Syria
All countries-
Relations with the Middle East
Europe can still make a difference
The European Union is faced with the challenge of finding a common line towards the Middle East that both takes into account the different national positions and promotes a coherent foreign policy. How can this be realized?
-
Syrians in Lebanon
Not safe to stay, not safe to go home
Desperate Syrians are weighing up whether to stay in an increasingly hostile Lebanon or risk a precarious existence in areas held by the Syrian opposition. The return journey is deadly and conditions in Syria are tough
-
Zakaria Tamer's "Sour Grapes"
Always subversive
Playing with language in his short-short collection "Sour Grapes" – now in English translation – Syrian writer Zakaria Tamer doesn't hesitate to employ the winking humour, quick reversals and archetypes that are a part of his wide appeal
-
Islamists in Idlib
Syrian protesters rise up against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
Opponents of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad seeking refuge in Idlib are now protesting against local Islamist hardliners Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The group is accused of becoming increasingly dictatorial
-
Najat Abed Alsamad's "Kein Wasser stillt ihren Durst"
Searching for life
Najat Abed Alsamad's award-winning novel, "La Ma'a Yarwiha", has been published in German translation as "Kein Wasser stillt ihren Durst" (No water quenches her thirst). In it, she tells the story of a young Druze woman who roundly rejects the traditional rules imposed on her by her parents and relatives and begins a long fight for her freedom
-
Kurdistan + 100
Stories from a future republic
"Kurdistan + 100" is the third anthology in Comma Press's "future past" series, and a fourth – Egypt + 100 – is set to be published next year. Writers are asked to imagine a moment in the future connected to an event in their shared past
-
After the local elections in Turkey
An end to AKP rule?
Last week's local election results in Turkey are a setback for the ruling AKP party and President Erdogan – but do they also herald an end to the party's uncontested power?
-
Lebanon's Tripoli
Old wounds and new problems on "Syria Street"
Syria Street in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, was a microcosm of the Syrian Civil War for many years. Nowadays, a fragile calm hides the complexities of Lebanon's past and the resilience of its people
-
Anti-Assad protests in Syria's Sweida governate
New wave of violence after protester death?
Locals in southern Syria have been protesting peacefully for months now, despite their government's brutal crackdown. But in late February, for the first time, a demonstrator was killed
-
UNRWA and humanitarian aid
EU releases frozen funds for Palestinians
The EU Commission intends to transfer 82 million euros to the UN Palestinian relief organisation UNRWA. Payments had been suspended following Israel's accusation that UNRWA was involved in Hamas terrorism
-
750th anniversary of Rumi's death – Part 6
Academic research and spiritual exploration
No Islamic mystic in the past two centuries has touched literary figures and academics in both East and West as much as Rumi. A look at the history of research into this hugely influential spiritual teacher
-
German immigration policy
Yazidis relive the horror as deportation looms
Recently Germany's "culture of welcome" has given way to a much tougher asylum and immigration policy. Now Yazidi survivors of IS genocide face an uncertain, potentially re-traumatising future