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  • Syria

An Alawite falconer photographed by Frank Hurley in Baniyas, Syria, during World War II. Wikipedia

The political history of the Alawites in pre-Baath Syria

There is a huge misconception that Syria's Alawite community was a major benefactor of the Assad regime. But nothing is further from the truth. Al Majalla explains.

Sami Moubayed 27 December 2024
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (C-R) gestures to Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian (5th-R) and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-L) after a group picture during the D-8 summit in Cairo on December 19, 2024. AFP

Geopolitical faultlines begin to show in a post-Assad region

Key regional powers—Türkiye, Egypt, Iran—do not see eye to eye over what transpired in Syria. One emerges as a winner, the other a loser, and Syria's new Islamist-leaning leaders unsettle the third.

Amr Emam 25 December 2024
A man looks out to the devastation while clearing rubble and debris from a house at the Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees south of Damascus on December 22, 2024. MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP

Syria begins to piece together a country and economy in ruins

War caused its GDP to fall by 86%, leaving 69% of Syrians impoverished. Regime change brings hope for an economy once one of the Middle East's strongest. This is its story and a look ahead.

Abdulfattah Khattab 24 December 2024
The leader of Syria's Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, Ahmad al-Sharaa, addresses a crowd at the capital's landmark Umayyad Mosque on December 8, 2024. Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP

Can al-Sharaa stand the Kemalist ideology?

While Syria's new leader has, so far, managed to blur the lines between political Islam and secularism, the ability of his government to withstand pressures will be put to the test

Ahmed Maher 23 December 2024
Diana Estefanía Rubio

Will Syria's economy be able to recover after years of war?

The Syrian civil war has left its economy in ruins. In addition to GDP shrinking by more than 90% between 2010 and 2024, the population remains trapped in deprivation, with 69% of the population…

Al Majalla - London 23 December 2024

SDF on shaky ground in new Syria

Fares Garabet 23 December 2024
A Syrian man looks towards an Israeli tank positioned in the Syrian town of Madinat al-Baath, in the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the annexed Golan Heights on 20 December 2024. Bakr Alkasem / AFP

Rather than extend a hand, Netanyahu rains on Syria’s parade

Joyous at Iran's lost influence in Syria, Israel could have celebrated with Syrians after Assad's ouster. Instead, it rained bombs down, occupied land, and destroyed Syrian assets. Why? Ask Netanyahu

Frederic C. Hof 22 December 2024
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Muhammad al-Joulani (Ahmad Hussein al-Sharaa) with a shattered photo of Bashar al-Assad behind him Axel Rangel Garcia

Revealed: the insider story of Assad’s flight and Sharaa’s arrival

Using information from well-placed sources both in Syria and outside, Al Majalla pieces together events in those 11 momentous days that toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime, shaking Syria and the region

Ibrahim Hamidi 20 December 2024
An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from a border
position in southern Israel toward the Gaza Strip on May 8,
2024 AFP

For some, today’s Middle East is a giant military testing ground

Better than any simulator, multiple conflicts throughout the war-torn region are proving to be a boon for the testing and showcasing of weapons, and the battle-hardening of fighters

Lina Khatib 18 December 2024
Geir Pedersen speaks at the Doha Forum on December 8, 2024 AFP

UN’s top envoy for Syria: HTS actions could help reassess its terror designation

Geir Pedersen is no stranger to Middle East hotspots, but for six years his mission in Syria was frustrated by the Assad regime. With Assad gone, the priorities are stability and inclusivity, he says

Ibrahim Hamidi 17 December 2024
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Lina Jaradat
Politics

Israel's Olive War aims to uproot more than just trees

09 November 2025

The olive tree is no longer just a source of sustenance for West Bank Palestinians, but a silent witness to their profound struggle between permanence and erasure

Mohammed Najib
This handout photograph released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on 10 November 2025, shows US President Donald Trump (L) shaking hands with Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House in Washington DC. SANA / AFP
Politics

Syria-US rapprochement sees cooperation surge

13 November 2025

Since Trump began lifting sanctions in May, no time has been wasted. US investment delegations have been flocking to Damascus, and security cooperation has already started.

Charles Lister
Al Majalla
Politics

Can Trump make peace or just ceasefires?

12 November 2025

The US president hasn't invested enough political capital in the painstaking details of peacemaking. Instead, he has focused on short-term truces he can boast about in his quest for a Nobel prize.

Christopher Phillips
Sara Padovan
Politics

Is support for Israel becoming toxic at the ballot box? 

11 November 2025

As Americans rethink the moral—and strategic—calculus of US support for Israel, politicians are scrambling to keep pace

Alfred J. Naddaff
Ewan White
Politics

How Trump reshaped the world

03 November 2025

Al Majalla examines key developments in the US and across the globe less than a year into Trump's second presidential term

Al Majalla - London

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