Author: M Barbu

Can Shara’s Government Unite a Country Ready to Explode?

In late March, Ahmad al-Shara, Syria’s new leader, introduced a caretaker government that would supervise the country’s transition from five decades of dictatorial rule. He gave some cabinet positions to figures outside his Islamist milieu, including naming a Christian woman minister of social affairs, a Kurdish official minister of education, a Druze minister for agriculture, and an Alawite minister for transport. Those appointments reflect the pressure Shara is under to demonstrate to Arab and Western governments—and to the Syrian people—that he can build an inclusive government that represents the country’s religious and ethnic minorities. It is a challenge made all the harder by an eruption of bloodshed in March in which fighters affiliated with Shara’s government (but not under its direction) targeted minority Alawites in the west of the country, killing hundreds.

The overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have marked a major blow to the Iran-aligned Axis of Resistance coalition, but a new group styling itself in a similar manner has emerged to challenge the interests of the United States and its feuding top Middle Eastern allies.

With post-Assad Syria now at the center of a regional struggle for influence between neighboring Israel and Turkey, the militia known as Uli al-Baas, or “the Possessors of Might,” argues it is “positioned with the Axis of Resistance against the Axis of Global Evil,” of which Washington is said to be a part due to President Donald Trump’s support for both foreign powers.

Turkey’s History of Hamas Support
By Jonathan Schanzer

Thousands of people rallied at Istanbul’s iconic Galata Bridge on New Year’s Day 2025 in support of the Palestinian cause and to protest Israel. Bilal Erdogan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son, was among its speakers. Bilal spoke of the “martyrs” of Palestine, including Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7, 2023, slaughter of 1,200 Israelis. This is, by now, barely newsworthy given Ankara’s long track record of pro-Hamas rhetoric. But the son of Turkey’s strongman leader caught the attention of international observers when he stated, “we are here for … Al-Aqsa Mosque, for Jerusalem.”1

Many people in Iran to whom Reuters spoke by phone remained pessimistic about the future.

Weary from long years of biting sanctions and worried about U.S. threats of military action, Iranians have responded to the prospect of talks this weekend with expressions of hope that have boosted their stock market and depressed currency, Reuters reported.