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النسخة العربية
  • Politics
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  • Tag
  • Syria

Lifting the veil on secret US-Assad talks

Al Majalla reveals the covert talks over several years between the representatives of a reluctant Syrian president and successive White House administrations hoping find a missing American.

Ibrahim Hamidi 21 May 2025
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in this handout released on May 14, 2025. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS

Why Trump decided to lift sanctions on Syria

Trump's decision to reverse decades of US policy on Syria within just a few hours in Riyadh reflects the weight of influence that Middle Eastern leaders can have on Trump's decision-making process

Caroline Rose 20 May 2025
Al Majalla

Trump's move to lift Syria sanctions begs more questions than answers

Trump's announcement and Rubio's subsequent statement offered no clear roadmap for unwinding Syria sanctions layered under multiple authorities

Matt Zweig 19 May 2025
Lina Jaradat

With his Syria gamble, Trump opens a door

Although he once deemed Syria unimportant, Trump now seems to realise how key it is to Arab states, whose cooperation he greatly values

Frederic C. Hof 18 May 2025
Israeli spy Eli Cohen.

This day in history: Israeli spy Eli Cohen executed in Damascus

On 18 May 1965, Eliyahu Cohen, an Egyptian Jew born in Alexandria, was hanged for espionage in Damascus after posing as a Muslim Arab merchant from Argentina

Sami Moubayed 18 May 2025

'Make Syria Great Again': how Sunni populism is reshaping post-war Syria

Promising a new golden age, neo-Umayyadism resonates with a broad spectrum of Syria's Sunni Arabs, particularly those from small towns and suburbs that had been disenfranchised under the Assad regime

Malik al-Abdeh 16 May 2025
People celebrate in Damascus' Omeyyad square after US President Donald Trump's decision to lift sanctions in Syria, on May 13, 2025. Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP

Syria's long road to economic recovery can finally begin

Trump has lifted US sanctions, offering Syria a "chance at greatness". Despite lingering hurdles, for the first time in a long time, there is an electric sense of hope in the country.

Joseph Daher 15 May 2025
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) watching as US President Donald Trump (C) shakes hands with Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Riyadh on May 14, 2025. Bandar AL-JALOUD / Saudi Royal Palace

Trump's lifting of Syria sanctions solidifies Iran's regional defeat

It could very well boost Israel's security as well as that of everyone else in the region

James Jeffrey 14 May 2025
American President Richard Nixon made an official visit to Damascus on June 15, 1974, and was welcomed by Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. Getty

From Nixon to Clinton: Syrian-American summits since 1945

Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, will meet Donald Trump in Riyadh today, making him the first Syrian leader to meet with a US president since Clinton's meeting with Hafez al-Assad in 2000

Sami Moubayed 14 May 2025
Lina Jaradat

Ahmed al-Sharaa: the Syrian president with much to prove

Al-Sharaa met Trump today in Riyadh, after the US president lifted sanctions on Syria on Tuesday, offering it "a chance at greatness". But who is the Syrian leader thrust into the global spotlight?

Bilal Saab 14 May 2025
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Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, dressed in an IRGC uniform, chairs a session in Tehran on 1 February 2026. AFP
Profiles

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: a possible US partner?

24 March 2026

Reports that the Trump administration is eyeing Iran's parliament speaker as an Iranian 'Delcy Rodriguez' has been dismissed in Tehran as fake news

Alex Vatanka
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir pose with US President Donald Trump (C) at the White House in Washington, DC on 26 September 2025. AFP
Politics

Why Pakistan is well-placed to host US-Iran talks

24 March 2026

Islamabad is uniquely positioned to mediate between the warring parties. It also has more than enough reasons to want this war to end.

Kamal Alam
Mark Wallace (L), CEO of the non-profit United Against Nuclear Iran, talks with Rep. Mike Lawler (R) (R-NY) next to a Shahed 136 military drone during a press conference on Capitol Hill on 8 May 2025 in Washington, DC. WIN MCNAMEE / AFP
Business & Economy

Iran and the new arithmetic of war

23 March 2026

Cheap autonomous weapons are overturning the economics of combat—and teaching the United States important lessons.

Fareed Zakaria
Trump holding a Make America Great Again Hat AFP
Politics

Could the US-Iran war deliver Trump his own ‘Suez’ moment?

23 March 2026

The conflict will likely prompt political and economic shifts, even if the extent of those changes may not be known for years.

Christopher Phillips
A displaced woman sits next her tent in an unofficial camp, erected along Beirut’s seafront area on 22 March 2026. DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP
Culture & Social Affairs

Beirut's daily grind: between refuge, ruin and routine

23 March 2026

Beirut continues to host exhibitions and sustain cultural life, but in a subdued, robotic fashion shaped by war and emotional numbness

Mimoza Al-Arrawi

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OPINIONS

The US-Iran war puts Europe in Catch-22

Con Coughlin
Con Coughlin

US-Iran war tests the resilience of Egypt's economy

Alice Gower
Alice Gower

How cassette tapes preserved Syria's unofficial soundtrack

Khalil Sweileh
Khalil Sweileh

Syria's deputy defence minister on founding the YPG

Ibrahim Hamidi
Ibrahim Hamidi
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