For almost 10 years, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has presided over a country that has been brought bitterly to its knees. More than half a million people have died and more than half of its 17 million population has been displaced, while the number of those rendered disabled disappeared...

On September 30, 2015, the Russian Federation formally entered the Syrian civil war as President Bashar al-Assad’s rule was increasingly under threat. Since 2011, intense fighting and mass desertion had weakened the Syrian Arab Army. Even the support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard...

Throughout the past nine years of conflict, the Syrian military has been instrumental in ensuring the survival of the Bashar al-Assad regime—not because of its performance on the battlefield, but rather due to its consistent loyalty. Unlike other state militaries that faced regime challenges by...

Iran's regional proxy Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in a shadow war in Syria. Could we be seeing the former retreating from an open conflict? Lebanon has been beset by consecutive crises that have some wondering if the state is on the edge of a precipitous failure....

Just before Marie Colvin died, she was looking for her shoes. Rockets had already hit the top floors of the makeshift press centre where she was holed up, in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs in mid-west Syria. Another landed and she was killed before she made it out. Her death was...

In May, Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf, a cousin and long-time ally of President Bashar al-Assad, took a once unimaginable step. In a video he published on social media, he lashed out against Assad's "inhumane" state security forces. "Mr President, the security forces have started attacking...

 By Dr.  Muslim Abed Talas One of the major factors that ensured the continuation of the Syrian regime, despite the fact that nearly a decade has passed since the revolution begun and turned into a civil war with foreign involvement, is the corruption of the Syrian...

An American oil company now has a deal to modernize the oil industry in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed on Thursday. President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces to “secure the oil” in northeastern Syria after...

Millions remain displaced as the nine-year long civil war continues in Syria between Russian backed forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels in the conflict-ridden country. But even as the fighting continues, parliamentary elections began on Sunday in areas controlled by the...

Syria is holding parliamentary elections across government-controlled areas of the country on Sunday, as President Bashar al-Assad marks 20 years in power amid a continuing war and deep economic woes. More than 2,000 candidates, including businessmen under recently-imposed United States...

Russia no longer plays the most important role in managing Syria’s internal affairs. While Russia still has the upper hand internationally, it is slowly losing its foot and its place in the internal Syrian Rubik Cube.    During the past few days, official information was...

Syria’s Bashar Assad has been counted out before. There were times during his country’s civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and pushed more than 12 million more from their homes, when it seemed the only way forward for all the major parties involved would be for Russia...

Just last year, President Bashar al-Assad seemed on the brink of crowning military victories by easing his diplomatic isolation and recovering more of Syria without a bullet being fired. Not only had US-allied Kurds invited government forces back to the northeast, but businessmen from the...

The Caesar Civilian Protection Act comes into force this Wednesday 17 June, bringing an outlook for Bashar al-Assad's regime that hasn't appeared so bleak since the rapid rebel gains of 2015.  The Caesar Act was passed by the US Senate in 2019, with the stated goal of more targeted and...

The toughest US sanctions yet on Syria take effect this week, increasing the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad as he grapples with a deepening economic crisis after a decade of war. Washington says sanctions will help hold Assad and his backers to account for war crimes in a conflict...

Long-term stability in Syria almost seems quixotic, more likely measured in decades than years. It will take time to assess the extent to which Russia has “won” in Syria. Absent a peaceful end to the conflict and an infusion of large-scale Western aid, downside risks for Russia could take some...

A Russian drive to recruit Syrians to fight in Libya for militia leader Khalifa Haftar accelerated in May when hundreds of mercenaries were signed up, five Syrian opposition sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said. Private military contractor Wagner Group is conducting...

In early April 2020, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released its Investigation and Identification Team’s (IIT) report on the chemical weapons use in Syria. The IIT’s mandate is very critical. While the OPCW’s Fact Finding Mission (FFM) focuses on the use of...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is confronting the biggest challenges to his hold on power since Syrians first rose up against him nine years ago, as a rift within his family, a collapsing economy and rising tensions with his key ally Russia lay bare the fragility of his regime. The rebels...

Russia’s relationships with its client states have never been easy. Of course, managing client states is always a complicated exercise. The Kremlin’s closet is full of skeletons – Hungary (1956), Czechoslovakia (1968), Cuba (1962), Afghanistan (1980), Ukraine (2014) and so on. What...