In Lebanon I eat lunch and listen for the thrum of planes, the blasts of bombs
Beirut Letter: I am unused to the sudden contrast between joy and violence, and feel a deep disquiet
Syria
Jess Murphy: ‘Everybody’s equal in my kitchen – whether you wash dishes or cook on an open fire grill’
The Kai restaurant chef-proprietor says appreciation of food is the easiest way to overcome cultural barriers
Syrian Druze are walking a ‘tightrope’ between Damascus and Israel
Pilgrims travel to pray at shrine to Shuaib in Israel for first time in more than 75 years
Israeli strikes target sites in Syria, killing one and injuring four
Israel on Friday bombed area near presidential palace in Damascus in warning to Islamist-led authorities of readiness to ramp up military action
Israeli strikes on Syria hit area near presidential palace in Damascus
Escalation indicates Israel’s preparedness to ramp up military action in name of Syria’s Druze minority
Israel says its military strikes in Syria aimed at group that attacked Druze community
Syrian source says Israeli drone strikes targeted government security forces in mainly Druze town of Sahnaya
Syria’s largely secular Druze community drawn into sectarian conflict
Clashes in Damascus suburb were triggered by recording alleged to be of a Druze cleric insulting Prophet Muhammad
The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East by Fawaz A Gerges – engaging read for seasoned observers
The scope is perhaps too broad, and the prose a little dry, for this book to appeal to the general reader
‘We are nice people, but poor’: After Assad’s fall, economic problems are Syrians’ biggest concern
War, corruption and sanctions have taken a heavy toll on Syria, whose deepening poverty is ‘a dangerous accelerant in an already volatile environment’
The ghosts of Khaldiyeh, a Homs neighbourhood devastated by Syria’s war
Khaldiyeh, in Syria’s third-largest city, is a former opposition stronghold once under siege during the country’s long war
Lisa Smith lawyers argue no legal system could convict her of Isis membership
Even if she moved to Islamic State-controlled area and was a sympathiser, it does not prove she was a member, court told
In Homs, efforts to rebuild but trauma haunts the streets
Syria’s new government is walking a tightrope, trying to state-build in a devastated country with a diverse and deeply divided society
Islamic State regains strength in Syria
Recent developments could make it easier for group to show renewed vigour, say experts
‘They destroyed this moment of joy’: On the frontlines of the Israeli incursion into Syria
Days after the fall of the Assad regime, Israeli forces entered southern Syria, where many locals now want protection from the UN
‘We try to make a new future now. You can speak, you can go out’
Public spaces, some of them scarred by Syria’s conflict, host civilian and community-organised events
In a bunker with a woman battlefield commander in Syria: ‘To be under the control of a patriarchal husband? I prefer to be here’
Battle-hardened officer lives like a soldier ready for action to safeguard ‘the people’
The secret history of Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa
Is the man once known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani intent on moderating or a brutal strongman?
Israel’s latest defence strategy sees move to secure border areas
Recent military action suggests IDF working to ensure enemies unable to deploy near borders
Syria’s interim president secures agreement with Druze and Kurds
Ahmed Al-Sharaa has pledged to make Syria ‘inclusive’ and respect all minorities
Hope for Syria as government and Kurds sign deal to merge forces
Kurdish community to get citizenship and language rights denied under Assad regime
Syria faces demands for accountability after civilian killings
Islamist-led government says it has completed military operation against insurgency by Bashar al-Assad loyalists
In restive Syria, who are the Alawites?
Minority group supports Bashar al-Assad and is now subject to reprisal attacks
Syria’s Sharaa pleas for communal peace as clashes continue
More than 1,000 people have been killed in two days of fighting in Alawite region, war monitor says
Almost 200 die in Syria as loyalists of deposed Assad regime clash with government forces
Violence deals blow to interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s rule of shattered country
Civilians put themselves in firing line between Turkey and northeast Syria
Tishreen Dam, on the Euphrates river, has become a flashpoint in the conflict between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army
‘We’ve become used to being betrayed’: US aid cuts affect camps for people accused of Isis affiliation
Trump spending freeze threatens security arrangements and could make it harder to stop resurgence of Islamic State
‘Guantánamo on steroids’: Inside a prison for suspected Islamic State members in Syria
During my visit, an administrator says ‘that’s correct’ when I ask if many detainees had died from tuberculosis, and ‘no answer’ when I request the exact figure
I let chatty Stephen the taxi driver rant about ‘those people’ as if they are not my people
“This is not the Ireland I grew up in. It’s gone so far now! They are just letting everyone in,” he says, and I’m not sure if he wants me to respond as a migrant or an Irish person
Jailed Kurdish leader calls for PKK to ‘disarm, dissolve’ after four-decade campaign that has cost 40,000 lives
Abdullah Ocalan is serving life sentence, but could be freed under tentative Turkish peace process
Moving from Syria to Ireland: My daughters speak Arabic and English and they learn Irish at school
Eyvon Bastouri from Syria came to Ireland in 2016. She has a busy life, juggling two children and her own projects, including her fledgling baking business
Egypt fears Syria’s revolutionary fervour could be contagious
After years of economic misery, discontent with the regime of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi could explode into protest in Egypt
Searching for Syria’s disappeared: ‘We can’t always give answers, but we can give part of the story'
Amer Matar, who fled Syria in 2011, runs an online archive that helps people to search for information about their loved ones
Fiction in translation: A glimpse of failed far-right coup leader’s assured gifts as a storyteller
Works by Yukio Mishima, Samar Yazbek, Solvej Balle, Zahran Alqasmi and Vincenzo Latronico
Vincent Durac: Even if ceasefire holds, war in Gaza will affect whole region for years
West Bank at risk of even more violence, and events in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria have significantly weakened Iranian regime
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