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  • Syria

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 October 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd-R) and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad (2nd-L) preside over a military parade in the Russian air base in Hmeimim in the northwestern Syrian province of Latakia. December 11, 2017. AFP

Nine years after Russian intervention, where does Syria stand?

Russia's intervention on 30 September 2015 won it a warm water port on the Mediterranean, but the political solution that was meant to follow the fighting has not yet materialised

Samer Elias 30 September 2024
Houthi-mobilised fighters parade during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Houthi takeover in Sanaa, Yemen, September 21, 2024. Reuters

Houthis in Syria: Genuine threat or political posturing?

While the potential presence of Houthis in Syria is most likely only symbolic, its implications could be significant. Israel might use this as a justification to ramp up attacks across the region.

Haid Haid 24 September 2024
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan addresses an Arab League Foreign Ministers meeting at the organisation's headquarters in Cairo on September 10, 2024. Khaled Desouki / AFP

Syria-Turkey normalisation has a long way to go

Even though it would be good for the region and efforts toward resetting ties have regional and international backing, major challenges and even non-starters are blocking the path to rapprochement

Omer Onhon 16 September 2024
Visitors arrive at the Damascus International Fair in the Syrian capital on September 9, 2018. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

This day in history: Damascus International Fair launched

The suspended fair remains a symbol of the global prestige Syria enjoyed in its not-so-distant past. Al Majalla recalls some of its most memorable moments.

Sami Moubayed 04 September 2024
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attending the Arab summit in Riyadh, having been brought back in 'from the cold' by Arab leaders Reuters

Assad turns escalation in Gaza and Lebanon to his advantage

The Syrian president knows that war between Israel and Hezbollah will send diplomats hurriedly calling Damascus. After more than a decade in the diplomatic naughty corner, this is his moment

Haid Haid 19 August 2024
A US Apache attack helicopter patrols above an oil production facility near al-Malikiyah (Derik) in Syria's north-eastern
Hasakah province on October 27, 2020. Delil Souleiman/AFP

Syria’s oil industry was once booming. Could it be again?

War sent oil firms running while the loss of territorial control in the oil- and gas-rich north-east left the Kurds with the hydrocarbons and Damascus reliant on Iran. Will the good times roll again?

Manaf Saad 17 August 2024
A picture taken during a tour origanized by the Jordanian Army shows a drone flying over an observation post along the border with Syria, on February 17, 2022. Khalil Mazraawi/AFP

Drug drones: how Syria is dropping narcotics and weapons into Jordan

The interception of more than a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles in recent months has shown that smuggling has a highly effective new toy, while the Jordanians have a new security headache

Haid Haid 08 August 2024

A false 24-year claim about farmland killed 12 young footballers

A fascinating first-hand account from a former ambassador of the conversation about the Shebaa Farms that uncovered the lie that Hezbollah uses to justify its continued 'resistance' against Israel

Frederic C. Hof 03 August 2024
Photo of the letter from the foreign ministers of seven European countries to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell AL MAJALLA

EXCLUSIVE: European push to end long isolation of Syria’s regime

The European "three no's" have remained the cornerstone of the European policy for many years

Ibrahim Hamidi 27 July 2024
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Grace Russell
Politics

Gulf states should steer clear of attritional war traps

01 April 2026

The US-Israeli war against Iran aims to draw in Gulf states, but history has shown that entering wars is far easier than exiting them. Prudence is needed now more than ever.

Khairuldeen Al Makhzoomi
Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin speaks at a press conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 25 August, 2025. Luka Dakskobler / Getty
Politics

'Israel is exploiting Iran war to kill a Palestinian state'

01 April 2026

PA Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin tells Al Majalla that Israel is taking advantage of the fact that the world is distracted by the US-Iran war to create irreversible facts on the ground

Ahmed Maher
Ewan White
Politics

Iraq's internal battle for influence comes to a head

31 March 2026

New fronts have opened up across the region in light of the US-Israeli war on Iran, as non-state actors with links to Tehran fear for their futures

Rustum Mahmud
People gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) at the Umayyad Square, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, 20 December, 2024. Reuters / Ammar
Business & Economy

US-Iran war gives Syria's global economic pitch more urgency

01 April 2026

Given the effective closure of the Hormuz Strait and Houthi threats to close off the Red Sea, Syria may emerge as a corridor and conduit to bypass these embattled maritime chokepoints

Charles Lister
Farid al-Madhan Reuters/ Al Majalla
Politics

Farid al-Madhan: Assad's fingerprints were on every picture

31 March 2026

A former army forensics employee who later became known as Caesar tells Al Majalla how he risked his life to expose the torture and killing of countless Syrians in regime prisons

Ibrahim Hamidi

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OPINIONS

Drones vs interceptors: cost disparity sparks defence rethink

Al Majalla - London
Al Majalla - London

Will the 'Syria First' promise hold up under pressure?

Alia Mansour
Alia Mansour

New study finds deep sleep better than long sleep

Mohammed Mansour

The US-Iran war has thrown Asia into crisis

The Economist
The Economist
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