Syria Direct

German authorities now believe that Abdul Ballout, the 21-year-old who rammed a truck into a Pride parade in Berlin, killing one person and injuring 29, may not have been an Islamic State (IS)-inspired lone wolf. Ballout was shot dead by German police after the attack. Authorities are now investigating whether he acted alone. GPS data obtained from a second mobile phone recov...

Last month, hundreds of residents of the rural town of Mneen, outside Damascus, took to the streets to protest a government project to construct a well they say would divert water resources to the neighboring city of al-Tal. 

Protesters gathered around the town’s fountain, which was also the site of demonstrations in 2011, when the Syrian revolution began. Local reside...

On August 11, 2026, Atef Najib was sentenced to death by the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus. As head of Political Security in Daraa in 2011, Najib was responsible for the torture of a group of schoolboys who had sprayed anti-government graffiti—an event that helped catalyze the Syrian revolution. Some of those schoolboys testified against him in court. Najib also ...

When President Emmanuel Macron returned 23 Syrian artifacts in July, it was more than a diplomatic gesture. It was a recognition that antiquities had become symbols of Syria’s reconstruction and of the country’s attempt to reclaim a national identity after more than 13 years of war.

“As Syrian citizens, we feel that trust...

There was a time when a humble news website was a revolutionary act. In the early 2000s, Syrians looking for independent political news and commentary would visit websites like All4Syria.net or Syria-News.com to access content uncensored by Syria’s secret police, the mukhabarat. They were a relatively small number—those who could afford an internet connection with suff...