Natacha Danon

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? 

With dwindling aid and delays in registering informally with the UNHCR, tens of thousands of newly arrived Syrian refugees in Lebanon are largely on their own.

As transitional justice remains out of reach, hundreds of extrajudicial killings—predominantly of Alawites—have taken place in central Syria since the start of the year, with state security forces accused of involvement in some cases. 

An SDF-Damascus agreement is underway in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods, which could serve as a proving ground for the success of a broader agreement in northern Syria.

Syrian-Palestinians gathered in Yarmouk to commemorate the revolution and regime siege of the camp on Friday, then joined a demonstration in Umayyad Square to denounce Israel’s incursion and attacks in southern Syria.