Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and first lady Asma al-Assad cast their votes at a polling station in the war-torn town of Douma just outside of Damascus. Voters flocked to polls across Syria for a presidential election in which few doubt Assad will extend his grip on power for a fourth term, in a war-battered country mired in economic crisis.

The US Central Command releases aerial footage showing US strikes on three positions along the Syria-Iraq border. At least seven fighters belonging to Iran-backed armed groups were killed, sparking immediate calls for revenge and fears of a new escalation between Washington and Tehran.

A number of rocket attacks have been carried out against US military and diplomatic targets. According to the extremist monitoring group SITE, they were carried out by pro-Iranian militias.

The disappearance of Razan Zaitouneh and her colleagues has been one of the greatest mysteries of the Syrian war — until today. DW's investigative unit hunted clues across six countries to track down the perpetrators.

Those targeted include an armed group that killed a Kurdish politician and eight individuals tied to the Syrian government and President Bashar Assad.

Limited electricity supply is hampering Syria's industrial revivial, as manufacturing grinds to a halt at 6pm in the former economic hub of Aleppo.

The Syrian province of Idlib, one of the last remaining rebel strongholds in the country's north, is experiencing a new wave of Covid-19 infections, driven by the more contagious Delta variant. This comes as the regime intensifies bombings in the region, putting local hospitals under even greater pressure. We take a closer look.

The upsurge in violence in Syria combined with its plummeting economy are making life increasingly bleak for civilians, United Nations investigators say.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemns the presence of foreign troops in Syria at talks in Moscow with the war-torn country's President Bashar al-Assad. Russia has been a key ally of the Assad regime throughout the Syrian conflict, which erupted in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests. Russia's military intervention in 2015 helped turn the tide of the war in Assad's favour.

A new Syrian-Jordanian deal on energy for Lebanon is being seen by some as another step towards the international rehabilitation of the brutal Assad regime.

In its first report on the Syrian war death toll since 2014, the UN said at least 350,209 people have died in the decade-long conflict. But admitted the real toll is likely to be much higher.

Rifaat al-Assad, dubbed the butcher of Hama, was exiled by the Syrian president's late father. He was facing four years behind bars in France for laundering embezzled funds.