Al-Sharaa has many concerns as transitional president, not least security and balancing the needs of his people with factional and regional politics. It will be a long journey, and it has just begun.

For decades, Tehran bore its way deep into the Syrian state. Dismantling its influence is no easy feat, as Syria's new ministers are discovering, but it is important.

Hezbollah's entrenched networks, the economic drivers of illicit trade, Syria's limited security capacity, and the sheer scale of the porous border all make total elimination unlikely

Have hegemons become so drunk on power that we are heading towards an authoritarian dystopia? It seems so.

Disparaging remarks made by senior Trump administration officials about their European allies are not new, but they will further hurt already strained relations

Israel continues to bomb and seize Syrian territory, while Iran uses remnants of the Assad regime to foment instability. Both claim to protect minorities as a pretext to extend their influence.

The US-Israeli plan for a new Middle East requires a pliable Syria. To this end, a long list of tall demands has been handed to the new leadership in Damascus.

The region carries around 8% of the world's tuberculosis burden―a share that is growing due to conflict, undiagnosed cases, and drug-resistant strains

After decades of under-investment in defence, it remains to be seen whether Europeans have the ability and resources to create a force with the strength and resilience necessary to meet the challenge

Deals with Kurdish and Druze minorities are to be cheered. A blink-and-you-miss-it National Dialogue Conference, the killing of 1,000 people, and the president's ever-expanding powers are not.

There are competing visions for the future identity of Syria, and the path forward is strewn with obstacles that the country's new leaders have to carefully navigate

Since returning to the White House, Trump has made it abundantly clear that it was only a matter of time before he would pick up where Biden left off in going after Iran's remaining 'axis' fighters