Syrian Arab Republic News & Analysis

This week we examine the expanding quantity and range of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian shadow fleet tankers, a US ‘declaration of vengeance’ against ISIS in Syria, and how the Thai-Cambodia conflict reflects a global system in flux.

The new US National Security Strategy is swapping democratic idealism for ‘flexible realism,’ and Syria is well-placed to benefit from the shift.

From Camp Bucca to the People's Palace in Damascus: How the West created President Julani.

At a time when the country needs to reconnect its fractured communities, Syria cannot afford a toothless government that rewards militias, corruption, and foreign powers at the expense of the national interest.

With practical considerations putting the dream of an independent state increasingly out of reach for Kurdish people in the Middle East, many groups are recalibrating their goals toward greater autonomy.

Israel’s ‘David’s Corridor’ project would undermine the Axis of Resistance, secure access to critical resources, and fundamentally reshape the demographic and political realities of the Levant in a way that’s favorable to Israeli strategic interests. But realizing the vision will not be easy.

Trump has pivoted from democracy to the ‘Arab way’ in the Middle East. This doesn’t just risk US moral credibility; it also sets the stage for the next wave of regional stability, with consequences that will reverberate for decades.

Reconstruction, peace and reconciliation, and institution-building will all be necessary for peace and stability to return to Syria. Liberia’s post-war experience offers valuable lessons for each one.

This week we cover a FSIN report sounding the alarm on global hunger across a number of geopolitical flashpoints, Trump’s welcoming of Syria back into the international fold, efforts by London and Brussels to reboot relations, and a high stakes US visit by the president of South Africa. 

Despite their shared desire for self-determination, the plight of the Palestinian people attracts far more media and academic attention than that of the Kurds.

Iran has invested too much in blood and resources to relinquish its foothold in Syria.

How does the sudden end of the Assad regime measure up against theories on the stability of autocratic rule?

There is a risk of history repeating itself as Syria refugee camps incubate a new generation of potential recruits for Islamic State and other extremist outfits.

Examining the political, economic, and security impacts of Beijing losing a key ‘strategic partner’ in the Middle East.

The fall of Assad in Syria is a monumental geopolitical event, and one that will reverberate on the domestic, regional, and international levels. And whatever the new order that eventually emerges, it will not resemble the Levant of the past.