The following post first appeared on Al-Arabiya. As the proxy war sets in fully in Syria with equal determination among all sides to change the calculations on the ground, the hopes for a major diplomatic breakthrough in the proposed Geneva peace confe …

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The following post originally appeared on Katz’s blog.  Far from being on the verge of collapse as many in the West and the Arab World had hoped, it now appears that the Assad regime in Syria has gained the upper hand against its internal opponents.  W …

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Last week at Zaatari refugee camp, as we sipped tea that was just a few degrees hotter than the air temperature, I asked a 22-year-old refugee named Hamdi why he was so quiet that day. Hamdi’s close friend Yazan, who has been the only pillar of stabili …

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The following post first appeared on Hassan Hassan’s site. A rebel armed group calling itself “As-Sadiq Al Ameen” has committed what appears to be a massacre against Shia civilians in Deir Ezzor. According to a video that emerged on Tuesday, the group …

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The following post first appeared in The National. Amid Syria’s worsening crisis, there is another unprecedented, yet overlooked phenomenon that bodes ill for the entire region: the rise of global Shia jihadism. The number of foreign Shia jihadists in …

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This post first appeared in The National. A Syrian man from Homs used to run a tiny felafel stand in Reyhanli, Turkey, to support his family. He had fled the violence at home and lived in this Turkish town near the Syrian border. Since twin car bombing …

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Last week on Syria Deeply, Jenan Moussa argued that Syria has “no Joan of Arc” – no woman who has taken a leadership role in the revolution. Even bigger than the potential gender gap is that Syria has no charismatic leader – period. Nobody in Syria sym …

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As the international community dithers over intervening in the Syrian civil war, one group has already planted firm roots in the country. The burgeoning al-Qaida affiliate The Support Front for the People of the Levant, known locally as Jabhat al-Nusra …

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This post first appeared at hhassan.com. Please see the updates at the bottom under “addendum” The Syrian opposition is holding talks in Turkey to restructure and expand the National Coalition (NC). As I reported earlier this month, the talks follow a …

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The following post first appeared on al-Arabiya.  While Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria is helping Assad regain military foothold in key areas of the country, it promises a more vicious and prolonged sectarian conflict in the longer run. The involvem …

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