Five separate plots to assassinate Syria’s president or his senior ministers were foiled last year, the UN has said in a report on Islamic State. A separate regional intelligence official also confirmed last autumn that Sharaa had faced assassination attemptsthat were foiled after Syria’s security establishment was provided with intelligence from a neighbouring country on the plots. The group published photos of Sharaa meeting the US president, Donald Trump, as proof that he had turned towards the west and abandoned his Islamist roots. The UN estimates the group has 3,000 fighters across the two countries, the majority of whom are in Syria. Damascus now controls al-Hawl camp, where almost 25,000 relatives of suspected IS fighters reside, which analysts warn is a “ticking timebomb” for the radical group.

Source: The Guardian February 12, 2026 15:11 UTC