This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Nicolas Pelham, the Middle East correspondent for The Economist. Nicolas has worked in the Middle East and North Africa for more than 30 years and has reported from every state in the region. Together, they discuss his latest article, “The Great Pretender: How Ahmed al-Sharaa Won Syria,” an in-depth profile of the ... Show More
May 22
Babel Special: Jon Alterman's Next Chapter
This week on a special edition of Babel, Will Todman speaks with Jon Alterman, the creator of Babel and the show’s host since it began in 2019. They discuss Jon’s reflections on 22 years directing the CSIS Middle East Program, his analysis of how the Middle East policy ecosystem ... Show More
34m 59s
May 15
Mohanad Hage Ali: Hezbollah and the Captagon Trade
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director for research at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. Mohanad's latest paper for Carnegie investigates the rise of a new form of drug smuggling in Lebanon. Together, they discuss Hezbollah’s i ... Show More
50m 16s
May 8
Analysis: Will Trump’s Houthi Deal Stick?
On Tuesday, May 6, President Trump declared that the United States would immediately halt its bombing of Houthi targets, bringing an end to months of intensified U.S. strikes across Yemen. The president linked the policy reversal to what he described as the Iran-backed Houthis’ c ... Show More
6m 13s
Dec 2024
The End of Assad and a New Era for Syria — with Kareem Shaheen, Rasha Elass and Faisal Al Yafai
In a momentous week in the history of Syria, New Lines’ Middle East Editor Kareem Shaheen and Editorial Director Rasha Elass join Faisal Al Yafai on The Lede to discuss how the Assad regime’s collapse happened so quickly, the terrible symbolism of the Sednaya prison complex and w ... Show More
51m 30s
Dec 2024
QUE S’EST-IL RÉELLEMENT PASSÉ EN SYRIE ? | HAFSA KARA-MUSTAPHA | GPTV
Le 16 décembre 2024, Hafsa Kara-Mustapha, François Martin, Claude Janvier et Yanis Dalouche étaient les invités de Mike Borowski sur Géopolitique Profonde !Hafsa Kara-Mustapha est une journaliste et analyste politique spécialisée dans les relations internationales, notamment au M ... Show More
1h 31m
Dec 2024
The final hours of the Assad regime
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
28m 18s
Mar 2025
The Former Jihadist Trying To Remake Syria
Atlantic writer Robert Worth talks about Syria's transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. He was the founder of the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, but is now advocating unity and inclusion. Syria borders Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, so what happens in Syria impacts the whole reg ... Show More
43m 50s
Sep 2024
Trouble up North: Syria and Turkey look to normalise ties
This week on The New Arab Voice podcast, we look at the potential for a normalisation deal between Syria and Turkey. In recent years, Syria has been welcomed back into the regional fold, and yet Damascus has still not normalised with Ankara, and Turkish troops remain on Syrian so ... Show More
28m 59s
Dec 2024
The Middle East After Assad
After rebels took Syria’s capital, President Bashar Al-Assad fled Damascus for Russia, ending his brutal 24-year reign. His ouster marks the beginning of a new, uncertain phase for a country that’s been ravaged by 13 years of civil war. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s ... Show More
15m 28s