The greatest threat to democracy may no longer come from political parties but from unelected tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and his powerful Silicon Valley network, argues JOHN GREEN
AS THE rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Syria Liberation Committee, HTS) seized Damascus, Syria’s capital, on December 7 2024, the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad boarded a flight to Moscow, Russia.
It was the end of the rule of the Assad family that began when Hafez al-Assad (1930-2000) became president in 1971, and continued through his son Bashar from 2000 — a 53-year-long rule.
HTS was formed out of the remnants of the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra (Front for the Conquest of Syria) in 2017 and led by its emir (leader) Abu Jaber Shaykh and its military commander Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
IAN SINCLAIR examines the curious memory lapses across liberal media when it comes to British government crimes
VIJAY PRASHAD details how US support for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa allowed him to break the resistance of the autonomous Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention


