Opinion
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Syria’s Kurds have an opportunity
With the military balance shifting and regional dynamics realigning, Syria’s Kurds face a rare opening: shift decisively from armed militias to political engagement and pluralism within a constitutional framework. They should seize the opportunity or risk further reversals.
31. January 2026
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The fall of Syria’s Berlin Wall
For a decade, Syria lived with an invisible partition between east and west that reshaped loyalty and daily life. Its collapse opens a dangerous transition in which unity must be rebuilt before the divide hardens again.
29. January 2026
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The Baath Party: a sadistic reading
A pair of Baathist memoirs, read against de Sade’s Justine, reveal a politics that rewards brutality and betrayal while clinging to the language of virtue.
26. January 2026
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What comes after the liberation of eastern Syria?
The return of the state to eastern Syria may have secured territory and resources, but it has yet to answer the harder question of people. Without putting citizens – not oil – at the centre of reconstruction and decision-making, liberation risks becoming a missed political moment.
22. January 2026
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When revolutionaries are asked to forget their dreams
A revolution that learned to restrain itself now finds its dreams quietly expropriated by those who rule in its name. When calls for “state-building” serve to discipline the public but not the powerful, disillusionment and anger will set in.
20. January 2026
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Beards and bosses
In today’s Syria, everyone has found God, even the Marxists. But beneath the holy man acts and religious theatre, minority groups that have little in common are quietly cutting deals to keep the Islamists out and the good times in.
18. January 2026
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The voice Syrians cling to when things fall apart
Fairuz accompanied Syrians from kitchen mornings to prison corridors. Her voice still holds together a country shattered by war.
15. January 2026
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Syria’s media is silent on the questions that matter
Syria’s post-revolution media was meant to hold power to account. Instead, it overlooks experienced journalists, avoids sensitive issues, and speaks loudly only when repeating official lines.
12. January 2026
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Why Arab tribes haven’t defected from the SDF
After the Assad regime’s collapse in December 2024, many predicted that the SDF would rapidly unravel from within: the SDF’s Arab components would defect en masse and realign with the HTS-led government. More than a year later those expectations have not materialised. Why?
10. January 2026
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Aleppo’s economic revival hinges on real security
With sanctions lifted and trade routes reopening, Aleppo can once again become Syria’s industrial and business hub. But the promise of recovery remains fragile so long as the city is governed by a volatile security situation that tolerates armed enclaves beyond state control.
08. January 2026