As Syria’s new leadership takes shape, competing media narratives in Iran and Turkiye illuminate the region’s shifting geopolitical dynamics. Contributors:Dina Esfandiary – Senior MENA adviser, Crisis GroupÖzge Genç – Visiting fellow, The Middle East Council on Global AffairsRahaf Aldoughli – MENA Studies Lecturer, Lancaster UniversityRasha Al Aqeedi – Researcher, The Arab Gulf States Institute On … Read more
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday met with military officers in territory Israel recently took control of in Syria, and vowed that Israeli troops would remain in the country for the foreseeable future. In a statement issued from Mount Hermon, about six miles from the border of the Israeli-held Golan Heights, Mr. Netanyahu said Israeli … Read more
Syrian civilians battle for accountability in court, using smuggled photographs to expose government atrocities. About 27,000 photos of dead and tortured civilian detainees were smuggled out of secret Syrian government archives by a military defector codenamed “Caesar” and made public in 2014. They were presented to the United Nations as evidence of the Bashar al-Assad … Read more
“Turkey is a major force, by the way,” he said. “Erdoğan is somebody I got along with great, but he has a major military force. And his has not been worn out with war. He’s built a very strong, powerful army.” Returning to the question, he said: “We [had] 5,000 soldiers in between a five-million … Read more
Israel struck Syrian weapons depots and air defenses overnight, a group monitoring the conflict said Sunday, in what appeared to be part of an effort Israel says is aimed at depriving “extremists” of military assets after rebels seized power in Syria. In all, Israel struck its neighbor 75 times in attacks that began Saturday night … Read more
Every fall, when farmers across the rolling, red dirt hills of Idlib Province in northern Syria harvest their olive crops, they routinely find at least one representative of the local tax authority stationed at any oil press. The tax collector takes at least 5 percent of the oil, and farmers grouse that there are no … Read more
NewsFeed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed the Biden administration is in direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the armed Syrian opposition group – designated a ‘foreign terrorist organisation’ by the US – that overthrew Bashar al-Assad. Blinken made this statement at a news conference in Jordan where regional and Western diplomats met … Read more
Inside Assad’s intelligence-gathering networkpublished at 09:34 Greenwich Mean Time 09:34 GMT Feras KilaniBBC Arabic special correspondent, in Damascus Beneath the streets of Damascus I’ve gained access to one of the key sites of the former Syrian regime’s sprawling network of intelligence agencies which for decades attempted to brutally crush opposition movements. In the basement of … Read more
After 13 years of war, an offensive by Syrian opposition groups ousted Bashar al-Assad as Syria’s president in just 11 days. What happened? Who’s running Syria now? And what could happen next? Start Here with Sandra Gathmann explains. This episode features: Wafa Ali Mustafa | Syrian activist and daughter of Ali Mustafa, who was detained … Read more
For over a decade, tens of thousands of people living in Syria would disappear without explanation. They were picked up off the street. Plucked from university classes. Yanked out of stores as they bought groceries, and from taxis on their way home from work. Relatives were never told what had happened — but they knew. … Read more