Bashar al-Assad

People who lost their houses in the devastating earthquake, lineup to receive aid supplies at a makeshift camp, in Iskenderun city, southern Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023.

‘Assad can’t clean up his act with a natural disaster,’ US Amb. to UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield says

Global Politics

After a catastrophic earthquake destroyed northwest Syria, assistance is slowly trickling in. It took a full week for the UN to strike a deal with the Syrian regime to open two additional crossings into the region. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield talks with host Marco Werman about the situation.

people at gas pump

Renewed calls in Syria to overthrow Assad regime

Protest
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad heads a cabinet meeting, in Damascus, Syria

Report: Syrian government manipulates exchange rates to pocket aid money

Economics
A Syrian grocery shop in Istanbul sells brands that are familiar to Syrian customers, such as canned meats and condensed milk.

Syrian refugees and migrants in Turkey face a difficult decision to return home 

Migration
People wearing masks stand in front of white bags of food aid

Russia’s vote at UN could cut off humanitarian aid to northwest Syria

Conflict & Justice
A devil cartoon sits on shoulder of cartoon image of a president with Arabic script.

No joke! How two cartoonists spurred revolution during the Arab uprisings.

Global Cartoons

Syria’s Ali Ferzat and Egypt’s Mohamed Anwar radically departed from long-established rules about how to depict their leaders. Their images served as a catalyst for massive uprisings that swept across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011.

People walk past the looted premises of cellphone company Syriatel, which is owned by Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in Deraa March 21, 2011.

Syria’s first family is caught in a feud

Conflict

For the past few weeks, the world has been getting a rare glimpse into a heated feud between Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and his maternal cousin, Rami Makhlouf. 

Syrian defendant Eyad A. hides himself under his hood prior to the first trial of suspected members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's security services for crimes against humanity, in Koblenz, Germany, April 23, 2020.

Syrian officials on trial for war crimes in Germany

Conflict & Justice

The pandemic has led to delays for many cases across the country, but the court deemed the first criminal trial worldwide on Syrian state torture too urgent to postpone. 

Older women hold a cartoon graphic depicting Donald Trump and a Turkish tank.

Does US withdrawal leave Syria open to Russia?

In a Twitter thread, US President Donald Trump said the US withdrawal from Syria would be a thorn in the side of Russia and China, who “love to see us bogged down, watching over a quagmire, & spending big dollars to do so.” But analysts disagree.

A satellite view of Sednaya prison complex near Damascus, Syria, May 15, 2017.

‘We have suffered enough,’ say families of the missing and detained in Syria

UN figures say more than 100,000 people have so far been detained, abducted or gone missing — largely, but not only, at the hands of the Syrian government. Their families want answers.