Assad will demand high price for return of refugees - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Analysis

Week in Review

Andrew Parasiliti

Week in Review , Andrew Parasiliti

May 6, 2023

A woman sits outside a tent at a camp for those displaced by conflict in the countryside near Syria's northern city of Raqa on December 19, 2022. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images) — A woman sits outside a tent at a camp for those displaced by conflict in the countryside near Syria's northern city of Raqqa on Dec. 19, 2022. — DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (left) meets with Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Jeddah on April 12, 2023.

Arab initiative offers best chance for Syria in years

Week in Review

Andrew Parasiliti

Week in Review , Andrew Parasiliti

People walk past election campaign billboards depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a candidate for the upcoming presidential vote, in the capital Damascus, on May 25, 2021.

After Arab League vote, US 'skeptical' Syria’s Assad will make concessions

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

A man walks past a poster of President Bashar al-Assad, a candidate for the Presidential election, in the Syrian capital Damascus on May 17, 2021. - A Syrian former minister and a member of the Damascus-tolerated opposition will face Bashar al-Assad in this month's presidential election, the constitutional court said. The Assad-appointed body approved only three out of 51 applications to stand in the May 26 ballot, among them the 55-year-old president himself, widely expected to win a fourth mandate. (Photo

US lawmakers unveil bill targeting normalization of Syria’s Assad

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan (L), Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (R) arrive for a regional meeting on Syria, in Amman on May 1, 2023. - Arab foreign ministers will gather in Jordan on May 1, to discuss Syria's long-running conflict and ending Damascus's diplomatic isolation in the region, the foreign ministry in Amman said. (Photo by Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP) (Photo by KHALIL MAZRAAWI/afp/AFP v

Jordan hosts meeting to facilitate Syria’s return to Arab League

Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change