Following a brutal attack at a festival in Solingen, west Germany on Friday night, in which three people were stabbed to death and eight others injured, German police have arrested a 26-year-old Syrian man who reportedly handed himself in and admitted to carrying out the mass killing.

The Kurdish alliance stresses that its main goal is to fight ISIS, while its second, more vague, objective is to build a “democratic Syria.” So far, it has made no mention of fighting Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

By Raghida Dergham

There have been many recent surprises in the Arab world, mainly heading towards the direction of a developing U.S.-Iranian relationship that goes beyond mere appeasement. This is while the U.S.-Israeli relationship remains a quintessential alliance and while the U.S.-Arab relationship continues with various brandings across the Gulf to Africa, through the Orient and its torn countries.

Assad preparing to hand over Damascus to Daesh: FSA chief

01-06-2015: The Secretary-General of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Captain Ammar al-Wawi said yesterday, “Bashar al-Assad’s regime is preparing to hand over Damascus to elements of the ‘Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’ (Daesh) in the event of its fall, but the rebels are aware of this,” adding that “preparations for this began more than a month-and-a-half ago.”

By Mario Abou Zeid, Al Jazeera

The long-planned spring battle of Qalamoun - between Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces on one hand, and Syrian rebels on the other hand - started last weekend. Though the Assad regime and Hezbollah are striving for a victory to regain momentum, it will be a lengthy and costly one that will further degrade their capabilities. Furthermore, it has exposed the reality of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Qalamoun; that it is operated by the Syrian regime's intelligence.