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Mohammed Dahlan, Menacing Fixer
Two decades after Hamas ousted Mohammed Dahlan from power in Gaza, the onetime strongman has emerged as a major power broker who triangulates between the UAE, the U.S. and Israel. Some say he could return to Gaza. For those aware of his menacing qualities, the prospect is frightening.
Specters of Revenge
The distinction between the private and the public, the personal and the national, has broken down in Trump’s second term. The president’s personal psychology and how he understands his own interests and well-being are now critical factors in how the U.S. conducts itself in the world.
How a Journey to Kuwait During the Iran War Revealed a Divided Gulf
A Kuwaiti writer's flight home was rerouted by war into a 24-hour journey through Riyadh, the Saudi oil town of Qaisumah and, finally, a drive across the border, retracing the path Kuwaitis took after the 1991 liberation.
How the Assad Regime Poisoned Former Rebels in Southern Syria
After Syria’s Daraa fell to regime forces in 2018, at least 24 people, including former rebel commanders, civilians and two children, were poisoned in assassination attempts tied to Assad's intelligence branches.
Syrian Torture Survivors Respond to Death Sentences for Assad and Others
Syria's first major trial of deposed regime figures ended in nine death sentences, including for Bashar and Maher al-Assad and Atef Najib, who ran the Political Security branch in Daraa in 2011. Survivors of the Daraa schoolboy arrests testified. Rights groups called the proceedings historic but flawed.
Atomic Wildfires Are Russia’s Looming Compound Disaster
Massive wildfires are encroaching on Russia’s defunct nuclear sites, threatening to reignite radioactive compounds that have been dormant since the Cold War. But the country’s understaffed and underexperienced fire service is faltering in the wake of the Ukraine war, leaving populations across the vast interior vulnerable to a compound disaster.
Listen Again: How Defiance Began at Home in Assad’s Syria
Loubna Mrie joins Faisal Al Yafai on the podcast to discuss her experience of authoritarianism at home, obedience to the Assad regime, and joining the revolution, as detailed in her new memoir, “Defiance.”