Sami Moubayed

Sami Moubayed is a Syrian historian and author of Under the Black Flag (IB Tauris, 2015). 

Author Articles

Rival Druze leaders of Lebanon Walid Jumblatt (R) and Talal Arslan in Beirut. (NNA Lebanon)
Meeting at Baabda Palace ends Druze tensions
August 17, 2019
A 2014 file picture shows ISIS fighters waving flags during a military parade along the streets of Syria’s northern Raqqa province. (Reuters)
ISIS names heir to Baghdadi from Saddam’s officer corps
August 17, 2019
Simmering tensions. Lebanese Druze sheikhs attend the funeral of one of two aides of Refugee Affairs Minister Saleh Gharib, who were killed in an incident that Gharib called an assassination attempt, in Ramlieh, Lebanon, July 5. (Reuters)
Druze tensions threaten Lebanese government’s stability
July 27, 2019
Vulnerable lives. A Syrian girl at al-Hol camp for the internally displaced people in Hasakah governorate in north-eastern Syria, on July 23. (AFP)
Dire conditions in al-Hol and Rukban camps fuel fears of ISIS resurgence
July 27, 2019
A Syrian Army soldier stands next to a Syrian flag in Umm al-Mayazen in the countryside of Daraa. (Reuters)
Violence creeps back into major Syrian cities
July 20, 2019
Tightening noose. Lebanese MP for Hezbollah Amin Sherri gestures during a meeting for the party’s bloc in Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik, July 11. (AFP)
US sanctions on Hezbollah to carry long-term impact in Lebanon, Middle East
July 13, 2019
Lebanese State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh Gharib attends a news conference in Khaldeh near Beirut, July 1. (Reuters)
Mount Lebanon shoot-out triggers fears of intra-Druze strife
July 06, 2019
A boy holds the Free Syrian Army flag during a protest calling for an end to the strikes and for Ankara to open the frontier at the Atmeh crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border, in Idlib governorate, Syria, May 31. (Reuters)
Idlib operation risks morphing into ‘war of attrition’
June 29, 2019
‘Brotherhood blood’. A 2007 file picture shows Syrian President Bashar Assad (R) meeting with Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus.(AP)
Syria says no to restoring ties with Hamas
June 22, 2019
Syrian President Bashar Assad (C) greets Muslim clerics as he arrived to attend Eid al-Fitr prayers in Damascus, June 5. (AFP)
Syria regime using influential Muslim clerics to fight extremism
June 15, 2019
Intricate context. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem speaks during a news conference in Damascus. (AP)
Syria’s position on Iran-US standoff signals change of course
May 25, 2019
James Jeffrey, the US special representative for Syria, attends a session during the third day of the 55th Munich Security Conference, last February. (dpa)
US policy on Assad raises red flags for Syrian opposition
May 18, 2019
Lebanon's Christian Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir reviews an honour guard upon arriving at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, June 24, 2008. (Reuters)
Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, formidable figure in Lebanese modern history, dies
May 13, 2019
New escalation. Syrians, fleeing possible air strikes, drive along the main Damascus-Aleppo highway near the town of Saraqib in Syria’s jihadist-held Idlib province, May 9. (AFP)
Russian-Syrian forces pound Idlib, Turkey shifts attention to Kurdish positions
May 11, 2019
A battle for power. Syrian fighters during a graduation of new Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) members at a camp in northern Idlib, last August. (AFP)
A power struggle between radicals looms in Idlib
May 04, 2019
US President Donald Trump (L) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at NATO headquarters in Brussels, last July. (Reuters)
US Brotherhood designation could throw a spanner in Turkish game in Syria
May 04, 2019
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads a general parliament discussion in downtown Beirut.(Reuters)
Ties with Hezbollah put Berri in difficult position
April 27, 2019
At a standstill. Taxi drivers push their cars that ran out of fuel to a petrol station in Damascus, April 16. (AFP)
Damascus struggles with chronic petrol shortages
April 20, 2019
Risks and uncertainties. Turkish soldiers stand guard on the sides of the road during a patrol around the Syrian border at the demilitarised zone, last March.(DPA)
Clock ticks for Erdogan to decide on Syria
April 20, 2019
A strong comeback. Members of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party carry a poster of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in southern Lebanon.(Reuters)
Syria political influence beats the odds, again, in Lebanon
April 13, 2019