In a wide-ranging talk, former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford traced the astonishing political transformation unfolding in Damascus: from a 14-year civil war and the December 2024 collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime to the rise of Ahmed al-Sharaa—a former jihadist commander now serving as Syria’s transitional president. Ford began …

Several days have passed since a ground assault targeted Russia’s Hemeimeem airbase on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, yet neither Moscow nor Damascus has issued any official statement clarifying the incident. Behind the silence, however, it is widely believed that high-level, behind-the-scenes communications have taken place to address not only the attack …

While progress has been made between the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and the Syrian Transitional Government on several issues—including a new agreement announced today concerning the Al-Hol camp—deep disagreements remain over the core issue of governance: centralization versus decentralization. Agreement to Repatriate Syrians from Al-Hol Camp …