Protesters gathered in al-Karama Square in central Suwayda (southern Syria) on Saturday, 31 January 2026, for a rally titled “To Be or Not to Be.” The local activist network al-Rased described it as “one of the largest gatherings Suwayda has seen in recent years.” It said the rally followed a …

Sunday will mark 47 years since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran after 14 years of exile. As excited revolutionaries awaited his plane’s arrival at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, the country’s new supreme leader was asked by an accompanying journalist what he felt about finally coming home. “Nothing,” was Khomeini’s cryptic …

Farmland that once bloomed with fruit and vegetables now destroyed by war or cut off by Israeli barrier At dawn in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, Ahmad Ghaben walks towards his field with his sons. It lies only 500 metres from the “yellow line”, behind which Israeli forces are stationed. Every …

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“They came in the night after Assad fled,” said Mohammed, a resident of Kodena, a small village perched upon rolling hills of rocky soil, about a mile and a half east of the unofficial border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Israeli forces “rode in jeeps, hummers, armored personnel carriers, …

The SDF has suffered a series of defeats to government forces in recent weeks, but the future for Syrian Kurds need not be bleak, say analysts At the time of writing, the demise of Rojava appears imminent, a project intended to provide an egalitarian space in Syria away from the …

Turkey has banned all gatherings in a southeastern province for six days following an outpouring of anger over an offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters Turkish officials in the southeastern Mardin province bordering Syria on Monday announced a six-day ban on gatherings following an outpouring of anger over an offensive against …

A conversation with Karim Sadjadpour and Robin Wright about the recent protests and where the Islamic Republic might go from here. Aaron David Miller: What’s happening with the protests? Robin Wright: When we look at this moment, we need to put it in context. The revolution in 1978–79 took fourteen …

In a recent parliamentary session, Iranian lawmakers donned military uniforms and vocally condemned the US and Israel, reflecting Iran’s defiance amid external pressures and domestic protests. In a dramatic parliamentary session broadcast live on state television, Iranian lawmakers wearing military and Revolutionary Guard uniforms shouted ‘Death to America!’ and ‘Death …

Paris marked the moment Washington quietly aligned with Ankara and Tel Aviv to close the Kurdish chapter in Syria’s war For nearly 15 years, US flags flew over Syrian territory with near-total impunity – from Kurdish towns to oil-rich outposts. In the northeast, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) manned …