Levant in January 2026: the most important developments in security
In January 2026 the Levant saw the Syrian army take most of the northeast from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Fighting in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh districts sent thousands of civilians fleeing, and a ceasefire was announced on 9 January. The last SDF fighters left the city on 11 January. From 16 January the army pushed east, taking the Tabqa dam and airport, oil and gas fields in Deir ez-Zor and towns in Raqqa province, despite US calls to halt. A ceasefire on all fronts was announced on 18 January, and another four-day ceasefire on 20 January during fighting near Hasakah. The SDF handed over a prison on 23 January, and on 30 January the SDF and Damascus agreed an integration deal that the United States called a historic milestone. Turkey backed the government, and President Erdogan vowed a region free of the YPG, the main component of the SDF.
The second story was Islamic State detainees. On 10 and 11 January the United States and partners struck dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria, described as retaliation for an ambush that killed American personnel, and a US strike on 17 January killed a senior al-Qaeda-linked leader. After the army took the Shaddadi prison on 19 January, Damascus accused the SDF of releasing detainees, hundreds of whom reportedly escaped. From 21 January the US began moving thousands of detainees to Iraq for prosecution, though by 30 January transfers had reportedly slowed. The Syrian army designated the Al-Hol camp area a closed security zone. The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington was considering a full troop withdrawal, and Russia began pulling troops from bases in the northeast.
In Lebanon, Israel carried out near-daily strikes on what it called Hezbollah targets, including 17 strikes on 30 January. The Lebanese army said on 8 January it had finished the first phase of disarming non-state groups in the south. Hezbollah warned that further disarmament could bring civil war and that an attack on Iran would ignite the whole region. Israel also conducted operations in Syria's Quneitra province.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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