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Integrated Factions… The State or ‘General Mobilization’?

Syrian politics today is based on a concept of fait accompli whose actual consequences are difficult to comprehend. It seems that the various parties in Syria have been convinced that the so-called new administration in Damascus has sufficient regional and international support for its survival. Therefore, it is not wise to radically oppose it, but […]

A Functional Group That Defines Syrian Nationalism

At the top of the many priorities of the authority in Damascus (led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, as it should always be reminded) is the narrative of “extending the state’s control over all areas of the country.” This means that the government/state, through security forces and factions that comprise the “Syrian regular army,” must control […]

Syria in the crucible of Jihad

The fall of the dictatorship of the Syrian President, Bashar Assad, late in December 2024 has opened the door wide for speculation about what the future holds for the religiously diverse and ethnically mixed country. Strangely, two days after Assad had fled, Germany’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, called for the protection of minorities […]

Maintaining power or restoring al-Jolani… Where does al-Sharaa stand?

In a commentary on the CSIS podcast published on March 20, 2025, conducted by John Alterman with the journalist from The Economist, Nicolas Pileham, who interviewed the interim Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, numerous impressionistic phrases are used in an attempt to craft a well-rounded profile of the new Syrian authority figure. According to Pileham’s portrayal, […]