No country has as much to gain from a stable Syria as Turkey, and few have as much to lose if it implodes. Turkey is home to more than 3m Syrian refugees, and wants Syria to be safe enough for many to return.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa congratulated U.S. President Donald Trump on his inauguration in a statement on Monday, saying he is looking forward to improving relations between the two countries. "We are confident that he is the leader to bring peace to the Middle East and restore stability to the region," he said.

Syria has issued public tenders for oil and its products, Ghiath Diab, the oil minister in the caretaker government appointed by Syria's new rulers, told state news agency SANA on Monday.

The European Union is considering a step-by-step suspension of multiple economic sanctions targeting Syria as it seeks to support the country’s transition, while retaining some leverage, according to two internal documents seen by Reuters.

The mother of US journalist Austin Tice, abducted in Syria while on a reporting trip in 2012 and one of the longest-held American hostages, has returned to the country for the first time in a decade to renew the search for her son.

A train station in Damascus was once the pride of the Syrian capital, an essential link between Europe and the Arabian Peninsula during the Ottoman Empire and then a national transit hub.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey has emerged as one of the most influential power brokers in Syria after rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad last month, ending his family's brutal five-decade rule. NATO member Turkey is now in a position to influence its neighbour's future diplomatically, economically and militarily.

The leaders of two previously rival Kurdish groups have met in northern Iraq in an apparent step toward reconciliation at a time when the political upheaval in Syria has left Kurds in the region facing an uncertain future.

In 1982 an uprising in the city of Hama by the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group originating in Egypt, challenged Assad’s rule. Tens of thousands of people were killed by the government’s bombardment of the city. The chilling message stuck with Syrians for decades.

Syrian phone shop owner Abdel Razzaq Hamra was thrilled to finally be working in peace after years of being harassed and detained by security personnel enforcing an Assad-linked company's monopoly. Phone shop owners said security forces linked to Branch 215 of the Military Intelligence would raid their shops,

DAMASCUS — The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing in Syria since 2012, said Monday during a visit to the Syrian capital that the incoming Trump administration has offered to help uncover long-awaited answers about the fate of her son.