Opinion
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Larijani’s final dialogue
A Persian novel, a medieval mystic, and a final conversation between Ali Larijani and Alexander Dugin converge on Syria as a stage of recurring end times, where ancient metaphysics and modern geopolitics collide.
04. April 2026
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Of wine, whine and wounded virtue
An alcohol regulation in Damascus spirals into a culture war.
31. March 2026
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Drunk on freedom
In Damascus, a protest over alcohol becomes something far bigger: a moment where Syrians – many of them devout, many of them women – push back against state control and reclaim the right to define their own society.
29. March 2026
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How can trust be built between Damascus and the Kurds today?
Damascus may be closing the military chapter of Syria’s war, but without resolving detainees, displacement, and Kurdish political rights, the harder task of earning trust has only just begun.
28. March 2026
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Will the Syrian Army enter Lebanon before Qamishli and Suwayda?
Is Syria preparing to march into Lebanon before it has even stitched itself back together at home? As Washington flirts with outsourcing the difficult task of disarming Hezbollah, Damascus weighs the risks of a new entanglement.
25. March 2026
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Nowruz and Mother’s Day: a tale of two symbols
On 21 March, Syria marks Nowruz and Mother’s Day. The former was suppressed under the old regime, the latter publicly celebrated. In a sign of the times, the tables have now turned.
21. March 2026
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I fought Hezbollah in Homs. Seeking revenge in Lebanon is wrong
Scarred by the siege of Homs and mindful of the regional war, Syria faces a dangerous temptation: to settle old scores in Lebanon. But intervention now risks entangling a fragile state in Israel’s war.
19. March 2026
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Our kitchens carried the revolution
For years, Syrian women left their kitchens to search prisons and demand answers about their missing loved ones. Now that the regime has fallen, many are being asked to return to the kitchen. Why?
18. March 2026
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What’s next for the PYD?
After years of presenting its rule as a multicultural alternative for northeast Syria, the PYD is returning to explicitly Kurdish politics. The party’s new position between Damascus and its Kurdish constituents presents new challenges.
16. March 2026
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Extradition, deportation, or abduction?
Syria’s new government wants to pursue the crimes of the Assad era through international law. But the case of an Emirati dissident detained in Damascus raises a troubling question: will the tools of justice become instruments of repression?
15. March 2026