21 November 2018
A previously-unknown Syrian businessman has amassed a fortune during the war. With warm ties to the regime, Russia, Turkey, and the Gulf, he may have a prominent political future too.
iran
Every major party to the Syrian conflict without exception shares in the blame for a needless humanitarian disaster that could be resolved in a day.
Though the pro-regime axis has its own reasons for wanting to avoid an Idlib offensive, there is ultimately no reason to think last week's cessation of hostilities has any more chance of holding than its predecessors, argues James Snell.
The Israeli strikes that led to the Syrian regime downing a Russian plane Monday night were only the latest in over 200 carried out since 2017; a relentless campaign that has nonetheless done nothing to imperil Assad’s grip on the country.
In an open letter to the United Nations, over 100 prominent writers, academics, and activists say the time has come to consider radical reform of the U.N. Security Council, given its abject failure to protect Syrians from the Bashar al-Assad regime's mass violence.
Friday’s summit in Tehran brings together the Iranian, Russian, and Turkish presidents to settle Idlib’s fate—and declare their tripartite tutelage over the country.
The State Department’s new Representative for Syria Engagement, James Jeffrey, co-authored a paper last month outlining his vision for US Syria policy. The fall of Idlib Province to the regime and its allies would leave his proposals dead in the water.
By releasing the names of thousands of detainees perished in its custody, the Assad regime may believe it can turn the page on the issue of the "disappeared" once and for all. International law, however, demands accountability, a legal expert on impunity tells Al-Jumhuriya in a wide-ranging interview.
The “Syrian Democratic Council”—ostensibly a vehicle for Kurdish-Arab coexistence in former ISIS territories—is increasingly looking to normalize ties with the Assad regime, spelling disaster for the displaced residents of Raqqa and elsewhere, with no apparent opposition from its Western sponsors.
Despite a US green light for Russia and the regime to bomb at will in Daraa Province, rebels have thus far refused to surrender after several bloody days of Russian air strikes, regime barrel bombs, and yet more waves of civilian displacement.
Russia, Iran, and Turkey have now clearly delineated their zones of control in northern Syria, and are looking next to re-open the international highway extending from Turkey to Jordan.
Russia hints it will press Iran to leave Syria, in line with recently renewed Israeli and American demands. But serious doubts remain as to whether a forced Iranian withdrawal is even possible, let alone likely.