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النسخة العربية
  • Politics
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  • Syrian economy
A sheep herder near the Rumaylan military site in northeastern Syria, January 8, 2025 AFP

Resource-rich yet underdeveloped, Syria’s northeast could pay dividends

The land between the Euphrates and Tigris yields oil, water, and wheat, to name but three, yet it has had no infrastructure investment for decades. As a result, it is unproductive. That could change.

Attiya Khalaf Al-Attiya 11, Feb 2025
Stacks of Syrian pound banknotes are piled on a currency trader's stall at a market in the city of Manbij, currently controlled by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, in the Aleppo province on January 4, 2025. Aaref WATAD / AFP

Sanctions relief alone won’t kickstart Syria's economy

Without a coordinated international effort to lift sanctions, Syria will struggle to secure foreign investment

Léa Eid 10, Feb 2025
A US dollar note is placed on a stack of Syrian pounds at a market in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeast Syria on September 10, 2019. AFP / Delil SOULEIMAN

Rebuilding Syria's economy will be challenging but comes with reward

Estimates of reconstruction costs range up to $500bn, and most Syrians only get a few hours of electricity per day. The country's priorities are numerous and urgent, but amid the gloom, there is hope.

Abdelkader Hasria 27, Jan 2025
Dr Maysa Sabrin, Syria's newly-appointed central bank governor Axel Rangel Garcia

Syria becomes first Arab state with woman central bank chief

Maysa Sabrin joins illustrious figures such as Russia's Elvira Nabiullina, Europe's Christine Lagarde, and America's Janet Yellen, proving women heading central banks is no longer a rarity

Toufic Chanbour 16, Jan 2025
A container crane at the port of Latakia in western Syria on 30 December 2024. Aaref Watad / AFP

Syria’s new rulers to audit Iran loan spending for illegalities

While financial obligations outlive regimes, Damascus may be able to show that some of the $7.6bn in loans from Tehran was spent repressing the Syrian people—and that Iran knew about it

Joseph Daher 31, Dec 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, Dec 2024
Syrian Red Crescent rescuers attend to displaced people arriving from Lebanon at the Jdeidat Yabus border crossing in southwestern Syria on October 7, 2024. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

War in Lebanon puts Syria's already struggling economy under further strain

Syria's deep economic reliance on Lebanon, shaped by years of conflict and international sanctions, has made regime-held areas particularly vulnerable to Lebanon's economic and political instability

Haid Haid 13, Oct 2024
The al-Assad government’s embrace of the neoliberal market involves privatisation and subsidy cuts, which are causing widespread suffering and only benefitting the elite Ewan White

Already struggling Syrians brace for more austerity measures

The al-Assad government's embrace of the neoliberal market involves privatisation and subsidy cuts, which are causing widespread suffering and only benefitting the elite

Joseph Daher 15, Apr 2024
The World Food Programme will have to pull its general assistance for Syria in January, at a time when it is needed in the war-torn country more than ever. Ewan White

Syria crisis compounds as humanitarian aid runs out

The World Food Programme will have to pull its general assistance for the country in January, at a time when it is needed in the war-torn country more than ever

Joseph Daher 20, Dec 2023
Women buy cosmetics in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on June 12, 2018. AFP

How Syria's war forced women to break the glass ceiling

In the aftermath of war, due to the death, disability and displacement of men, many Syrian women have become the sole providers in their households. This has had a profound impact on Syrian society.

Alhasna Adra 15, Dec 2023
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Politics

Frederic Hof: Israel-Syria peace is far off, but a truce is crucial

28 May 2025

The former US envoy to Damascus tells Al Majalla how to find a path to a lasting settlement and a new place in the Middle East, from his unique perspective and first-hand experience in Assad-era talks

Johaina Khaldieh
Opinion

The Israel-Houthi war achieves nothing and hurts both sides

28 May 2025

Killing Yemeni civilians further ruins Israel's global image. Meanwhile, the Houthis cannot defeat Israel militarily.

Anwar Al-Ansi
Sara Padovan
Business & Economy

The history of tariffs is still being written

29 May 2025

A US federal court has blocked Trump's tariffs and ruled that the president doesn't have unilateral authority to impose them, dealing a major blow to his economic policy

Toufic Chanbour
Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Taha
Culture & Social Affairs

Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha: Pulitzer Prize is a recognition of our story

26 May 2025

The US-based writer does not hold back in what he pens for American readers, nor is he censored. There is just one word that he is forbidden from using.

Houssam Marouf
Sara Padovan
Business & Economy

It’s time to build a regional climate fund

27 May 2025

As global climate finance falters and US support disappears, the MENA region faces a widening funding gap. Now is the time to create a regional climate finance mechanism.

Léa Eid

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OPINIONS

What next for Syria after US sanctions lifted?

Karam Shaar

Omar El Akkad strips away the West’s moral failure over Gaza

Antoine Jockey

Israel’s ties with its Western allies hit a new low

Christopher Phillips
Christopher Phillips

Immersive photography exhibitions in Cairo’s artistic quarter

Ibrahim Tutunji
Ibrahim Tutunji
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