With both Islamic State and Assad cutting off its fuel supplies, the Syrian opposition is struggling to survive.
Articles on Bashar al-Assad
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A war of words is being waged on social media by terrorist groups trying to recruit Australian teenagers to join the fight in the Middle East.
While many insist that the West should appease Syria’s Assad regime, this ignores the wishes of many ordinary Syrians – who are the key to defeating Islamic State and other extremists in Syria.
Months after Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile was destroyed, chlorine attacks are continuing – and there’s little sign of any war crimes charges materialising.
Ministers from 21 countries gathered in London on January 22 to discuss the fight against Islamic State (IS). They had their photo opportunity and issued their statements. US secretary of state, John Kerry…
The most serious attempt to bring the Syrian regime and representatives of the opposition together around a negotiating table together took place at the 2014 Geneva II peace talks. The talks were based…
It’s now just over a year since Barack Obama turned down the option of air strikes in response to Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons, and instead demanded that Syria accede to the Chemical Weapons…
During his October visit to the UK, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani had to fight to convince the British government that Qatar stands firmly against Islamic State (IS). Despite his efforts…
In this latest instalment in our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours, we head south-east to Turkey. The former centre of the Ottoman Empire has been booming in the past decade – and Russia…
There are two reasons why we should ignore the growing calls in the United States, Canada and Australia for Western “boots on ground” – meaning ground troops – to fight and destroy the Islamic State (IS…
A few hours before the UK’s first air strikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq, the home secretary, Theresa May, warned the Tory party conference that IS could become the "world’s first truly…
Since Hassan Rouhani was elected Iran’s president in June 2013, relations between Iran and the United States have significantly improved – though they remain very fragile. To explain why, most analysts…
Black-clad fighters, suffering refugees and Western warplanes overhead – these are the mainstays of Iraq and Syria coverage as the Islamic State (IS) continues its campaign. Notably absent from debates…
The UN Security Council made a little bit of history this week when it passed Resolution 2165. It allows the humanitarian aid to be delivered to rebel-held areas of Syria without government approval. Instead…
One big security issue that has arisen lately concerns control of news media. National boundaries have become blurred on the internet, and the control any nation can have over information dissemination…
There are three candidates running in Syria’s presidential election: the incumbent, Bashar al-Assad and two challengers, Maher Hajjar and Hassan al-Nouri. In reality there is only one, Assad. The other…
The second round of the Geneva II talks on Syria have ended with no agreement and without even a decision on the date of a further meeting. The highly experienced UN mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, was clearly…
Where would we be without Godwin’s Law? This law, formulated for the internet, dictates that as a discussion progresses, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. And, as…
Imagine if there were a premier league for tyrants and totalitarian dictators. Who exactly was the biggest genocidal maniac? Was it Stalin, or Hitler, or Pol Pot, or…? However you add it up, especially…
On Tuesday night Washington time, US president Barack Obama made a public plea to Congress to authorise a military action in Syria that he probably doesn’t want. The tell-tale sign Obama doesn’t actually…
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Professor of International Politics, Clinton Institute, University College Dublin
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Professor of Islamic Studies, Head of School, The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation, Charles Sturt University
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Director of the Curtin Extremism Research Network (CERN), Curtin University
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Lecturer in Middle East Studies, Deakin University
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Professor of International Relations, Lancaster University
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Lecturer in Middle Eastern Politics, Lancaster University
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Professor in the Department of Government, University of Essex
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Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Los Angeles
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Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University
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Lecturer in Modern European History, Queen's University Belfast
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Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy and Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Institute, UMass Amherst
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Professor of Peace Studies, University of Bradford
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Honorary Senior Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London
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Assistant Professor of International and Global Studies, Nazareth University