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  • SDF
The "Unity of Position" conference, held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Hasakah on August 8, 2025. Social media

Heading for a showdown? SDF conference riles Damascus

Syria's government needs to centralise decision-making and bring armed groups to heel, but Kurds in the north-east want to establish a 'coalition of the unwilling' with Druze and Alawites. What now?

Subhi Franjieh 13 August 2025
The largest Syrian flag was raised on the highest pole, 110 meters high, in Tishreen Park in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on June 4. Getty

Taif offers clues on the right governing formula for a new Syria

Questions of autonomy, integration, participation, and administration are key to resolving Syria's many disputes among its many groups. Could a 1989 agreement for Lebanon show the way?

Sihanouk Dibo 13 August 2025
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sit on a vehicle in the north of Raqqa city, Syria. Reuters

Fading hopes that the SDF will agree to Syrian integration

The autonomous Kurdish-led group in Syria's north-east has been protected by the US for a decade, but the move now is towards integration with Damascus. Unfortunately, the SDF has not got the memo.

Charles Lister 11 July 2025
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi (C) and Hamid Darbandi (C-R behind), envoy of Iraqi Kurdish politician Masoud Barzani, attend the pan-Kurdish "Unity and Consensus" conference in Qamishli in northeastern Syria on April 26, 2025. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

In U-turn, Syrian Kurds are now demanding federalism

Having agreed on an outline for integration with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa last month, Kurdish-led groups have now issued a raft of contradictory demands, angering both Damascus and Ankara

Omer Onhon 30 April 2025
The US-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition against the Islamic State (IS) trains SDF fighters in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on September 7, 2022. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

Where does the counter-IS mission stand after Sharaa-SDF deal?

An SDF shift away from the US partnership and the risk of IS resurgence could undo years of hard-won progress in the fight against terrorism

Caroline Rose 21 April 2025
Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi during the signing of the agreement to integrate the SDF into state institutions, Damascus, March 10, 2025. AFP

Reading between the lines of the Sharaa-Abdi deal

Al Majalla's exclusive interview with YPG commander Mazloum Abdi gives great insight into a landmark deal reached between Damascus and Syria's Kurds. This is my take on what Abdi really meant.

Omer Onhon 14 March 2025
Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi during the signing of the agreement to integrate the SDF into state institutions, Damascus, March 10, 2025. AFP

Sharaa's political pragmatism and the myth of sectarianism

After a hugely important deal to integrate Syria's Kurds, there is a growing realisation among myriad factions that national unity is crucial for the country's survival

Ahmed Maher 13 March 2025
Yusra Na'im

Mazloum Abdi agrees to merge the SDF into Syria's state army

Al Majalla interviewed the SDF commander who shared his thinking prior to the landmark decision, which also guarantees constitutional rights for Syrian Kurds

Ibrahim Hamidi 11 March 2025
A man walks close to a fire raging at a facility in al-Qahtaniyah in northeastern Syria close to the Turkish border on October 5, 2023.

SDF-HTS standoff: Best and worst-case scenarios

While solving the SDF situation in itself will not guarantee success for the larger Syria project, failing to integrate them will almost certainly torpedo that project

James Jeffrey 31 January 2025

SDF on shaky ground in new Syria

Fares Garabet 23 December 2024
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A portrait of a soldier in Beirut, Lebanon. 
Alamy
Politics

The Lebanese army can confront Hezbollah. Here's how.

02 September 2025

Lebanon's president and prime minister have a big decision to make: whether, and how, to use the army to disarm Hezbollah. Today's army can be trusted, but its task must be well thought through.

Bilal Saab
Opinion

'The Voice of Hind Rajab' shows cries for justice are only getting louder

07 September 2025

A 24-minute standing ovation at the film premiere was more than a symbolic gesture of justice for Israel's murder of little Hind, but a heartfelt cry of real anguish over the ongoing genocide in Gaza

Samer Abou Hawwach
Al Majalla
Politics

Hugs and hand-holding: Modi sends signals to Trump in Tianjin

06 September 2025

With Modi keen to stand his ground against Trump's tariffs, and India-China relations beginning to thaw, the SCO summit gave New Delhi an opportunity to assert its diplomatic weight

Shakir Husain
Al Majalla
Business & Economy

How Saudi Arabia is redefining the global mining map

06 September 2025

The Future Minerals Forum has become one of the world's most influential gatherings in the minerals sector, uniting stakeholders around the shared goal of building sustainable mineral supply chains

Faisal Faeq
Al Majalla
Culture & Social Affairs

Al Majalla’s Film Watch

03 September 2025

Every month, Al Majalla offers its take on the screen's newest releases, with the occasional dip into the archives to review an older classic.

Areej Jamal

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OPINIONS

For many in Gaza, there is no 'day after'

Fares Garabet
Fares Garabet

'The Voice of Hind Rajab' shows cries for justice are only getting louder

Samer Abou Hawwach
Samer Abou Hawwach

Israel looms large over Daraa as displaced recount horrors

Shelly Kittleson
Shelly Kittleson

Rapid tech innovation brings AI closer to consciousness

Marco Mossad
Marco Mossad
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