In its public statements, the Syrian government has long supported the Palestinian cause. In reality, the Assads sought to stymie the PLO, whose famous leader, Yasser Arafat, never trusted Damascus.
Al Majalla obtains exclusive minutes detailing PLO official Faruq al-Qaddumi's account of Arafat's final days and why he believes the Palestinian leader was assassinated
As students in Cairo in the 1960s, al-Qaddumi and Yasser Arafat founded the Palestinian Fatah movement and worked with Nasser. To his dying day, he refused to go back home under an Israeli permit
The PLO chairman now knows that he must leave Lebanon as his fighters are surrounded by the Israelis. The Syrian president is no friend, but agrees to take them in.
With an eye on the Lebanese presidency, the Phalange commander and sworn enemy of Syria sends secret messages of 'reassurance' to al-Assad. Meanwhile, Damascus refuses to host PLO fighters.
US envoy Phillip Habib proposes a plan to facilitate the PLO's exit from Beirut. Meanwhile, the Phalange party vows to end Lebanon's 'three occupations'.
It is June 1982, and Beirut is surrounded by the Israelis. In the city, there are Syrian soldiers and Palestinian fighters from Yasser Arafat's PLO. The Israelis want them both out. Cue the diplomacy.
Al Majalla begins its five-part series revealing never-before-shared details of Israel's 1982 siege of Beirut and exchanges between Hafez al-Assad and Yasser Arafat
Israel's coalition government contains far-right parties that do not want to see an end to the bloodshed in Gaza, so it is no surprise that bombs have started falling again
As voters grow frustrated with Labour and with Conservatives consigned to the political wilderness, the man who became the face of Brexit gets a spike in the polls
The apprehending of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu is the culmination of weeks of a crackdown, which appears to have been aimed at eliminating a political threat to President Erdoğan's grip on power
Picking up where he left off in his first term in office, the US president is machine-gunning the legislation, funding, and personnel aimed at tackling the planet's most existential threat
Some predict partition, others federalism or fragmentation. Amidst the competing interests of Arab states, Russia, the US, Israel, Iran, Türkiye, and Europe, Syria treads its own path