Sharaa, was declared head of state for a transitional phase and empowered to form a new legislative council on Wednesday, in an announcement by the armed groups that toppled Bashar al-Assad. Read more at straitstimes.

With pills to calm his heart and CCTV monitoring his stairs, one man set out to hold politicians, police and even regime figures to account

Books recounting torture in Syrian prisons or texts on radical Islamic theology now sit openly in Damascus bookstores, no longer traded in secret after iron-fisted ruler Bashar al-Assad's ouster."If I had asked about a (certain) book just two months ago,

New Damascus leadership says it's ready to cooperate with UN force, deploy troops to Golan to adhere to 1974 agreement that created a demilitarized zone Israel has now seized

A Russian delegation tells Damascus it wants certain Syrian opposition groups included in the upcoming national dialogue conference

A Russian delegation voiced support for Syria's sovereignty as it met the new administration in Damascus on Tuesday, marking the first such visit to the war-torn country since the fall of the Assad regime. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, and Presidential Special Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev met Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Jon Lee Anderson reports from Damascus. Plus: the insidiousness of the entrepreneurial economy; fear and hope on the subway; and the roots of Trump’s aggressive nationalism.

Russia reaffirms its commitment to maintain a permanent dialogue with Syria's new leadership after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad.

Built on a hill 30 kilometers from Damascus, the Saidnaya prison has instilled terror in generations of Syrians: a place of damnation where men are "neither alive nor dead," in the words of the poet Faraj Bayrakdar, arrested for "communist activities" and who survived 14 years of detention in various prisons across the country.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov is set to meet Syria's new rulers this week in Damascus, two Syrian sources said on Tuesday, in the first visit by Russian officials since Moscow's ally President Bashar al-Assad was toppled.

Travelling from Syria’s Highway 42, which runs from Tabqa to the city of Homs, you can see the corpse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Getting to Homs and from there to Damascus requires driving