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

the city of Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Syria July 18, 2025. Reuters

Illicit economies play big role in Syria’s post-Assad flashpoints

In areas like Daraa and Sweida, local groups are elbowing their way into some of the smuggling voids left by Assad's army and pro-Iranian groups like Hezbollah. That means more to fight over.

Caroline Rose 02 August 2025
A currency exchange shop in the Syrian capital Damascus, on April 16, 2025. AFP

Towards a structural plan to drive development in Syria

Damascus is getting help from abroad, but it needs to set its economic stall out with a plan to rebuild its economy. An organised and disciplined fiscal and monetary policy will keep bankruptcy at bay

Hussein al-Sharaa 31 July 2025
Bedouin families who left Sweida take a shelter at a school in the village of El Sahoah in Deraa Governorate, Syria, July 28, 2025. Yamam Al Shaar / Reuters

Sweida violence: a good day for Israel, a bad day for Syria

Damascus fell into a trap when it sent its troops racing south as fighting erupted between Druze and Bedouins. Why? Because in Israel's arc of fragmentation, Syria is the last piece of the puzzle.

Majed Kayali 29 July 2025
a mural depicting Lebanese Druze politician Walid Jumblatt (bottom, R) and Syrian Druze nationalist leader Sultan al-Atrash, in the predominantly Druze city of Beit Jann on November 16, 2023. John MacDougall/AFP

Druze political figures who transformed Syrian history

For more than a century, Druze soldiers and politicians have made their mark on today's Syria. They are still writing their own history, as the recent Sweida violence shows.

Sami Moubayed 25 July 2025
A member of Syrian security forces stands near a vehicle carrying aid as they make their way to Sweida, at Bosra al-Sham town, near Deraa, Syria July 23, 2025. Karam al-Masri/Reuters

After Sweida: the path to peace just got more complicated

The terrible violence in southern Syria this month shows what needs to be done by all actors, and shows what fate awaits if they do not.

Michael Harari 24 July 2025
A member of the Internal Security Forces stands watch at a checkpoint in the village of Al-Mazra'a, after days of violence in Sweida between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions, on 20 July 2025. Karam al-Masri/Reuters

Solution needed: Sweida’s ceasefire is a pause, not peace

The guns may have fallen silent but in Syria's Druze-dominated southern city, they have enforced the status quo. That is dangerous, since it fails to recognise that Syria has now fundamentally changed

Haid Haid 21 July 2025
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen backs the central government's desire for sovereignty over its territory but says that, in a transition period, this is best done through dialogue and by building trust. Al Majalla/AFP

UN envoy to Syria: true loyalty to the state cannot be coerced

Geir Pedersen condemns Israeli strikes and urges genuine dialogue between Syrian authorities and the local Druze community in Sweida.

Ibrahim Hamidi 18 July 2025
The Great Colonnade (Decumanus Maximus) at Palmyra, one of six Syrian sites on the UNESCO elite list of world heritage. All of them sustained some level of damage in the 13-year civil war. Omar Haj Kadour/AFP

The plundering of Syria's cultural heritage - Part 2

The second instalment of a two-part investigation into the unprecedented looting of Syria's archaeological sites, Al Majalla uncovers the destruction of a rich archaeological landscape

Abdul Rahman Mazhar Halloush 18 July 2025
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf testifies during a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee at the US Capitol on November 8, 2023. Alex Wong/Getty Images via AFP

Barbara Leaf: sectarian power-sharing not the answer in Syria

Al Majalla spoke to a seasoned diplomat who helped shape American policy on the Middle East during Joe Biden's presidency, asking her about Syria, US engagement, Iran, and Palestine.

Ahmed Maher 17 July 2025
A visitor makes sketches at Palmyra. During their occupation of the site from 2015, Islamic State (IS) jihadists reduced several temples, columns, and other treasures to heaps of stone. Omar Haj Kadour/AFP

The plundering of Syria’s cultural heritage - Part 1

The first instalment of a two-part investigation into the unprecedented looting of Syria's archaeological sites, Al Majalla uncovers the destruction of a rich archaeological landscape

Abdul Rahman Mazhar Halloush 16 July 2025
  •  Load More
  • Popular
  • Editor's Pick
Axel Rangel Garcia
Politics

The UN is dead: Chemillier-Gendreau on the collapse of international law

13 January 2026

In an interview with Al Majalla, the prominent French jurist discusses Israeli and Western duplicity, their violation of international law, and why Israel bears the cost of Gaza's reconstruction

Elie Kossaifi
Opinion

Iran's regime may not be falling, but it is fading

16 January 2026

Tehran's elite have few friends, but regional states fear the consequences of a disorderly transition. If Iran's 92 million people turn on one another, it could cause millions to flee abroad.

Omer Onhon
Al Majalla
Politics

Trump's retreat from multilateralism throws up a host of challenges

14 January 2026

Going forward, the international community needs to reduce dependence on the US without upsetting the world's largest military and economic power. It will be a shaky tightrope to walk.

Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy
Yasser Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund, delivers a speech during the third edition of the Future Investment Initiative, in Riyadh on 28 October 2025. AFP
Business & Economy

Saudi Arabia loosens restrictions on foreign investors

12 January 2026

Scrapping foreign ownership caps and qualifying criteria will bring in more capital, with markets reacting positively to the latest reforms that build towards a more open country

Sharif Mohammad
Al Majalla
Politics

The Donroe Doctrine and the new hemispheric order

12 January 2026

Pressure builds on Venezuela after Trump appoints himself 'acting president'. With Colombia, Mexico and Cuba seemingly also in the line of fire, they will be closely watching what happens in Caracas.

Stefanie Butendieck Hijerra

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

Trump's retreat from multilateralism throws up a host of challenges

Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy
Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy

Is Starlink the key to undercutting Iran's regime?

Marco Mossad
Marco Mossad

Egyptian novelist Salwa Bakr: literature is born of questions

El-Sayed Hussein
El-Sayed Hussein

Iran's regime may not be falling, but it is fading

Omer Onhon
Omer Onhon
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