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  • Politics
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  • Syria

People hold a large Syrian opposition flag at Umayyad Square in Damascus on December 9, 2024. Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP

The history of Syria's not-so-new flag

A flag that has become synonymous with opposition to Assad rule was actually the flag of the first Syrian Republic under French mandate. Al Majalla debunks regime lies about what this flag represents.

Sami Moubayed 11 December 2024
An Iranian man reads a newspaper with a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Tehran, Iran December 8, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

Syria and the future of Iran

If it's not careful, Tehran could soon experience what their Syrian client just did: the sudden implosion of a rotten regime 

Frederic C. Hof 10 December 2024

Assad flees Syria after lightening opposition offensive

Fares Garabet 09 December 2024
A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is pictured with its frame broken in a Syrian regime's Political Security Branch facility on the outskirts of the central city of Hama following its capture. OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP

Assad's fall: The end of an era

In just over a week, a lightning rebel offensive has collapsed five decades of draconian Assad rule. Al Majalla looks back at the political career of the former Syrian president.

Sami Moubayed 08 December 2024
A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is pictured with its frame broken in a Syrian regime's Political Security Branch facility on the outskirts of the central city of Hama following its capture. OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP

Why did Assad fall so easily?

After over two decades of rule, following three decades of his father Hafez al-Assad's rule, Bashar has fled following a lightning rebel offensive that swept the country

Omer Onhon 07 December 2024
A protester holds a poster with an image of South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol during a candlelight rally calling for the ouster of the president in Gwanghwamun in Seoul on December 5, 2024. ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP

Are democracies doomed to gridlock and dysfunction?

From France to South Korea, US democratic allies are descending into political chaos

Emma Ashford and Matthew Kroenig 07 December 2024
Fighters drive past an "I Love Hama" sign, which has been repainted in the colours of Syria's opposition flag, in Hama, after anti-government fighters captured the city, on December 6, 2024. Bakr AL KASSEM / AFP

Hama's fall turns another page on its long and bloody history

One of Syria's four largest cities, Hama's history pre-dates Christianity. However, it is most famously known for a bloody assault carried out by Hafez al-Assad in 1982, which killed thousands.

Manaf Saad 06 December 2024
Islamist-led rebels pose for a picture with a Syria army helicopter on the tarmac at the Nayrab military airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2024, after a surprise lightning offensive on November 30. AAREF WATAD / AFP

Why Assad’s regime is collapsing so quickly

After taking Aleppo and Hama, armed Syrian opposition factions are making their way further south as the regime increasingly appears to be hollowing out

Charles Lister 05 December 2024
An opposition fighter fires a rocket against Syrian government forces, in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama on December 4, 2024

A weak Assad benefits Turkey—and is a headache for Trump

After years of relative quiet, renewed fighting in Syria could be the new US administration's first major foreign policy challenge

Jeremy Hodge and Hussein Nasser 05 December 2024

Netanyahu's revolving wars

Fares Garabet 05 December 2024
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Pep Boatella
Politics

Al-Jawf: the key to defeating the Houthis

05, Nov 2026

The battle for this strategically important and resource-rich province tests the Yemeni army's ability to tilt the military balance in its favour

Al Majalla - London
Eduardo Ramon
Profiles

Abdul El-Sayed: the progressive Michigander who beat the pro-Israel lobby

07, Aug 2026

The Egyptian-American epidemiologist became the first Muslim senator in US history, despite $70mn spent to defeat him in the Democratic primary

Tarek Rashed
Politics

Can the Democrats prevent a new round of war with Iran?

05, Nov 2026

Despite the war's unpopularity, Trump seems determined to press on until he can claim a decisive victory, whether by diplomacy, force, or a combination of the two

Aqeel Abbas
Opinion

Trump may be a lame duck at home but not abroad

05, Nov 2026

A Democrat-majority Congress will clip his wings at home, but he will have far more freedom to act on foreign affairs, given the powers he still retains as commander-in-chief

Con Coughlin
French author Philippe Djianada looks out from a window at the Drouant restaurant in Paris, following his win of the French Goncourt literary prize for his novel "The Unknown Woman of Quai de Javel," on 3 November 2026. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
Culture & Social Affairs

A novel about a murder in Paris wins the 2026 Goncourt

06, Nov 2026

French novelist Philippe Jaenada's novel 'The Unknown Woman of Quai de Javel' wins big, while the Prix Renaudot goes to François-Henri Désérable for his novel about an unlikely wine expert

Najeeb Mubarak

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OPINIONS

Democrats sweep the US midterms, but can they rein in Trump?

Al Majalla - London
Al Majalla - London

A novel about a murder in Paris wins the 2026 Goncourt

Najeeb Mubarak
Najeeb Mubarak

Al-Jawf: the key to defeating the Houthis

Al Majalla - London
Al Majalla - London

Trump may be a lame duck at home but not abroad

Con Coughlin
Con Coughlin
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