Israel is conducting airstrikes on Damascus, while fighting rages in the Druze city of Suwayda. Middle East expert [CEP Senior Director] Hans-Jakob Schindler explains how these events are connected, the role of the fragile transitional government, and Israel's strategic goals.

CEP Senior Research Analyst Sofia Koller interviewed regarding ISIS, women and children in Syria, and returnees. 

The EU and the US also want to end sanctions against Syria. Germany also plans to deport Islamist threats there. Hans-Jakob Schindler of the international research organization Counter Extremism Project urges caution and warns that we should first observe whether interim President al-Sharaa actually implements his moderate course. "This is a very significant vote of confidence in a person in Syria – Mr. al-Sharaa, who announces he will do something that, however, does not correspond to the ideological orientation of his own people, which has been expressed and repeated for years."

The Berlin-based think tank "Counter Extremism Project" (CEP) also reports on the case in a recent policy paper on the situation of detainees in north-east Syria. According to the paper, the man had been married to a German woman who has since returned to Germany and been convicted according to Islamic rites. Analyst Sofia Koller, one of the authors of the paper, told SWR: "The fact that a second German apparently died in Kurdish captivity not only shows the poor prison conditions on the ground, but also the extensive inaction of German authorities." For example, Mohammad A.'s family was apparently only informed of his death a year later. The first death in prison in north-east Syria had already become known in 2020 thanks to a report in the Bild newspaper.