Carnegie Middle East Center
In an interview, Kheder Khaddour discusses his recent Carnegie paper on tribal realities in eastern Syria.
In an interview, renowned photographer Don McCullin looks back on his career and memories from the Middle East.
As 2016 comes to a close, Diwan offers recommendations for this period of relative rest.
In an interview, Derek Chollet looks back at the Obama administration’s decision-making on Syria.
The head of Syria’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate says Bashar al-Assad was too soft.
Why local tribal calculations will determine what happens outside Syria’s heartland.
Thirty-four years after Bashir Gemayel’s assassination, what remains is a man athwart Lebanon’s history.
Five years into the conflict, a credible path toward peace has yet to emerge in Syria.
Following the expulsions of several senior members of the Nusra Front, new information on the group has spilled out onto social media.
Recently expelled from Syria’s parliament, the political future of Qadri Jamil is now uncertain.
As the war in Syria continues, the role of Bedouin communities remains an understudied yet vital component of the conflict.
One of the leading French experts on Syria, Fabrice Balanche, explains his methods of mapping the Syrian conflict and presents his views of the situation.
It is hard to imagine a solution to the Syrian crisis that does not involve Russia. However, despite the long-standing ties between the two countries, even Russia's most-qualified Syria expert may have little insight into the Syrian regime's inner workings.
Today, the Baath Arab Socialist Party in Syria is a mere arm of the ruling apparatus, with no more intellectual independence than a police force or a ministry. But it started as a highly ideological movement of protest against French colonial control, led by the Arab nationalist philosopher Michel Aflaq.
The school system in Syria has failed to be a crucial incubator of social and cultural understanding—notably when it comes to Islamic education. The effects of this failure are keenly felt today as Syria suffers sectarian conflict and a surge of religious intolerance.
The Syrian Salafi faction known as Ahrar al-Sham has always stressed that it is not subservient to any group outside Syria, including al-Qaeda. Even so, there are connections between Ahrar al-Sham and al-Qaeda members.
Analysts have claimed that Abu Khalid’s presence in the Ahrar al-Sham leadership shows that Ahrar al-Sham has direct links to al-Qaeda. However, little is known about the nature of Abu Khalid’s involvement with al-Qaeda, and most publicly available information seems to suggests a more nuanced relationship.
A statement released by the top leadership of al-Qaeda asserts that there is no organizational link between the group and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The Hatay region, located on the coast north of Latakia, was originally a part of Syria, but Turkey annexed the region in 1939. While Hatay has made a forceful comeback in Syrian media, nothing suggests that the new rhetoric is indicative of a deeper change in the view that has quietly guided Syrian policy ever since 1939.