Fear and euphoria in Damascus

US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent is calling for an “economic D-Day” for the Iranian regime while threatening secondary sanctions on countries that do business with the country. Will this be more effective than previous attempts at economic pressure? What impact will this have ...  Show more

The UN is choosing a new secretary-general at a time when it’s struggling to remain relevant. Sidelined in the wars in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East, and facing a severe funding crisis, the organisation is under growing pressure. This week, guest host Alec Russell speaks to ...  Show more

Rebels in Syria have seized the capital Damascus and ousted President Bashar al-Assad has fled to Russia. We hear from the ground as the lightning advance spearheaded by Hayat al-Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) marks one of the biggest turning points for the Middle East in generations - and ...  Show more

Just a month after Bashar al-Assad fell in Syria, the country is in the midst of a swirl of regional diplomacy. The new Syrian foreign minister is on another regional swing, and the foreign ministers of Germany and France visited Damascus. A central question is when and how the c ...  Show more

Today on GPS, the scenes coming out of post-Assad Syria are extraordinary: prisoners freed, families reunited, a missing American found. Now comes the tough part: putting a country of dueling factions back together ... under the leadership of a group that's deemed a terror organi ...  Show more

President Bashar al-Assad has fled Syria, ending 50 years of authoritarian rule by his family. Over the weekend, rebels who had already taken Aleppo and Hama began to close in on the city of Homs and set their eyes on the capital Damascus.As it became clear that Assad had fled, t ...  Show more