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

The award-winning Syrian journalist and novelist talks to Al Majalla on penning the brutalities of war, ignoring social media, writing about sensuality, and following the characters wherever they lead

It was not a sectarian revolution or war, even though it has some important sectarian components

In the spring of 2011, watching the groundswell of dissent that eventually came to be known as the Arab Spring. Iranhad experienced a similar moment two years earlier, when millions of citizens…