Middle Orient

Analysis: Turkey could emerge as one of the biggest regional winners following the ouster of the Assad regime. Scenes of jubilation erupted on Sunday outside Istanbul’s Fatih Mosque, in the neighbourhood that shares its name, after Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad was ousted from power following a quarter-century of authoritarian rule. Syria’s …

Joseph Daher explains why the Assad regime’s toppling in Syria is important to liberation efforts across the region, especially for the Palestinian struggle. Prior to the toppling of Bashar al Assad’s regime in Syria over the weekend, divisions within the international Palestinian solidarity movement had started to form when news …

On November 27, 2024, armed groups opposing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, led by the Islamist-jihadist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, launched OperationDeterrence of Aggression against Syrian army forces and their allies in northwest Syria. Othergroups, sponsored by Turkey, initiated the Operation Dawn of Liberation in the Aleppo area,while …

On December 9, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that a “bright period” had begun in Syria’s history. He is hardly embarrassed about his role in preparing the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. Just a few years ago, Erdogan boasted about his wife’s friendship with the wife of the now former …

Ahmad Hussein al-Shara, aka Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, would like you to think he is a changed man. These days, al-Jolani, a 41-year-old one-time al-Qaeda and Islamic State operative with a $10 million bounty on his head, no longer spews jihadist fire and brimstone. Instead, he preaches pluralism, religious tolerance, diversity …

With the fall of Syria’s Moscow-supported regime, a large chunk of Russia’s leverage over Türkiye is gone. But Erdoğan will not take the risk of challenging Russia. Rather, he will continue acting as an intermediary between Putin and the West. Russia has reportedly asked Türkiye for assistance in withdrawing its …

The collapse of the 54-year rule of the Assad family in Syria constitutes a significant setback to Iran’s decades-long strategy to forge an “Axis of Resistance” to confront Israel and deter U.S. military action against Iranian territory and signals a seismic shift in the Middle East’s political landscape. U.S., regional, …

In the ten-day offensive that ultimately toppled the 54-year rule of the Assad regime in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) carefully tailored its messaging not only to Syrians and rebel fighters but also to its adversaries, such as Iran and Russia, and the international community. HTS’s political affairs department has …

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] has not earned the title “The Churchill of the Middle East” for nothing. What is lethal for the country is that the judges ruled that Netanyahu must appear in court three times a week for at least six consecutive hours each time. All this when …

Syria’s new transitional government said it was prioritising state-building and stability over any response to recent Israeli attacks. Syria’s new transitional government is prioritising stabilising the country in the wake of the collapse of the Assad regime over responding to Israel’s ongoing offensive on Syrian military targets, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s …