Long a fixture of Syria policy writing, the metaphor has found a new political use under the Syrian authorities.

A close look at the Muslim Brotherhood’s trajectory in Syria over the past fifteen years reveals a sharp decline in political, religious, social and aid influence. Politically, it failed to steer or…

As Kurdish fighters integrate into the Syrian state, political exclusion and worsening living conditions threaten to undermine the transition.

How shock therapy threatens the post-Assad peace.

Caught between discredited Ba’thist socialism and predatory neoliberalism, Syria needs a new economic vision that people can rally around.

A singer’s celebration of Syria’s heritage has exposed a struggle over who gets to define the nation’s identity.

I had spent a long day wandering the labyrinthine old city of Damascus, accompanying a visiting friend along the well-trodden path of Syrians returning to see their country for the first time in years...

The trial and conviction of Ahmad Hassoun, the former Grand Mufti, are the biggest steps yet taken towards reckoning with the role parts of Syria’s Sunni religious establishment played under Assad. …

A monthly magazine on Syrian politics and society that cuts through the noise

Assad is gone and the Geneva process is history. Yet the international governance system that failed Syria for more than a decade has largely survived by adapting itself to a new diplomatic script whi...

From Phoenician Málaga to a fake wedding bound for Sweden, the Syrian journey west has a long history.

Two men, who outwardly could hardly be more different, hold Syria’s future in their hands. President Ahmad al-Sharaa is charismatic and extroverted, fond of Swiss watches and swagger. General Mazlum…

Israel’s conduct in Syria since the fall of Assad is commonly described as a “strategy,” or at least a “policy.” It is neither. It is a disorganised product of several im...

The Assads tried to isolate Syria from its natural neighbourhood. That project has failed. The new government is reconnecting the country with the Arab world and beyond but age-old dangers persist.

As protests proliferate across Syria, an empowered parliament could provide an important off ramp for mounting grievances.

As talk of Syrian intervention in Lebanon grows, perhaps Damascus should borrow a page from Tehran’s playbook.

A danger is taking shape in Syria: the emergence of a mentality that sees itself as the sole custodian of the revolution and the exclusive interpreter of its purpose.

Assad is gone from the People’s Assembly, and so is the applause that accompanied him for decades. But some of the habits his rule created still linger in the language and rituals of politics. 

If Syria is already a minefield, why not let the women who survived it take the lead?

One of the more unexpected developments in the immediate aftermath of Bashar al-Assad’s fall was the speed and sophistication with which Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa…

In Defiance, Loubna Mrie, now 34, tells an autobiographical story that is inseparable from the Syrian revolution itself. She is the daughter of Jawdat Mrie, who rose through the Syrian security appara...

Syria Poll is back with new survey results for the month of June. We asked 900 people in Damascus, Rural Damascus, and Homs about government performance, the new People’s Assembly, accountability for...

1. With the announcement of most members of Syria's People's Assembly expected by late June, we asked respondents whether they consider the new body representative and whether they expect it to have r...

How we can build an effective Parliament and lay the foundations for a just and prosperous Syria after Assad

The EU’s treatment of Syrian civil society has always been ambiguous. During the war, Brussels portrayed civil society as the precious core of Syrian public life that required and deserved support s…

Intervening against Hezbollah would drag Syria into a bloody war while doing little to contain Israel.

On 15 June the ancient city of Palmyra took to the streets. Residents who had returned to battle-scarred neighbourhoods wanted those they call “shabiha” (Assad cronies) held to account, and some m…