Natacha Danon

Nearly a year after the fall of the Assad regime, some in SDF-held northeastern Syria await a “liberation” of their own amid an uptick in arbitrary arrests, including for supporting the new government.

The first trial of hundreds of suspects accused of involvement in killings in Alawite-majority areas of the Syrian coast marks the start of a closely watched and unprecedented accountability process.

Diminished by drought, the olive harvest is underway in Syria’s Kurdish-majority Afrin. Residents report fewer violations than in years past, but remain wary of the new authorities.

Why is Damascus pursuing a rapprochement with Moscow despite its unpopularity, and how might it strike a balance between Syrian public opinion and strategic interests?

As Syria holds its first post-Assad parliamentary elections, some express support for the indirect electoral process, while others criticize its lack of transparency.

Violent evictions from the informal Alawite neighborhood of al-Somoriyeh are part of a deeper story: longstanding property disputes with the neighboring town of Moadamiyat al-Sham, whose residents were expropriated under Hafez al-Assad.

Activists in Suwayda who were once open to the Damascus government weigh in on how their views have changed following a wave of sectarian violence—and whether any path forward remains. 

While Brussels followed Washington in lifting sanctions on Syria in May, the European Union and its member states have the opportunity to chart their own course, analysts argue.

In the ruins of what was once widely regarded as the capital of the Palestinian diaspora, returnees to Syria’s Yarmouk camp are doing what they can to rebuild their lives with little outside support. 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order lifting most US sanctions on Syria this week, cementing a sea change in his country’s approach to Damascus. What explains the shift, and what could future relations look like?