Willing to co-operate with terrorists as and when it suits him, Assad has intentionally shaped the course of the Syrian conflict. Nor does IS have the monopoly on committing atrocities against civilians, as the regime's repeated use of chemical weapons, most recently near Idlib, reveals. By Hakim KhatibMore

Revolutions rarely meet the expectations and hopes of those in the Arab world. The chance of transforming political impotence into collective agenda-setting power remains slim while repressive authoritarian regimes persist. By Hakim KhatibMore

Muslims who describe IS as un-Islamic and declare that it has nothing to do with genuine Islam cannot deny that many of their fellow believers identify with the image of Islam promoted by the jihadists and their ideology. A thorough examination of the Muslim faith is long overdue. By Hakim KhatibMore

The war waging in Syria, hijacked by opposing ideologies just months after it began, has had an irrevocable impact on the Syrian people. Although not much is heard of Syrians outside the refugee camps, Americans, Europeans, Russians, Turks, Iranians, and Arabs hold meeting after meeting to agree and disagree, coalesce and collide, in an attempt to halt the ″Syrian conflict″. By Hakim KhatibMore