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    Bashar al-Assad

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    • Thursday, 21 September, 2023
      Chinese politics & policy
      China welcomes Syrian president Assad for summit

      First visit since start of civil war as Beijing expands its influence in Middle East

      Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad, centre, and his wife Asma arrive in Hangzhou, China on Thursday
    • Sunday, 3 September, 2023
      Syria
      Syrian protesters call for Assad’s removal as economic crisis spirals

      Anti-regime demonstrators in Sweida say they are struggling to feed their families

      Protesters gather in the southern city of Sweida
    • Monday, 22 May, 2023
      Amnesty brands COP28 invitation to Assad as ‘sick joke’

      Condemnation over climate summit follows readmission of Syria to Arab League

      Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bashar al-Assad in discussion as they walk on a blue carpet flanked by guards
    • Wednesday, 17 May, 2023
      The FT ViewThe editorial board
      The misguided re-engagement with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad

      Readmission to the Arab League sends a chilling message to regime’s victims

      Bashar al-Assad meets with Saudi’s ambassador to Jordan, Nayef bin Bandar Al-Sudairy, this week in Damascus
    • Monday, 15 May, 2023
      COP28
      Syrian leader Assad invited to COP 28 climate summit in Dubai

      Move likely to cause disquiet among those expressing disdain for the pace of reconciliation with Damascus

      Bashar al-Assad
    • Thursday, 4 May, 2023
      Rachman Review podcast28 min listen
      How far will the rehabilitation of Assad go?

      Syrian leader finds himself courted by Arab regimes eager to solve local problems

    • Wednesday, 3 May, 2023
      Iran
      Iran’s president visits Syria as he seeks to bolster Tehran’s sway over ally

      Islamic republic pushes for ‘upper hand’ in war-torn country’s reconstruction

      Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during an open session of parliament
    • Monday, 1 May, 2023
      News in-depthMiddle Eastern politics & society
      Arab world weighs price for Assad’s rehabilitation

      Diplomats say Syria’s pariah leader will be expected to make concessions to enable his return to Arab League

      A montage of the Arab League and Syria flags and photos of Bashar al-Assad and Faisal bin Farhan
    • Wednesday, 26 April, 2023
      Kim Ghattas
      How far should the Arab world go in normalising Assad?

      Sudan holds a lesson for those heads of state now beating a path to Damascus

      Syrian president Bashar al-Assad (R) welcomes Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan to Damascus last week
    • Tuesday, 18 April, 2023
      Syrian crisis
      Saudi foreign minister meets Assad in Damascus on first visit since 2011

      Some Arab countries have resisted normalising ties with Syria’s wartime president

    • Saturday, 15 April, 2023
      Syria
      Foreign ministers undecided on readmitting Syria to Arab League

      Opponents of normalisation say Assad has done little to rehabilitate himself

      Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad, right, with Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry in Damascus in February
    • Tuesday, 28 March, 2023
      Assad cousins hit with sanctions over amphetamine trade that funds regime

      Captagon is estimated to be worth $57bn annually to the Syrian government

      Captagon is a highly addictive amphetamine whose trade has become an economic lifeline for the regime
    • Monday, 27 February, 2023
      Syria
      Egyptian official meets Assad as Arab nations re-engage with Syria

      Rare visit by Cairo’s foreign minister is latest signal that regional leaders are moving beyond policy of isolation

    • Tuesday, 14 February, 2023
      Kim Ghattas
      The Syrian earthquake is not a free pass for Assad

      The president is positioning himself as a solution to the wicked problems he has created

      Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma meet an earthquake victim in Latakia. Syria’s president, a pariah for the past decade, now has reason to feel confident again
    • Sunday, 5 February, 2023
      Syrian crisis
      Turkey and Syria face challenge to mend ties after years of ‘zero trust’

      Ankara’s cross-border incursions and control over northern areas complicate talks

      Demonstrators in the rebel-held Syrian city of Idlib protest against a potential rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus
    • Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
      David Gardner
      Arab leaders weigh normalising relations with Syria’s president

      Bashar al-Assad is slowly being brought back into regional diplomatic society

      People in Damascus walk past a poster of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. There is speculation Assad may be distancing himself from Iran, but that alliance will not change
    • Tuesday, 8 June, 2021
      The FT ViewThe editorial board
      The world forgets Syria at its extreme peril

      There is no chance of refloating shattered state with the Assad tyranny in place

      A boy carries his belongings at a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo in 2015
    • Tuesday, 13 April, 2021
      Syria
      Economic crisis begins to crack the bedrock of Assad’s Alawi support

      Syria’s coastal areas prospered after supporting the president in wartime, but now sanctions and Covid are straining ties

    • Monday, 15 March, 2021
      Syrian crisis
      Sanctions and court actions mark 10th anniversary of Syrian uprising

      UK freezes assets of 6 Assad allies and bans them from travelling to Britain

      Two men hold up cardboard cutouts reading ‘10’ during a demonstration in Idlib
    • Monday, 16 November, 2020
      News in-depthSyrian crisis
      Wheat and fuel shortages overwhelm Syria

      The country’s economic collapse has been aggravated by the pandemic, Lebanese banking crisis and international isolation

    • Wednesday, 28 October, 2020
      David Gardner
      Putin tests Erdogan’s over-reach

      The Turkish president’s spat with France’s Macron has made headlines, but his rivalry with Russia is the bigger menace

      Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin are blowing hard on the embers of the war Turkey narrowly avoided with Russia in February’s clashes in Syria
    • Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
      David Gardner
      Sanctions against the Assad regime are unlikely to help Syrians

      The supposed beneficiaries of the US Caesar Act will be pushed faster towards famine

      An injured man is evacuated in Aleppo, which has been reduced to rubble by Russian and Syrian air strikes
    • Thursday, 11 June, 2020
      David Gardner
      Seven reasons why President Erdogan looks vulnerable

      The Turkish leader is meeting frustrating setbacks both at home and abroad

      President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s confident display of hard power in Libya masks potential weaknesses
    • Monday, 8 June, 2020
      Syrian crisis
      Syria protests erupt in rare show of dissent against Assad

      Economic hardship provokes demonstrations in government-controlled southern towns

      Damaged buildings in the province of Dera’a where protesters marched through the town of Tafas
    • Thursday, 7 May, 2020
      Syria
      Billionaire vs president — Assad family dispute grips Syria

      Rami Makhlouf’s complaints against his cousin show strains in power structure

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