A quick English summary of our Arabic news coverage this week.

Last month, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) published a report confirming the use of a “toxic chemical contain[ing] reactive chlorine” in the attack on Douma, northeast of Damascus, of 7 April, 2018, which killed 43 people. While the report did not indicate the party responsible for the attack, as its investigators did not then have the authority to do so (though…

Disinformation peddled by the Assad regime and its supporters blames Western sanctions for Syria’s economic woes. In reality, sanctions primarily target Assad’s inner circle; it is the regime’s own misrule that causes civilian suffering, writes Bente Scheller.

A quick English summary of our Arabic news coverage this week

While females remain the primary victims of sexual violence in Syria, the rape and sexual abuse of male detainees by the Assad regime and others is more widespread than commonly understood, representing not just a grave human rights violation but another powerful disincentive for refugees to return.

A quick English summary of our Arabic news coverage this week.

Sammour, I’ve written to you before about unpleasant things; happenings that shouldn’t have happened, and a world whose horizons have become dimmer in the years of your absence. This time, I write to you about what keeps hope alive, even in such a world: friendship; a great deal of solidarity, support, and partnership on behalf of countless men and (especially) women almost everywhere in the…

A quick English summary of our Arabic news coverage this week.

The Assad regime’s “Terrorism Financing Commission” recently accused Turkey’s president, Lebanon’s prime minister, and a host of other politicians, judges, academics, and ordinary citizens of supporting jihadism. The laughable charges better describe Assad’s own record, writes James Snell.

In recent days, a leaked list emerged online purporting to name the members of a committee set up with UN backing, and the support of states including Russia, Turkey, and Iran, for the purpose of drafting a new Syrian constitution. Notably, the list included the names of numerous opposition and civil society figures. Which begs the question: why have they agreed to lend their names…