SAKHR AL-MAKHADHI – Five years after the Cedar Revolution promised to change Lebanon forever, the country is back to its old ways. The political earthquake that followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri may have left Lebanon looking almost untouched, but in neighbouring Syria it has had profound, and unexpected, effects. One million people [...]

Sakhr Al-Makhadhi – American officials are preparing to waive some of the sanctions against Syria imposed by the Bush administration, according to Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to Washington. First to go will be the ban on exports of spare parts and safety equipment for the Syrian civil aviation industry, followed by that on computer products. [...]

Sakhr Al-Makhadhi – Syrian internet users have grown used to years of censorship but now they face a new challenge – and it comes from outside the country. While people have been able to get around government-imposed barriers on politically sensitive sites (as well as seemingly innocuous ones such as Facebook which was suddenly blocked 18 [...]