With news of an agreement between big powers for a a safe zone in the south, the opposition is becoming aware that decisions on Syria’s future are increasingly out of their control, Ali Ayed writes
Chief opposition negotiator warns the continuation of the Assad regime will fuel sectarian tensions and hatred in Syria, Coalition media office reports
Assad’s failure to secure the areas he retakes will be the opposition’s last hope in gaining public support, a former media executive writes for Saudi-owned newspaper
Writing for loyalist Al-Watan, Siyah Azzam says the U.S is conspiring with its allies and terror groups in Syria to dismantle the state and depose Assad
The Syrian opposition’s failure to propose a suitable alternative to Assad has helped the Syrian president to defy international pressure to step down, Walid al-Bunni argues
Relatives announce the death of the former minister who fell into a coma on Monday morning
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the American diplomat says his country gave false hope early on to Syrians who believed the U.S. would intervene militarily against Assad
French President Macron must convince Moscow of the benefits of a political solution if Paris hopes to have any luck in settling the Syrian crisis, Michel Abu Najm writes for Saudi-owned newspaper
Souriatna chronicles the 150-year history of Chechen migration to northern Syria from the time of Hadji Murad through Ottoman, French and Baathist rule
Riad Hijab warns newly elected president of Assad regime’s “preparations for an escalatory military campaign,” opposition media office reports
Joint online project aims to answer top five questions about the refugee crisis, opposition website explains
Education directorate says teaching Russian will help bolster the educational system due to the language’s prominence on the internet, loyalist newspaper Al-Watan writes
Damascus strongly rejects claims by French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault connecting the Assad regime to the chemical attack in Idleb’s countryside on April 4, government media writes
Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat explains that many opposition factions are still deciding whether to participate in the talks in the Kazakh capital, claiming that some parties believe Russia isn’t pulling its weight in enforcing the cease-fire deal
It will be up to the armies of Syria, Iraq and Russia to defend the interests of their people by preventing the breakup of Middle Eastern geography for benefit of Western energy interests, Ali Hashem writes for pro-regime Al-Watan
Footage on social media shows activists in the southern city of Suweida waving the flag of independence, an opposition symbol, while demanding freedom from the rule of the Assad regime, opposition website Zaman al-Wasl reports
In a special op-ed for The Syrian Observer, the coordinator-general of the High Negotiations Committee explains that untying the Syrian knot will require isolating external influence on the Syrian scene, a transition with the establishment of a new political system, and the firm application of international law in order to hold war criminals to account
President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to Croatian newspaper Vecernji List published Thursday, in which he reflects on six years of conflict, the negotiation process and the fight against terrorism. The following is the full text as published by government news agency SANA
As the battle for Raqqa city draws closer, a rebel spokesperson laments Kurdish domination of upcoming operations, also predicting that American forces will remain in Raqqa for years at the airbase they seized from ISIS last week, Alsouria Net writes
According to an investigative report by NDR and Zaman al-Wasl, German citizens have been on the Syrian regime’s watch list for decades, with instructions in place to bar them from entry into Syria or detention when inside Syria
