كل ما تود معرفته عن state-building

The largest Syrian flag was raised on the highest pole, 110 meters high, in Tishreen Park in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on June 4.

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

Bedouin families who left Sweida take a shelter at a school in the village of El Sahoah in Deraa Governorate, Syria, July 28, 2025.

Yamam Al Shaar / Reuters

Sweida violence: a good day for Israel, a bad day for Syria

Damascus fell into a trap when it sent its troops racing south as fighting erupted between Druze and Bedouins. Why? Because in Israel's arc of fragmentation, Syria is the last piece of the puzzle.

Majed Kayali 29 July 2025

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen backs the central government's desire for sovereignty over its territory but says that, in a transition period, this is best done through dialogue and by building trust.

Al Majalla/AFP

UN envoy to Syria: true loyalty to the state cannot be coerced

Geir Pedersen condemns Israeli strikes and urges genuine dialogue between Syrian authorities and the local Druze community in Sweida.

Ibrahim Hamidi 18 July 2025

Lina Jaradat

Administration is integral to Syria’s state-building task

'Look to the woman,' as the French say, for it is the woman that runs the household. Likewise, it is the state's administration that runs the ministries and achieves the objectives set by ministers.

Hussein al-Sharaa 02 July 2025

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A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter affiliated with Iran's separatist Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), mans a position north of Kirkuk, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.

Safin Hamid/AFP

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Why Iran’s militant Kurds stayed out of the US-Iran war

31 May 2026

In March there was talk of armed Kurdish fighters opening a second front in Iran's north-west, but it never happened—for several very good reasons.

Alex Vatanka

Raúl Castro was Cuban president from 2006 to 2018, having served as Minister for the Armed Forces from 1959 to 2008.

AFP

Profiles

Raúl Castro: the soldier who made Fidel’s revolution endure

31 May 2026

Fidel's brother built Cuba's armed forces and took over the presidency when his more charismatic sibling fell ill two decades ago. A recent US indictment from a 1996 incident now asks new questions.

Stefanie Butendieck Hijerra

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif shake hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on 25 May 2026.

Reuters

Politics

How Pakistan became China’s indispensable intermediary

01 June 2026

With war closing the Strait of Hormuz, Islamabad has become both broker and bridge, mediating between rivals while keeping Beijing's overland trade routes alive

Shirley Ze Yu

SARA GIRONI CARNEVALE

Business & Economy

How AI is changing the nature of work

01 June 2026

Some predict 'the end of jobs,' others a 'jobs apocalypse,' but optimists think people will adapt and get paid to do different things. Amidst war and mountains of debt, is AI a help or a harbinger?

Abdel-Rahman Ayas