Syria
What Assad Taught Iran
Like the Assad regime that it assisted, the Islamic Republic has responded to mass protests by committing atrocities and claiming that protesters are foreign-backed “terrorists and spies.” The parallels indicate how far Iran is willing to go to ensure its survival.
Alawite Politics After Assad
After the fall of the Assad regime, Syria’s Alawites are navigating collective blame, political exclusion and existential fear. With no armed force, no institutions and no trusted leadership, their turn to religious protest reflects not sectarian ambition but a desperate search for survival.
Along an Increasingly Tense Border, Calls for Revenge Are Mounting
As the Syrian military deploys along the Syria-Lebanon frontier and tensions threaten to escalate, Syrian families making the crossing home carry memories of Hezbollah's role in their dispossession, and some are calling for scores to be settled.
How the Assad Regime Disappeared Thousands of Children
During 14 years of war that claimed more than half a million lives and displaced 13 million people, the Assad regime disappeared over 150,000 Syrians — including the children of its opponents. The systematic abuse they faced is still not being adequately investigated.
How the Damascus Dossier Investigation Failed Families of Syria’s Forcibly Disappeared
When a consortium of international journalists published stories on a leak including 33,000 photographs of detainees killed by the Bashar al-Assad regime, they expected praise. Instead, families of the forcibly disappeared condemned it as exploitative and harmful, raising urgent questions about journalistic ethics, accountability and who investigations like this are really for.
Life Returns to Aleppo’s Old Town
Aleppo’s historic markets are reopening after years of destruction, yet residents remain cautious, rebuilding their livelihoods while waiting to learn what kind of country they now live in.
The Chaos and Uncertainty That Dissolved Al-Hawl
A rushed transfer of authority in northeastern Syria has upended the fragile order inside al-Hawl, the sprawling camp that for years has held tens of thousands of people linked, directly or indirectly, to the Islamic State group. Witnesses described a chaotic handover marked by unguarded fences, smuggling networks and fear.