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  • Syria

Bashar al-Assad sits with Farouk al-Sharaa during a meeting at the Parliament in Damascus with Arab parliamentarians, on November 9, 2008. AFP

Farouk Sharaa on the depths of Assad's narcissism

In the second volume of his memoirs, the former Syrian vice president describes the reign of Bashar al-Assad from his first years in power up until the outbreak of the Syrian revolution

Sami Moubayed 05 May 2025
A boy checks a destroyed vehicle in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya near Damascus on May 1, 2025. OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP

Syria's sectarian violence is a ticking time bomb

The latest violence against Druze is yet another example of the danger of failing to address sectarian fissures, leaving Syria's fragile transitional process dangerously exposed

Haid Haid 03 May 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
A security officer loyal to the interim Syrian government guards a checkpoint previously held by supporters of deposed president, Bashar al-Assad, in the town of Hmeimim, in the coastal province of Latakia, on March 11, 2025. OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP

Security along the Syrian coast is a work-in-progress

Weapons caches, investigations into killings, ongoing raids and kidnappings, coordinated assaults, roadblocks, and sporadic fighting does not instil confidence, but some residents see reason to hope.

Subhi Franjieh 28 April 2025
Syrian soldiers wave as they leave Lebanon 26 April 2005 in Masnaa. Lebanese danced with joy as the last Syrian troops crossed the border back home, ending their 29-year presence in Lebanon. JOSEPH BARRAK / AFP

This day in history: Syria ends its 29-year military occupation of Lebanon

On 26 April 2005, Syria was forced to pull its troops from a country that US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had tacitly invited in a year after the civil war erupted in 1975

Sami Moubayed 26 April 2025
Al Majalla

Washington tells Damascus what it needs to do to ease sanctions

Demands include a public ban on any Palestinian political activity, proscribing Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation, and allowing unilateral US military action in Syria

Ibrahim Hamidi 22 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
Members of Syria's security forces stand guard during the funeral of three people killed in Israeli strikes a day earlier, in the southern town of Daraa on March 18, 2025. Bakr ALKASEM / AFP

The 8th Brigade agrees to dissolve in boost for Damascus

A high-profile armed group in Daraa in southern Syria has reluctantly agreed to hand over its weapons, with its fighters joining a national army under the Ministry of Defence. In the end, it had to.

Abbas Sharifa 17 April 2025
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) during the 4th edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2025) in Antalya on April 11, 2025. AFP

Syria’s neighbours want it to have security, but on their terms

In Türkiye for talks and a conference, Syria's new president knows that there is much to do and many to satisfy if he is to rebuild his country. Amidst the smiles, those with agendas jostle.

Omer Onhon 16 April 2025
Syrian-Palestinian painter Hani Abbas AFP

The cartoonists who satirised Assad's oppressive regime

A simple satirical image can cut through in a way that words cannot, so those brave enough to lampoon Syria's brutal Assad regime played a crucial role in its downfall.

Nawwar Jabbour 14 April 2025
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Axel Rangel Garcia
Business & Economy

Test of wills: Iran’s ability to outlast the US blockade

26 April 2026

The standoff in the Hormuz is not simply a question of whether Tehran can survive economic pressure, but whether Washington can sustain the pressure at an acceptable cost.

Alex Vatanka
Al Majalla
Politics

Netanyahu's Iran victory claim falls on deaf ears in Israel

29 April 2026

Many Israelis actually believe that they lost the war, with opposition leader Yair Lapid accusing the Israeli premier of having led the country into "strategic collapse and diplomatic catastrophe"

Asaad Ghanem
Sara Padovan
Science & Technology

Iran’s 'mosquito fleet' presents a pesky problem

28 April 2026

The Strait of Hormuz is now poised to become the primary arena of confrontation, with Iran relying on speedboat-driven guerrilla warfare to confront the US navy.

Marco Mossad
A Syrian army soldier holds a national flag featuring Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in front of a building left in ruins on 5 June 2013 in the city of Qusayr in the Homs province. AFP
Politics

Syria's taswiya slow roll creates a host of problems

28 April 2026

Former regime soldiers are stuck in limbo, as their undocumented status prevents them from working, travelling, and curbs family members' access to education, healthcare and social services

Haid Haid
Culture & Social Affairs

The Arab women raising the bar in travel literature

28 April 2026

In recent years, travel writing has witnessed a striking revival, though along a different path, one now charted by Arab women's voices.

Ibrahim Adel

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OPINIONS

Orbán defeat: a setback for populists; a boost for Brussels

Khattar Abu Diab
Khattar Abu Diab

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Marco Mossad
Marco Mossad

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The Economist
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Blockading the blockade: Trump tightens his chokehold on Iran

Al Majalla - London
Al Majalla - London
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