11 Mar 2025
Syria’s de facto leader faces home truths
Any national reconciliation process cannot advance while non-Sunni Muslim religious sects face terror and extortion.
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11 Feb 2025
The two faces of Syria’s interim government
The regional responses will matter far more than Western influence. -
7 Jan 2025
Syrian boss Ahmed al-Sharaa: A leopard in a fix
The truth of an Islamist takeover cannot be lost amid a charm offensive and wishful thinking. -
10 Dec 2024
Bashar al-Assad is gone, but is the Syrian civil war over?
Regional geopolitical dynamics remain in flux. -
9 Dec 2024
Beyond Assad: Jihadist strongholds and the threat to the West
The rebel offensive needed a safe base from which to operate – and bitter experience tells of the wider dangers involved. -
3 Dec 2024
Is Russia the loser in the fall of Syria’s Aleppo?
Moscow cannot meaningfully aid its ally, and that’s not gone unnoticed. -
1 Aug 2024
The Yazidi still wait for justice
Australia also has obligations when its citizens are accused of the worst of all crimes. -
26 Mar 2024
Moscow attacks: Why Putin was quick to blame Ukraine
The Kremlin is covering its own mistakes in the bid to deflect attention. -
12 Dec 2023
The redemption of Bashar al-Assad?
Syria has been readmitted to the Arab League but faces ongoing challenges and a population bedevilled by conflict. -
20 Nov 2023
The war in Gaza has not destroyed normalisation … for now
Despite deepening hostilities, common strategic interests still bind Israel and most of the Arab states. -
4 Oct 2023
The uprising in al-Suwayda Syria presents the world a moral test – again
People haven’t forgotten their rights and continue to struggle against the Assad regime. -
20 Jun 2023
Chemical weapons: Impunity is killing deterrence
Poisoning continues as a favoured form of invisible warfare meted out by dictators and autocrats, with horrific results. -
10 Feb 2023
The grim toll of Türkiye’s earthquake will also shift regional politics
The international outpouring of support has gone beyond friends but to unexpected quarters, too. -
28 Jun 2022
How Turkey’s position on Ukraine is further destabilising Syria
Erdoğan wants sanctions relief and is forcing NATO leaders into making an uncomfortable choice. -
9 May 2022
Turkey’s leverage over Russia – in Syria and beyond
Ankara and Moscow are in an unusual power play where the Kremlin turns a blind eye to actions that aid its adversaries. -
13 Sep 2021
Iran’s energy diplomacy
Tehran knows its hand when it comes to playing the energy card across the region. -
12 Aug 2021
Syria: The consequences of intellectual failure and moral neglect
No Western government should abide policy goals that in practice are pursued via collective punishment of Syrian people. -
26 Jul 2021
Bringing home Australian children trapped in Syrian camps
Faced with thorny legal and security obstacles for the adults, it may be better to return children alone. -
2 Feb 2021
Syrian stasis
Washington isn’t likely to pay much attention to the Syria conflict – and nothing much will change. -
7 Aug 2020
The Beirut explosion and the plight of Syrian refugees
The blast that killed over 100 and injured thousands is also a reminder of the fragile existence of millions. -
6 Aug 2020
It’s always about the oil in the Middle East
Confused by regional dynamics? Look to the constants. -
17 Jul 2020
The obstacles to Syrian aid
Russia and China have used the Security Council to squelch cross-border humanitarian assistance. It’s time for options. -
9 Jul 2020
Cashing in the chips at the Trump casino
The prospect of a Biden administration has pro-US leaders in the Middle East seeking to keep their political “winnings”. -
22 Jun 2020
Syria: Thumbs down
New sanctions under the so-called Caesar Act might target the regime in Damascus, but the burden will be felt by locals. -
11 Jun 2020
With Syrian prosecutions, a rare case of universal jurisdiction
A seldom-used legal concept demonstrates the reach of justice even in the most hopeless circumstances. -
1 Jun 2020
Need To Know: Brett McGurk on America’s strategy to defeat ISIS
In a new interview series, the former US special envoy discusses conflict in Syria and maximalist foreign policy goals. -
5 Mar 2020
Europe under threat
Yes, by coronavirus, but also by fighting in Syria and Libya. Can the EU react adequately? What will Brexit Britain do? -
3 Mar 2020
Syria: What the UN can do, and must do
With the Security Council once more hostage to the veto, the General Assembly should test the world’s resolve. -
3 Mar 2020
Syria: The battlefield rules
Every action prompts a reaction, as a success for Assad forces an angry response from Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey. -
11 Feb 2020
Middle East dispatch: A paper closes, a rift opens, Syria slips
New hostilities between Turkey and Syria mark another blow to the Astana process and further tragedy for civilians. -
5 Nov 2019
October in Syria: Podcast out now
Rodger Shanahan unpacks the US withdrawal from Syria and the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Are they linked? -
28 Oct 2019
The worrying precedent of Turkey’s “safe zone”
Under international law, one country cannot invade another to seize territory – yet that appears to have been endorsed. -
24 Oct 2019
Trump’s troop withdrawal and what’s next for Islamic State
Having pre-emptively declared the militant group “100% defeated”, the pull back from Syria raises different threats. -
14 Oct 2019
Turkey’s “safe zone” may prove costly
In Ankara’s view, the intervention in Syria has been a diplomatic and military success, but an economic risk looms. -
9 Oct 2019
The sharp shift on Syria
To pull out from northern Syria only invites more trouble – already ISIS is seeking advantage. -
24 Sep 2019
Syria: the disgraceful stain left by the UN Security Council veto
The General Assembly has a chance to act in the interests of peace in the face of Russian and Chinese intransigence. -
19 Sep 2019
Syria: Is it time for the West to talk with Assad?
Engaging Assad, while repugnant, is better than words of sound and fury delivered that makes little difference. -
21 Mar 2019
Who bears responsibility for the children of ISIS?
There are 70 Australian minors affiliated with ISIS in Syria. Yet there is no policy or direction on repatriation. -
19 Feb 2019
Repatriating female foreign fighters: political not personal
<p>Many foreign women who join ISIS were not duped or coerced. It is time to recognise Shamima Begum’s agency.</p> -
18 Jan 2019
Syria: emerging consequences of the US withdrawal
Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria has actors scrambling to make sense of the ramifications. -
20 Dec 2018
What happens next? Trump’s sudden Syria exit
Exactly what “moving on” means will become apparent in the months ahead but such a rapid exit has obvious ramifications. -
4 Oct 2018
The danger of mission creep in Syria
American troops went to support locals to defeat ISIS, but staying until Iranian forces withdraw is a different goal. -
20 Sep 2018
The crowded skies of Syria
Another plane destroyed shows despite a three-year intervention, Russian commanders don’t always know what they should. -
10 Sep 2018
Idlib – the (nearly) final frontier
Turkey seems to be in the weakest position in negotiations with Russia and Iran as the pressure on Idlib builds. -
22 Aug 2018
Dollars for Syria
Given that all signs point to Bashar al-Assad staying in power, who pays for reconstruction becomes a thorny question. -
10 Jul 2018
Syria: extinguishing the flame of the revolution
Bashar al-Assad faces more challenges, but momentum in military campaigns is a difficult thing to stop. -
19 Apr 2018
Europe: the movers and the shakers
The responses to the Syria strikes illustrate a troubling divide in Europe in defending Western principles. -
15 Apr 2018
Syria strikes: mission accomplished?
<p>The US felt compelled to act, Bashar al-Assad has been punished, yet may not be deterred.</p> -
13 Apr 2018
In Syria, Trump must collude with Russia
Airstrikes aside, the US needs Moscow to influence the Assad regime and negotiate an end to this sordid conflict. -
11 Apr 2018
Rouhani, Erdogan, and Putin’s bizarre love triangle
Jostling over Syria offers a glimpse of emerging alliances and compromises as the US-led security order winds down.