Arab World

( San Diego Union Tribune ) – Syrian refugees in El Cajon danced in the streets upon hearing about the Dec. 7 collapse of the Assad dynasty, which hailed from the Shi’a Alawite minority and ruled the majority Arab Sunni population of Syria for more than 50 years. Nevertheless, there are also Syrians who stayed […]

Syria

Why Syria’s Reconstruction may Depend on the Fate of its Minorities

The Conversation

By Ramazan Kılınç, Kennesaw State University (The Conversation) – Tens of thousands of minorities fearing persecution have fled Syria since its takeover by the Sunni Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham on Dec. 8, 2024. While the group has promised to respect all ethnic and religious minorities under its rule, human rights advocates have urged caution. […]

Donald Trump

Trump: Turkey’s Erdogan staged “Hostile Takeover” of Syria using HTS Proxies, and is the “Victor”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Donald J. Trump held an impromptu press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. In the course of his remarks, he said a couple of things about the Middle East, Informed Comment’s beat. Since he’ll be back in the White House in about a month, these observations give some clue as to […]

Bashar al-Assad

What the Fall of Assad says about Putin’s Ambitions for Russia’s Great-Power Status

The Conversation

By Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham (The Conversation) – The lightning-fast collapse of the Assad regime in Syria has sent shock waves across the Middle East. The disposal of the dictator whose family had ruled the country with an iron fist for more than half a century has triggered a potentially seismic shift in the […]

Featured

Iraq’s Barzani hails Syrian Leader’s Assurances on future of Syrian Kurds

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The fall of the al-Assad regime in Syria has broached again the issue of the largely Kurdish Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and its relationship to the new government. Many Kurds are fearful for their future, as Euronews reports. The officers of the new government have said […]

Syria

The Turkish Role in Assad’s Downfall: By supporting the rebels who overthrew the Syrian leader has Ankara bitten off more than it can chew?

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Philip Balboni | ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – After tenaciously holding on to power for more than a decade of war, the government of Bashar al-Assad crumbled in two weeks of limited fighting. Overwhelmed by a surprise blitzkrieg assault, the Syrian army seemed to melt away in the face of a surprisingly […]

Kurds

The self-governing Kurdish northeast of Syria comes under attack, with Country in Flux

The Conversation

By Pinar Dinc, Lund University (The Conversation) – After more than a decade of brutal civil war, it took Islamist militants just 11 days to sweep through Syria and topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The offensive, which has been driven by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has forced […]

Hizbullah

How Israel’s regional War contributed to the Fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria

The Conversation

By Daniel L. Douek, McGill University (The Conversation) – When Hamas strategist Yahya Sinwar ordered the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis, he was planning to deal a mortal blow to an Israel weakened by internal divisions. Sinwar, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza a year later, likely did not imagine […]

Iran

Iranian Leader Blames Assad’s Downfall On U.S., Israel, And Turkey

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

( RFE/ RL ) – Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in his first public comments since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted, accused the United States and Israel of orchestrating the rebel uprising that toppled the regime over the weekend. Khamenei on December 11 also implicitly blamed Turkey for the lightning push of Syrian rebels […]