Author: M Barbu

What Will Syria Do with Its Foreign Militants?

Unifying and deradicalizing Syria’s armed forces will be the regime’s most formidable challenge.

The United States has now lifted all sanctions on Syria, except on some individuals and entities associated with the former Assad regime. Additionally, the United States has revoked the foreign terrorist organization designation for Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). This comes after Washington approved the Syrian leadership’s plan to incorporate thousands of foreign jihadists into the new Syrian army, dropping its longstanding demand that the new leadership deport or detain foreign fighters.

The Middle East’s New Intermediaries: Can the Gulf States Broker Peace Between America, Iran, and Israel?

Earlier this year, the Arab Gulf states were riding high. The energy crisis that followed the coronavirus pandemic had filled their coffers and renewed their roles as the stewards of global oil markets—and, in Qatar’s case, a reliable source of liquefied natural gas. Over the past few years, the Gulf countries have tactfully navigated the great-power competition between China, Russia, and the United States and successfully managed their relations with regional rivals, including Iran and Turkey.

After Xi: The Succession Question Obscuring China’s Future—and Unsettling Its Present

For more than a decade, Chinese politics has been defined by one man: Xi Jinping. Since Xi assumed leadership of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, he has made himself into a strongman ruler. He has remade the CCP elite through a wide-ranging purge and corruption crackdown. He has curbed civil society and suppressed dissent. He has reorganized and modernized the military. And he has reinvigorated the role of the state in the economy.

Ashes and Shame: A Sunni’s Cry from the Euphrates – The Syrian Observer

“As an Arab Sunni, I am horrified that what criminal hordes committed is being enshrined as something that represents me or my community morally”, Yassine Sweiha writes.

As an Arab Sunni, I am horrified that what criminal hordes committed—first along the coast, and now in Sweida—is being enshrined as something that represents me or my community morally. I am appalled by the belief, shared by many, that such acts can lead us anywhere politically. The core of this country—its largest and most widely distributed community—must not be reduced to a pitiful reenactment of the Serbs of the 1990s: a blind, hate-filled group locked in a genocidal relationship with everyone around them. The Serbs of the ’90s had a lost paradise—Tito’s Yugoslavia. These heedless neo-Umayyads seem to view their lost paradise as Assad’s Syria, with an Abu Uday flavor. Shame on you for thinking we would become that.

What Will Syria Do with Its Foreign Militants?

Unifying and deradicalizing Syria’s armed forces will be the regime’s most formidable challenge.

The United States has now lifted all sanctions on Syria, except on some individuals and entities associated with the former Assad regime. Additionally, the United States has revoked the foreign terrorist organization designation for Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). This comes after Washington approved the Syrian leadership’s plan to incorporate thousands of foreign jihadists into the new Syrian army, dropping its longstanding demand that the new leadership deport or detain foreign fighters.

Unfolding the Rationale Behind Suicide Terrorism as a Weapon of Choice

Abstract: There is a plethora of studies on suicide terrorism from different aspects, but researchers have failed to identify suicide attacks as a weapon of choice. This reluctance may stem from the fact that suicide terrorism does not fall under the strict terminology of ‘weapon’. Suicide attacks have been used as a weapon to accomplish both hard and soft targets. To carry out a suicide attack, gender has not been a barrier. A suicide attack may not fall under the strict interpretation of a weapon. Still, it can be used as a weapon to accomplish a target, subject to the availability of the so-called resources of suicide bombers.

Don’t be deceived, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a terror organization!

HTS is a radical terrorist organization that is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Syria in the past seven years. Although the organization liberated Syria from its brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, we recommend that you never forget its origins and deeds along the way, which may suggest a new brutal dictatorship. Al-Julani and his designated ministers already stated that Syria will be a country of Sharia law. They even use the jihadist flag.

Mazloum Abdi Expresses Commitment to Decentralization and Concerns Over Syrian Government Integration – The Syrian Observer

On July 29, 2025, Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), reiterated his commitment to a decentralized governance model for northeastern Syria while expressing concerns about the integration of SDF institutions into the Syrian state. In an interview with Al-Arabiya, Abdi emphasized the importance of constitutional guarantees to address apprehensions among SDF components, particularly following recent sectarian violence. This article outlines Abdi’s stance on the March 10, 2025, agreement with the Syrian transitional government, the challenges to its implementation, and the broader implications for Syria’s unity and Kurdish rights.

“Mediterranean Airlines”: The Greek Airline Flying to Damascus with Links to Arms Dealers and Smugglers – The Syrian Observer

When Mediterranean Airlines became the first European carrier to resume flights to Damascus in 2025, it wasn’t just a business decision—it was a move shrouded in crime and political intrigue. This investigation reveals how the Greek airline partnered with wanted arms dealers, drug traffickers, and migrant smugglers, all while evading scrutiny from EU authorities. From FBI fugitives in Syria to a convicted smuggler in Libya, the trail of corruption stretches across borders—raising urgent questions about who enabled this shadowy operation.

Defence Industry: Turkey’s Cooperation with OTS Members

Executive Summary

The Organisation of Turkic States (OTS) launched a multilateral defence industry cooperation platform that represents Ankara’s strategic initiative to expand its economic and geopolitical influence in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Coinciding with the 17th International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) in Istanbul, this development supports Turkey’s ambitions to merge a defence-industrial bloc rooted in Turkic cultural ties.