Alex Rowell

An immense honour to be awarded the Lokman Slim Prize yesterday in Beirut, and to say a few words with @MonikaBorgmann, @Rashalisa, @HazemSaghieh, @makramrabah & @Sobhiyanajjar. If Lebanon's new leaders are serious about change, they must bring Lokman's killers to justice.

Gripping work on Austin Tice, the journalist missing in Syria since 2012, by @BrowneGareth, who entered Damascus the day Assad fled and has been chasing this story ever since.

One of #Syria’s most aggressive disinformation campaigns followed the #Sweida violence. In this @newlinesmag piece, I try to cut through the noise to separate real local grievances from the louder, destructive foreign propaganda. newlinesmag.com/argument/how-f…

The Assad regime's once-feared security state crumbled from within because it failed to adapt to the information age, writes Kamal Shahin in a new investigative essay for @newlinesmag. newlinesmag.com/reportage/how-…

"We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families [and now face] the threat of starvation" - joint statement by BBC, AFP, AP and Reuters.

A large explosion north of Idlib city, northwestern Syria, a short while ago. No further details yet.

In the last few days, the Gaza Ministry of Health recorded 101 Palestinians who have reportedly died from malnutrition in Gaza, including 15 deaths within a 24-hour period. According to the information at hand, at least 80 of the 101 are children.

The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached astonishing levels of desperation with a third of the population not eating for multiple days in a row, reports @WFP. A quarter face famine-like conditions. ~100,000 women and children suffer severe acute malnutrition. news.un.org/en/story/2025/…

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, historical revisionism is rife, with the wars of the 1990s increasingly up for debate and reinterpretation, report Tatjana Dordevic and Joshua Evangelista for @newlinesmag. newlinesmag.com/essays/srebren…

"For months, Sweida in southern Syria has been a tinderbox waiting for a match. Now, the mountain of the Druze is burning" writes @CP__Ward, who was in the area last month. In @newlinesmag today: newlinesmag.com/spotlight/esca…

This would not have happened - or not to the same extent - if there had been real accountability for the massacres of Alawites on the coast in March. There was no accountability and no transparency, and Syria may collapse as a result.

It's certain that Druze militias are attacking and displacing Beduin, but still it is very one sided against the Druze. Massacres are happening in and around Sweida. This catastrophe will create a thousand Hijris. Everyone needs to do whatever they can to stop it.

📚 نشرة الدالّ | العدد ٢٢ ترشيحات كتب من طهران إلى برلين وواشنطن: كوابيس الرايخ الثالث، صعود إيران، الناصرية، ما بعد الحقيقة، وردع الحرب النووية. @AnnieJacobsen @alexjrowell @milanimohsen @ElhawaryAnwar 🔗 aldaal.substack.com/p/22

Israel is attacking Damascus. I'm on the phone with family in Damascus right now. They say the smoke is so thick they can't see out their windows. Israel is striking in the heart of the city. Apartment buildings are shaking. I hear loud booms and sirens in the background.

ISRAEL STRIKE NEAR SYRIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE

Heavy Israeli strikes moments ago in central Damascus, hitting the Syrian army's General Staff compound on Umayyad Square, metres from the iconic sword monument.

At least 12 killed in Israeli strikes that targeted different locations in #Lebanon’s Bekaa … governor of region says 7 were Syrian laborers … deadliest day since November ceasefire

Just arrived from Beirut, hot off the @daraljadeed2 press ⬇️

Syria announces arrest of suspected Hezbollah member in possession of explosive devices today.lorientlejour.com/article/146912…

You just know something is not quite right when someone says weapons are their religion.

Hizbullah official Faysal Shukr threatens Lebanese who call for disarming it: "Those who talk of removing [our] weapons ... We'll remove your souls." Says weapons "are our religion, our Qur'an, our Muhammad, our Ali, our Fatima, our Hasan, our Husayn, our Imams and our Mahdi."