(2025-10-01). After Massacres, Syria's HTS Sees Unrest, Calls for Decentralization as 'Assad Remnants'. news.antiwar.com In March, in excess of 1,300 Alawite civilians were killed by Syrian forces, chiefly along the northwest coast. In July, several hundred more Druze civilians were executed by security forces in the southwestern Suwayda Governorate. Neither crackdown really ended, and killings are still reported regularly. The result is growing disquiet among ethnic and religious minorities, …
(2025-10-01). Armed Forces Face-Off Across the Euphrates, Putting Syria at Risk of Rupture. moderndiplomacy.eu Similar to much of its contemporary history, Syria once again finds itself staring down a perilous crossroads. Nine months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the country is divided by the Euphrates River into two rival armed camps: an Islamist-dominated government in Damascus and a Kurdish-led administration in the east. The frontline is tense, with …
(2025-10-01). Transformed by the People: Rethinking HTS's path to authority. newarab.com 
The authors argue that HTS deradicalised not because of ideological moderation but through pragmatic adaptations to survive and rule. | By situating this process in both Syrian and global contexts, the book forces readers to reconsider how militant groups evolve under pressure. | Mor…
(2025-10-01). Susan Watkins: Israel after Fordow. newleftreview.org Netanyahu is building on the obliteration of Gaza to launch an external offensive across multiple fronts, aiming at cantonization in Lebanon and Syria, and regime change, if not state break-up, in Iran. What explains the West's political investment in an Israeli-centric Middle East, on conspicuous display during June's Twelve-Day War?
(2025-10-01). Pentagon says Iraq mission being scaled back. newarab.com 
The Pentagon recommitted itself in a statement on Tuesday to scaling back its military mission in Under the plan, the US and its coalition allies would instead focus on combating Islamic State remnants in Syria and shift most of their personnel to Iraq's Kurdistan region to carry out that mission, the official said, speaking on condition of a…