Amatzia Baram

Amatzia Baram is professor emeritus at the Department of the History of the Middle East and Director of the Centre for Iraq Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel. He provides unique insight into the political background of Abu Muhammad al-Julani who has overthrown the brutal regime of Bashar Assad in Syria. Professor Baram does not address the terrorist activities of al-Julani but instead focuses on the sea-change in Syria and its regional impact. Baram is regarded as one of the most objective and trustworthy Middle East scholars.

September 29, 2026

Sri Lanka

What Sri Lanka’s Easter Judgment Finally Reveals

Sri Lanka’s September 22, 2026 Easter Sunday judgment marks a decisive legal reckoning with one of the country’s deadliest terrorist attacks, convicting 15 of 24 defendants after an extensive examination of thousands

Geopolitics/Human Rights/Judiciary

Exclusive: Inside Sri Lanka’s Easter Plot — Read the Full TAB Judgment

The 22 September 2026 Trial-at-Bar judgment provides a detailed account of the alleged network behind Sri Lanka’s 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, tracing the prosecution’s case from ideological indoctrination and recruitment to weapons, explosives, logistical support and the coordinated suicide bombings

September 29, 2026

Bluffing Is Not Diplomacy

Editor's Choice/Geopolitics

Sri Lanka has every right to speak forcefully on Palestine and international justice. But moral authority abroad cannot substitute for diplomatic precision at home.

Sri Lanka and China Deepen Indian Ocean Policy Dialogue

Events/Sri Lanka

The Pathfinder Foundation and the China Center for South Asian Studies (CCSAS) at Sichuan University launched the Colombo Maritime Dialogue 2026 Report at a

Assad’s Army: What Went Wrong

December 17, 2024

Sri Lanka Guardian Essays

On November 27, when the rebels emerged from their Idlib enclave in north-western Syria, President Bashar Assad was on a visit to Moscow. The sudden disintegration of his army was even more

Who is Abu Muhammad al-Julani — New Leader in Syria

December 12, 2024

Sri Lanka Guardian Essays

Ahmad Hussein Ash-Shara, widely known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, was born in Damascus in 1982 to a lower-middle-class Sunni Arab family. His father owned a grocery store, and al-Julani assisted him while