Last year Russia brokered a series of cease-fires, or “de-escalation zones,” in Syria, including one with the United States covering the southwest corner of the country. The Kremlin claimed its aim was to wind down the country’s civil war and lay the groundwork for a peace deal between the...

Just weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in Syria, Russian military outposts in the country have come under rebel attacks that are challenging Moscow's gains. Russian bases located in Syrian President Bashar Assad's Alawite heartland had been immune to rebel...

By  Alex Lockie In the fight against the terrorist group ISIS in Iraq and Syria, US and US-led-coalition jets have flown thousands of sorties and dropped tons of munitions — but in doing so, they've tipped their hand to Russian fighter jets that have eagerly stalked them....

On Aug. 21, 2013, a Damascus suburb called Ghouta was attacked with sarin gas, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians. President Barack Obama had warned that the United States would take military action if President Bashar al-Assad of Syria used chemical weapons. The attack on...

With the map of Syria’s conflict decisively redrawn in President Bashar al-Assad’s favor, his Russian allies want to convert military gains into a settlement that stabilizes the shattered nation and secures their interests in the region. A year after the opposition’s defeat in Aleppo,...

Syria's brutal six-year civil war may be slowly winding down, but the country is awash in weapons and an array of local militias and thousands of foreign forces – some of whom may never leave. Syrian regime President Bashar al-Assad has regained control over large swathes of Syria with...

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has spent the past six years fighting a brutal civil war that has killed at least 465,000 of his own people, leveled major Syrian cities like Aleppo, displaced millions of desperate civilians, and helped trigger the worst refugee crisis since World War II....

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry announced this week it will host a meeting of the  Syrian opposition  later this month. The meeting, which will be held in Riyadh, aims to bring together opposition factions and form a joint negotiating delegation ahead of a new round of UN-brokered...

Over the past 24 hours, the drumbeat of war in the Middle East has risen to a fever-pitch. Saudi Arabia has  provoked  both an internal domestic, and a foreign crisis to permit Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to realise his grandiose vision of the Saudi state. Internally, Salman...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The incitement and exploitation among the Druze community have reached a momentum after clashes with Syrian rebels in Hadar town near near the Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights  following the  Syrian regime's attempts to control Beit Jinn town...

It's very easy to look at the current military situation in Syria and conclude that Assad has won, but such a denouement of the war is simplistic. Assad has not won, but rather, if "victory" can be claimed at all, Iran and Russia are winning on Assad's behalf.   This...

Syrian and Iraqi forces closing in on the last scraps of Islamic State’s caliphate straddling the remote border area between the two countries have already witnessed the jihadists’ likely response. While their comrades mounted last stands in their Syrian capital of Raqqa and the city of...

(The National)-  ISIL’s loss of Raqqa last week  is an appropriate time to look back on an aspect of the war long taken at face value, namely the true number of those who joined the organisation. Forty months of fighting since the group seized one third of Iraq and half of Syria can...

Islamic State may still be around, but the Middle East has moved on. The  extremist group’s ouster from its main remaining stronghold of Raqqa  on Tuesday is a watershed moment. But, as Islamic State’s once vast territory has shrunk to a few dwindling pockets in eastern Syria and...

By Abdullah Ghadawi (Zaman Al Wasl)- The major shift in the European political  stance over Bashar al-Assad’s future and it role in the the transitional period is no longer a subject to analysis or speculation.  On more than one occasion, the European Union (EU) has...

By Fuad Abdulaziz (Eqtsad)- Many Syrians are asking about the status of their Syrian Pound after a year of stability against the U.S. Dollar after it has witnessed significant declines compared to 2016. The Syrian Pound exceeded the 600 Pound barrier in 2016 against the Dollar before...

By Azzam Tamimi (Middle East Eye)- For a change, all parties concerned seem to be eager to see Palestinian reconciliation succeed. Each player has its own reasons, of course. Yet, it would not have been possible to come this far so quickly had it not been for the deepening humanitarian...

The Iraqi Kurdish vote for independence could bolster Syria’s own Kurds if it pushes the Syrian government to negotiate over autonomy, Syrian Kurdish leaders said on Wednesday. Top Kurdish politician Ilham Ahmed told Reuters that officials from Syria’s Kurdish-led regions had already...

(Middle East Monitor)- As the Iraqi Kurdish administration continues to  defy international opinion  by pressing ahead with its plans to hold an advisory independence referendum next Monday, Iraq’s two most powerful neighbouring countries have stepped up rhetorical opposition to the...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Some German provinces require refugees who want to register their children to bring documents and identity papers either from Syria or from regime embassy in Berlin. Hence refugees have two options; either to leave their children without registration which affects their...