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

Interviews

What the Knesset elections mean for Syria

A conversation with Ksenia Svetlova

Knesset elections on 27 October will decide whether Israel continues under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party, or whether a new coalition takes over. To learn more about what a c…

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Politics & Power
Get Rich or Die Tryin’
Syria’s government is pursuing a morally questionable economic policy that’s already faltering
Diplomacy
Al-Sharaa vs. McGurk
The UN General Assembly and the grammar of good and evil
Arts & Culture
Political theatre by a political performer
The Revival of the Al-Hamra Theatre under Nawar Bulbul
Economy, Aid & Reconstruction
Syria Business Diary – September 2026
Twenty litres in Damascus, billions in Dubai
October 2026 issue →
Issue 39
What's happening. Why it matters. What's next.

Are the Kurdish Revolutionary Youth really the new Hurras al-Din?

A month of field research in northeastern Syria challenges a convenient political narrative

A claim attributed to a former senior SDF official that the Revolutionary Youth are to the SDF what the al-Qaeda-linked Hurras al-Din was to HTS does not stand up to scrutiny, as a month-long research trip to northeastern Syria in October 2026 reveals. The Revolutionary Youth may serve as a convenient explanation for Kurdish protests against the integration process, allowing political grievances to be dismissed as driven by external interests. But if Kurdish leaders themselves do invoke the Revolutionary Youth to maintain plausible deniability as part of a carrot-and-stick approach to negotiations, they may find themselves wielding a double-edged sword.

01. November 2026
Matt Broomfield

Matt Broomfield

Matt Broomfield is a freelance journalist (Telegraph, Independent, New Statesman), Research Associate at ODI Global, and doctoral researcher at the University of Sussex. His research focuses on Kurdish political, security and governance issues in Syria and throughout the Middle East, where he has spent years working on the ground in Kurdish regions.
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Opinion

Voices that sharpen Syria's public debate

Hussam Eddin Mohammad

From tinned food to Captagon: Syria’s Saudi connection

Nine decades after a future Syrian president helped broker peace in Yemen, Ahmed al-Sharaa’s embrace of Riyadh raises the prospect of a very different Syrian role.

30. October 2026

Nadra Bunni

Syria’s Streisand effect

By restricting women’s access to university programmes, Syria’s Higher Education Ministry has inadvertently fuelled a much wider debate about women’s rights – and Syrians’ growing expectation that government decisions can be challenged.

12. October 2026

Hussam Eddin Mohammad

Syria could become indispensable. Will its people reap the rewards?

War and disruption are reviving Syria’s importance as a gateway to the Mediterranean. But pipelines and trade routes alone will not lift its people out of poverty.

05. October 2026

Haddon Barth

Rubble as an 'Anti-Politics Machine'

Long a fixture of Syria policy writing, the metaphor has found a new political use under the Syrian authorities.

29. September 2026

Shivan Ibrahim

Peace in Hasakah has yet to yield dividends

As Kurdish fighters integrate into the Syrian state, political exclusion and worsening living conditions threaten to undermine the transition.

24. September 2026

Natacha Danon

Syria needs a New Deal

Caught between discredited Ba’thist socialism and predatory neoliberalism, Syria needs a new economic vision that people can rally around.

19. September 2026

Hussam Eddin Mohammad

Asala versus al-Dhahabi: a battle for the soul of Syria

A singer’s celebration of Syria’s heritage has exposed a struggle over who gets to define the nation’s identity.

17. September 2026

Ahmad Omar

From Germany to Idlib by car

After 15 years in Germany, I returned to find that Syria had changed – and so had I.

07. September 2026
More opinions

What (some) Syrians think

The June wave is out! Fresh findings from surveys conducted in Damascus, Rural Damascus, and Homs. Syria Poll examines how residents assess their living conditions, government performance, and recent political developments.

Read the June results
More surveys

Previous issues

  • September 2026

    Issue 38
  • July 2026

    Issue 37
  • June 2026

    Issue 36
  • May 2026

    Issue 35
  • April 2026

    Issue 34
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.

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