On December 31, 2024, the Prime Minister’s office in the new Syrian administration, linked to jihadi group Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), announced that all government institutions would be on vacation on January 1-2, 2025, with the exception of ministries and public bodies whose work demands constant activity.[1] The office had …

Recent reports in the Arabic and Turkish media and social media claim that Turkey intends to establish new military bases in Syria as part of a defense agreement with the new Syrian government formed by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) under the leadership of Ahmed Al-Sharaa (aka Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani). Turkey …

A review of Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar, “Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination—and Secret Diplomacy—to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East” (Simon & Schuster, 2023). “We must possess Syria. If the thread from Lebanon to here is cut, bad events will …