A monthly magazine on Syrian politics and society that cuts through the noise

Economy, Aid & Reconstruction

The Great Humanitarian Recession

Blended finance may offer help beyond grants and without illusions

The Great Humanitarian Recession is already a reality. This is no longer about temporary funding dips or cyclical shortfalls. The volume of grant capital available is unlikely ever again to match the …

Continue reading ...
Diplomacy
Wise after the fact
Three points on SDF integration that don’t stand scrutiny
Politics & Power
Play hard, trust no one
Lessons from the General Syrian Congress, 1919-1920
Local Dynamics
New Look Shabiha
A Sunni town’s uneasy reinvention after years as a regime stronghold
Interviews
Defiance
A conversation with Loubna Mrie
February 2026 issue →
Issue 32

Opinion

Voices that sharpen Syria's public debate

Mona Abboud

Our memory is not a Ramadan TV fad

As Ramadan dramas mine Syria’s revolution for ratings, a new series appropriates the name “Caesar” but strips it of its meaning. For those who endured detention, torture and disappearance, our memory is not seasonal content, and justice is not a script to be softened for prime time.

01. March 2026

Hiba Ezzideen

What I overheard at the mosque

In post-dictatorship Syria, lipstick sparks more outrage than corruption. An overheard conversation in a mosque reveals a nation trying to control its destiny by controlling what women put on their faces.

27. February 2026

Kinan al-Nahhas

Germany’s Nuremberg trials are no blueprint for Syria

Can Germany’s post-war experience really serve as a blueprint for Syria’s transitional justice? A closer look reveals a far more complex – and violent – reality than the oft-cited Nuremberg Trials. Syria must craft its own path to justice, grounded in law, accountability, and the rights of victims.

25. February 2026

Yaser al-Daher

The threat of counter-revolution is real. But so is stagnation

As Syria’s new leadership charts a post-Assad course, it faces a stark dilemma: how to protect the revolution from its enemies without suffocating the pluralism it once promised.

21. February 2026

Ahmad Omar

The Damascus book fair was a festival of freedom

Queues, Kurdish titles, Ibn Taymiyyah, prayer halls and free buses to the exhibition ground. The Damascus book fair offered a compressed portrait of a country testing its new limits of plurality and free speech.

17. February 2026

Shivan Ibrahim

Let’s admit it: we’re fragmented

In today’s Syria, the loudest voices trade accusations while the language of development, justice and national renewal is drowned out. Admitting that we are a fragmented society is the first step towards rescue.

14. February 2026

Yaser al-Daher

How Fawwaz Haddad’s novels expose the Syrian condition

Fawwaz Haddad is a novelist who has traced the Syrian experience over the past fifty years. Long considered seditious under the former regime, his novels examine how political domination reshapes thought, culture, and moral judgment. In doing so, he has become one of the clearest literary voices of his generation. 

07. February 2026

Majed Dawi

A Kurdish perspective on the SDF-Damascus agreement

In the Kurdish street, the SDF–Damascus deal is not the end of the story but the beginning of a new chapter. It begins with stopping bloodshed and averting mass displacement, and ends with achieving political decentralisation by political means. 

05. February 2026
More opinions

What (some) Syrians think

Syria Poll is live! The first wave presents findings from surveys conducted in Damascus, Rural Damascus, and Homs in early February 2026. Syria Poll examines how residents assess their living conditions, government performance, and recent political developments.

Click to read the survey results
More surveys

Previous issues

  • January 2026

    Issue 31
  • December 2025

    Issue 30
  • November 2025

    Issue 29
  • September 2025

    Issue 28
  • August 2025

    Issue 27
View archive

About

Syria in Transition is a monthly magazine on Syrian politics, society, economics and culture. Produced by an experienced and diverse team of independent journalists, researchers, and linguists, it challenges lazy narratives, connects the dots, and stimulates debate on the issues that matter.

More

Subscribe to get SiT delivered straight to your inbox

* indicates required
English