Ahmad Hussein al-Shara, aka Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, would like you to think he is a changed man. These days, al-Jolani, a 41-year-old one-time al-Qaeda and Islamic State operative with a $10 million bounty on his head, no longer spews jihadist fire and brimstone. Instead, he preaches pluralism, religious tolerance, diversity …

The fall of Bashar Al Assad’s brutal regime is a moment for celebration. He is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the immiseration of millions more. Like his late Baathist co-partisan, Sadaam Hussein, Assad used the state to torture, kill, and maim innocent civilians for …

Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani in Hajj. pic.twitter.com/TGlhRiPbR9 — Muhammad Jalal (@MJalalAf) June 7, 2024 While the world was transfixed over the civilian body count during a daring Israeli Defense Force raid that rescued four hostages who were held by Hamas, a designated terrorist was taking his first summer vacation in years. …

With the fall of Syria’s Moscow-supported regime, a large chunk of Russia’s leverage over Türkiye is gone. But Erdoğan will not take the risk of challenging Russia. Rather, he will continue acting as an intermediary between Putin and the West. Russia has reportedly asked Türkiye for assistance in withdrawing its …

Latest Developments • Russia Negotiates To Keep Bases: Officials from Russia and representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — the Syrian rebel group that overthrew Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad last week — are conducting direct negotiations over whether Moscow can retain control over its two military bases in Syria, Russian …

The collapse of the 54-year rule of the Assad family in Syria constitutes a significant setback to Iran’s decades-long strategy to forge an “Axis of Resistance” to confront Israel and deter U.S. military action against Iranian territory and signals a seismic shift in the Middle East’s political landscape. U.S., regional, …

In the ten-day offensive that ultimately toppled the 54-year rule of the Assad regime in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) carefully tailored its messaging not only to Syrians and rebel fighters but also to its adversaries, such as Iran and Russia, and the international community. HTS’s political affairs department has …

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] has not earned the title “The Churchill of the Middle East” for nothing. What is lethal for the country is that the judges ruled that Netanyahu must appear in court three times a week for at least six consecutive hours each time. All this when …

Syria’s new transitional government said it was prioritising state-building and stability over any response to recent Israeli attacks. Syria’s new transitional government is prioritising stabilising the country in the wake of the collapse of the Assad regime over responding to Israel’s ongoing offensive on Syrian military targets, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s …

A confluence of interests explains its actions, but these same actions also have some unintended consequences. Israel carried out one of the largest attack operations in its history after launching nearly 500 strikes in post-Assad Syria, which has just been taken over by a group of “rebels” led by the …