Syria
Don’t judge Syria’s new rulers yet
Some people went mad when Ahmed al-Sharaa (you might know him as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the commander of Hayat Tahrir…
We all knew Syria was hell
The liberation of Syria’s notorious Sednaya jail close to Damascus a week ago has resulted in a wave of belated…
The Syrians who can’t go home
In a waiting room in Beirut’s Adlieh district, with harsh fluorescent lighting glaring down on us, the handcuffed prisoners, we took turns to rotate…
Can you tell a good guy from a bad guy in the Middle East?
Please excuse the tone of jubilation, but I have been dancing around my kitchen for the past couple of days,…
Bombing Syria in 2013 would not have toppled Assad
In hindsight, did the US, UK and France fail to seize the chance to topple President Bashar al-Assad in 2013?…
Have Syria’s rebels really reformed?
There were two scenes from Syria last night screened by the BBC and Channel 4 News that should give the…
Israel must leave Syria
As I walked through Vienna last weekend, I happened upon several protests organised by Syrian refugees celebrating the downfall of…
Syria’s future is uncertain
A momentous fortnight in the Levant. Following a negotiated ceasefire agreed in between Israel and Hezbollah bringing a fragile possibility…
How will HTS rule Syria?
Yesterday we woke to the astonishing news that the rebels from the Syrian opposition had taken Damascus and President Assad…
Will Syria’s new rulers show mercy?
The late Henry Kissinger said of the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s that it was a shame that both sides…
Will the Syrian Civil War create another ISIS?
There are unintended consequences, and then there are unintended consequences. What we are seeing in Syria, as Aleppo and Hama…
What the ‘experts’ got wrong about Syria
Provincial capitals falling before an unexpected advance. Military units allegedly defecting, deserting or switching sides. Talk of a coup in…
How Syria collapsed
In April 2018 I was taken on a coach through miles of war-wasted urban landscape in the Syrian cities of…
Espionage dominates the best recent crime fiction
Owen Matthews concludes his magnificent KGB trilogy, and there’s a thrilling debut from David McCloskey, a former CIA Middle East specialist
Who cares about Syria’s earthquake victims?
At 4 a.m. on Monday, when the earthquake hit, most of the 4.5 million people living in northwestern Syria were…
The agony and frustration of reporting from the Middle East
For 25 years, Abed Takkoush assisted foreign reporters like Jeremy Bowen when they arrived to cover the chaos and conflicts…
China’s Belt and Road to Damascus
There is, it seems, no regime too odious to be a partner of China. Being repressive and corrupt have long…
A Damascene moment in London: Imad’s Syrian Kitchen reviewed
Imad’s Syrian Kitchen is an eyrie off Carnaby Street, a once-famous road which seems to exist nowadays to sell trainers…
Looks lovely if nothing else: Craig and Bruno's Great British Road Trips reviewed
To its huge credit, ITV has managed to find perhaps the last two television celebrities who’ve never before been filmed…
Isis’s weakness is now its strength
As coronavirus swept the globe a year ago, Isis began issuing pronouncements. ‘God, by his will, sent a punishment to…
TikTok's fake news problem
Something troubling is happening on TikTok. The video sharing app is sometimes dismissed as a place where young people go…
We shouldn’t forget the horrific crimes of Isis returnees
Summer 2015. A five-year-old girl is chained up and left outside in the desert sun in Fallujah, Iraq – a…
The twisted logic of Shamima Begum's defenders
Shamima Begum is back in the news. Firstly because she’s had a makeover. She can be seen on the front…
Shamima Begum is not a victim
Adark cloud hangs over the Al Hol Camp where Shamima Begum is being held in North-Eastern Syria. She is said…
Macer Gifford: My fight against Isis
A warning from the British trader who fought in Syria
