Examining Syrian refugee populations in neighboring countries and the European Union, as well as the challenges faced by host governments and the al-Sharaa regime in inducing them to return and help rebuild a country devastated by civil war.

This week we examine Trump’s embrace of the Chavista regime in Venezuela, reports of multiple assassination attempts targeting President al-Shaara in Syria, Beijing’s accelerating efforts to offload US debt, and new indications in Europe and Canada of a fundamental realignment in global defense industries.

This week we examine warning signs that EU critical minerals policy is falling short in its diversification efforts, ISIS-linked attacks in Nigeria and how they reflect a widening band of Sahel instability, the assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Libya, winners and losers in a potential US withdrawal from Syria, and an emphatic election win for Sanae Takaichi’s LDP in Japan.

This week we examine how a rapidly evolving situation in Greenland could remake trans-Atlantic relations, details of the long-awaited US-Taiwan tariff deal, a shock government offensive that changed the map of Syria, and Canada’s efforts to thaw out its relations with China.

Sheikh Maqsoud, a diverse neighborhood in Aleppo, provides a microcosm for how sectarian conflict and institutional development might play out in Syria.

After decades of pogroms, anti-Jewish government policies, and institutionalized antisemitism, new leadership has emerged in Syria that could help restore the Syrian Jewish community – but it won’t be easy.

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.

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.

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.

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

The PKK’s unilateral disarmament marks a potential turning point in Kurdish relations with the Turkish state, but challenges remain going forward.

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.

Examining the political contexts and linkages between Kurdish movements in Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey – all of which will be impacted by the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) defies any easy comparison to moderate or radical examples of Islamist groups, further complicating the highly consequential matter of future sanction relief.

Tehran’s closest ally has fallen in Syria, leaving Iran without its main foothold in the Arab world.