ع
Sections
  • Politics
  • Culture & Social Affairs
  • Business & Economy
  • Science & Technology
  • Documents & Memoirs
Regions
  • Gulf
  • MENA
  • Europe
  • USA
  • Asia
  • World
More
  • Videos
  • Cartoons
  • World in photos
  • Infographics
  • Profiles
  • Newsletter

LATEST ISSUE

Latest Issue
Magazine Archive
النسخة العربية
  • Politics
  • Culture & Social Affairs
  • Business & Economy
  • Science & Technology
  • Tag
  • Syria

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

Sham Cash: The problem with Syria’s new digital salary app

Without reforms, Sham Cash could become just another tool to consolidate economic and political control into the hands of a select few

Haid Haid 12 May 2025
Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Jassim and some of his officers in Sheikh al-Hadid in the Afrin district of northern Syria. April 13, 2025. Shelly Kittleson

Much-maligned Syrian commander rebuts massacre claims

Al Majalla travelled to Afrin to speak to a Syrian commander accused of human rights abuses and confiscating property, to hear his side of the story

Shelly Kittleson 10 May 2025
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (C) attends a flag raising ceremony of the new Syrian flag at United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 25, 2025. ANGELA WEISS / AFP

Why the US should engage with Syria's new government

The new leadership in Damascus has carefully considered the list of American demands required of it to lift sanctions and has taken adequate steps to address them

Radwan Ziadeh 08 May 2025
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
  •  Load More
  • Popular
  • Editor's Pick
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
Politics

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
Turkish drilling vessel Cagri Bey, which is set to conduct Turkiye's first deep-sea drilling operation docks in the Indian Ocean near the Mogadishu sea port in Mogadishu, Somalia April 10, 2026. Reuters / Feisal Omar
Business & Economy

Türkiye’s proposed maritime bill risks reigniting old rivalries

01 June 2026

The Exclusive Economic Zone risks reopening disputes over energy, maritime claims, and influence in the Eastern Mediterranean

Amr Emam

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter

Get the best of Al Majalla, straight to your inbox.

Your newsletter subscriptions are subject to Al Majalla privacy policy and terms and conditions.

OPINIONS

Cuba, lawfare, and Trump’s Venezuela temptation

Stefanie Butendieck Hijerra
Stefanie Butendieck Hijerra

SpaceX could become the largest IPO in history

Al Majalla - London
Al Majalla - London

Lebanon pays the price for Hezbollah's refusal to disarm

Alia Mansour
Alia Mansour

How AI is changing the nature of work

Abdel-Rahman Ayas
Abdel-Rahman Ayas
MORE FROM OPINIONS
logo
  • Politics
  • Culture & Social Affairs
  • Business & Economy
  • Science & Technology
  • Documents & Memoirs
  • Gulf
  • MENA
  • Europe
  • USA
  • Asia
  • World
  • Videos
  • Cartoons
  • World in photos
  • Infographics
  • Profiles
  • About Al Majalla
  • Al Majalla Team
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact us
logo

© Al Majalla Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

0:00:00
0:00:00