Documents & Memoirs | Al Majalla

A look at US-Syria summits ahead of Sharaa's White House visit

Ahmed al-Sharaa will be the first Syrian president to be welcomed at the White House on Monday. From Nixon to Clinton, Al Majalla looks back at official encounters between the two states since 1945.

Sami Moubayed 09 November 2025

Axel Rangel García

Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 - 1938, left), and Reza Shah (1879 - 1944), Shah of Persia, hold a historic meeting in Ankara, the new capital of Turkey, 1934.

Getty Images

This day in history: Persia renamed ‘Iran’

The precedent for altering a country's name was set decades ago but the reasons for doing it can be very different

Sami Moubayed 21 March 2023

A movement based on Arab nationalism took control of Syria in 1963 and went on to shape the politics of the region for decades after.

Andrei Cojocaru

This day in history: The Ba’ath Party comes to power in Syria

A movement based on Arab nationalism took control of Syria in 1963 and went on to shape the politics of the region for decades after

Sami Moubayed 07 March 2023

President Nixon meets with Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-Tung in Peking, during his 1972 visit to China.

Getty Images

51 years after Nixon’s groundbreaking visit, China-US relations at an all-time low

The Chinese spy balloon incident, as well as Beijing's cosy relationship with Moscow, have soured already tense relations

Sami Moubayed 01 March 2023

The architects of the 1913 coup were officers from the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)

Jamie Wignall

The coup that brought down the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman coups inspired similar coups against leaders in Iran, Iraq and Syria

Sami Moubayed 28 February 2023

Members of Lebanon's movement Hezbollah on March 1, 2016, in the southern town of Kfour in the Nabatiyeh district, during the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter, who was killed while fighting a longside Syrian government forces in Syria

Getty Images

Damascus Documents reveal story behind creation of Hezbollah

Al Majalla obtains Damascus Documents which reveal how Iran founded Hezbollah in Lebanon in the 1980s

Ibrahim Hamidi 26 February 2023

British wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, left, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, center, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin sit in the grounds of the Livadia Palace, Yalta.

Getty Images

There is hope now for Ukraine in how Yalta helped end World War II

Today’s world needs many things. One of them may well be another Yalta conference. The resort city on the south coast of the Crimea is famous for helping end World War II. It hosted an…

Sami Moubayed 22 February 2023

A member of the Lebanese security forces stands guard in front of a billboard bearing a portrait of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri to mark his assassination on February 14, 2005.

AFP

The legacy of Rafik Hariri and the collapse of the Lebanese state

Although it has been 18 years since Hariri's brutal assassination, the pain of his loss is being felt now more than ever

Mohamed abi Samra 16 February 2023

In a tale of generals and presidents, Al Majalla illustrates how Lebanese politics overlapped with its army.

Andrei Cojocaru

When generals become presidents: A history of Lebanese military leaders

In a tale of generals and presidents, Al Majalla illustrates how Lebanese politics overlapped with its army

Sami Moubayed 03 February 2023

“Abu Nidal, Abu Shmidal… we will screw the PLO”

During the 17th and 18th century, European philosophers and political scientists used the ancient Latin term casus belli to define a case for waging war. Modern international law recognises three…

Sami Moubayed 26 January 2023

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US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman exchange a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during a ceremony at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 13 May 2025.

REUTERS / Brian Snyder

Politics

US-Saudi ties are the cornerstone of Trump’s Mideast policy

14 November 2025

When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits the White House to meet with US President Donald Trump on 18 November, there will be no shortage of issues for the two leaders to discuss

Brian Katulis

This handout photograph released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on 10 November 2025, shows US President Donald Trump (L) shaking hands with Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House in Washington DC.

SANA / AFP

Politics

Syria-US rapprochement sees cooperation surge

13 November 2025

Since Trump began lifting sanctions in May, no time has been wasted. US investment delegations have been flocking to Damascus, and security cooperation has already started.

Charles Lister

Sara Padovan

Politics

Is support for Israel becoming toxic at the ballot box?

11 November 2025

As Americans rethink the moral—and strategic—calculus of US support for Israel, politicians are scrambling to keep pace

Alfred J. Naddaff

Ewan White

Politics

How Trump reshaped the world

03 November 2025

Al Majalla examines key developments in the US and across the globe less than a year into Trump's second presidential term

Al Majalla - London

Lina Jaradat

Politics

Israel's Olive War aims to uproot more than just trees

09 November 2025

The olive tree is no longer just a source of sustenance for West Bank Palestinians, but a silent witness to their profound struggle between permanence and erasure

Mohammed Najib

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LATEST ISSUE

A look at US-Syria summits ahead of Sharaa's White House visit

This day in history: Persia renamed ‘Iran’

This day in history: The Ba’ath Party comes to power in Syria

51 years after Nixon’s groundbreaking visit, China-US relations at an all-time low

The coup that brought down the Ottoman Empire

Damascus Documents reveal story behind creation of Hezbollah

There is hope now for Ukraine in how Yalta helped end World War II

The legacy of Rafik Hariri and the collapse of the Lebanese state

When generals become presidents: A history of Lebanese military leaders

“Abu Nidal, Abu Shmidal… we will screw the PLO”

US-Saudi ties are the cornerstone of Trump’s Mideast policy

Syria-US rapprochement sees cooperation surge

Is support for Israel becoming toxic at the ballot box?

How Trump reshaped the world

Israel's Olive War aims to uproot more than just trees

OPINIONS

Born too soon: our responsibility on World Prematurity Day

Syria cannot afford to postpone pluralism

The BBC scrambles to 'get its house in order'

Class wars loom as wealth gap widens

CARTOON

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