Sharaa in Washington: A Turning Point for Syria
The question for Damascus is what comes next, with Sharaa showing that he is ready for the global prime time. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa visited the White House on Monday for a historic...
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham
U.S. Administration Submits Proposal To End UN Sanctions on Syria
Sharaa Heading to Washington: The United States has drafted a proposal to the UN Security Council to lift sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Syrian Interior Minister...
Flash Briefs
Syrian Government Launches Operation to Apprehend Wanted French Jihadist Fugitives
Clashes Erupt Near Idlib: Syrian government forces surrounded a camp near Idlib on October 21, launching a large-scale operation to apprehend French jihadist fighters wanted by...
Flash Briefs
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa Meets With Putin in Moscow
Sharaa in Russia: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on October 15, aiming to “restore and define the nature of this relationship”...
Flash Briefs
Buying the Hatchet
How arms deals are helping Sharaa to make up with Moscow.
Op-eds
US kills Al Qaeda-linked ‘attack planner’ in Syria
The US military killed a “senior Al-Qaeda affiliated attack planner” in an airstrike in Syria on October 2. The jihadi was a member of Ansar Islam, a terrorist organization that has operated in Iraq...
Op-eds
The United States Should be Prudent Regarding al-Sharaa’s Turn
Al-Sharaa’s turn away from the Nusra Front upon his seizure of power needs to be treated with prudence by the United States.
Op-eds
Profiles of militias in newly formed Druze national guard in Suwayda, Syria
On August 23, armed factions in the Suwayda province, Syria announced the formation of a national guard under the leadership of the Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al Hijri, the most prominent...
Op-eds
US-led raid kills senior Islamic State ‘official’ in Syria
US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that a raid by US forces killed a “senior ISIS [Islamic State] member” in Atmeh in northwest Syria’s Idlib province on August 19. “Combined Joint...
Op-eds
Sunni Arab tribes mobilize against the Syrian Democratic Forces
Several Sunni Arab tribes in northeastern Syria, an area that encompasses 30 percent of Syrian territory and is currently under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), have called...
Op-eds
Turkey is Making a Power Play to Dominate the Middle East
With Iran’s regional influence in steep decline, Turkey is aggressively positioning itself to fill the vacuum and assert dominance across the eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East....
Op-eds
Erdoğan’s Long Game in Syria
When Bashar al-Asad’s regime abruptly collapsed in December 2024, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan saw more than just a regional upheaval. He saw a long-awaited opportunity. With Iran’s...
Op-eds
UN report shows Islamic State and Al Qaeda exploiting post-Assad chaos in Syria
On July 29, the United Nations Security Council Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team released its latest report detailing terrorist group activities around the world. The section...
Op-eds
Choose the Druze
Syria’s endangered minorities deserve protection
Op-eds
Erdogan and Shara’s “Sunnification” Project
The recent sectarian violence shows that the Syrian government and its Turkish backers share a dangerous vision of a Sunni-dominant state.
Op-eds
Egypt cracks down on Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated HASM terror organization amid resurgence
Egyptian security forces killed two suspected members of the Harakat Sawaid Misr (HASM) militant group in a shootout on the outskirts of Giza on Sunday, according to the country’s Interior...
Op-eds
The Druze Test: A Deep Dive into Why Israel is Bombing Syria Again
Israel’s Druze Test in Syria On July 16, the Israel Defense Forces carried out airstrikes in the heart of Damascus. The IDF said it had targeted Syria’s military headquarters and...
Op-eds
Hezbollah Is a State within the State, Not Only “Heavy and Medium” Weapons
In policy, simplicity is valuable; naiveté is catastrophic. Lebanon has by now diluted UNSCR 1701 from dismantling Hezbollah’s militia, arms production, and illicit funding to merely surrendering “heavy and medium” weapons, or as U.S. Envoy Tom Barrack frames it: Hezbollah must hand over weapons that threaten Israel. Such oversimplification misses the root issue: Hezbollah’s very existence as a state within a state is an existential threat to the Lebanese state.
Op-eds
Netanyahu’s gift to Trump marks a ‘historic horizon’ for Mideast peace
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited President Donald Trump at the White House Monday, he celebrated his country’s victory over the Islamic Republic of Iran — after a brief but intense...
Op-eds
U.S. Replaces Comprehensive Sanctions on Syria With More Targeted Tools
The United States rolled back decades-old comprehensive sanctions on Syria on June 30, but the story is not as simple as either media reports or the administration itself makes it seem. The executive order...