after Israeli strikes there, straining towns that must house and feed new arrivals.
- Sharaa said he wants Syria to build a network of ties with regional neighbors and Western powers, pitched for reconstruction investment, and criticized Iranian involvement in Damascus.
- Outside the London event, British-Syrian Alawite and Alevi groups protested his record as a Reuters investigation traced at least 1,500 Alawite killings since 2024 to security officials in Damascus.