SHAPIRO: Mohammed al-Refai was a 22-year-old refugee from Syria. In 2015, millions of Syrians fled the civil war in their country. Mohammed's family went across the border to Jordan, but something strange happened.

As Syria's economy collapsed during the long ... GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hey, Ari. SHAPIRO: What is Captagon? MYRE: Well, Captagon was created as a legal pharmaceutical drug in Germany in the 1960s.

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Steven Heydemann, Middle East Studies director at Smith College, about how Syria might avoid replicating Arab countries that are worse off after overthrowing dictators.

As Syria's economy collapsed during the civil war, the country became something of narco-state. The now-ousted regime was estimated to earn billions annually from trafficking a drug known as Captagon.

HEYDEMANN: Well, I think Syria faces significant headwinds, and they arise in part from the identity of HTS as an Islamist movement. SHAPIRO ... Thank you very much, Ari. Transcript provided ...

Senior U.S. diplomats on Friday held their first formal talks in Damascus with the leader of the Islamist rebels who overthrew the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a discussion they later characterized as “good” and “thorough.”

Syria's military said it had carried out a "temporary troop withdrawal" in Aleppo to prepare for a counteroffensive against "terrorists". And it admitted insurgents had entered large parts of the ...

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Last week, after 50 years of tyranny and repression, the government of Bashar Assad fell in Syria. It fell thanks ... reality is dangerous and stupid. Ben Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard ...

Ben Shapiro is host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" and ... the government of Bashar Assad fell in Syria. It fell thanks to a combination of three forces. First, Israel’s military utterly eviscerated ...

Geir O. Pedersen’s comments come as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham officials, Syria’s de facto leaders, work to attain international legitimacy.

By Patricia Cohen Reporting from London Although the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria was shockingly quick, rebuilding the devastated economy he left behind will be ...