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Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have all condemned the crackdown on opposition protesters in Syria. For Riyadh in particular, the crisis has thrown up the opportunity to damage Iranian influence in the region

Increased sanctions and political unrest are causing banks and trading firms to back away from markets such as Syria, Yemen and Iran, although Iraq is starting to regain momentum

The government of President Bashar Al-Assad has come under increased pressure as the Arab Spring has brought thousands of people demanding political reform onto the streets. But the regime continues to use heavy-handed tactics to cling on to power, resulting in violent clashes between protesters and the army.

The 3 February demonstrations in Sanaa were diffused by midday due to disunity among the Yemeni demonstrators, and Syria’s equivalent did not take root, but mass protests in Egypt

Although Syria is a bastion of Levantine culture, its portrayal in the media is often dominated by its politics. The West mistrusts its relationship with Iran and organisations such as Lebanon’s Hizbollah. Years of meddling in Lebanese affairs have strained relations, although efforts at reconciliation have been made, with Syria naming its first ambassador to Lebanon in 2009.

Syria plans to launch its delayed offshore licensing for oil and gas contracts in 2011. The round, which was due this year, was announced by oil minister Sufian Alao at the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries in Damascus on 22 November.

North Korea is involved in the continuous support of nuclear and ballistic missile-related activity in Iran and Syria, according to a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) report.

Damascus-based International Bank for Trade and Finance has mobilised a bank guarantee worth E64m to underwrite part of the 700MW expansion of the Deir Ali power plant in southern Damascus by the state Public Establishment for Electricity Generation and Transmission (PEEGT).

Syria-focused Gulfsands Petroleum has announced a large rise in H1 10 profit on the back of higher energy prices, an increase in production and a profit on the sale of assets in the Gulf of Mexico.

Syria-focused Gulfsands Petroleum has agreed with Australia’s AuDAX Resources to farm into the Chorbane and Kerkouane exploration permits in Tunisia, and another in southern Italy.

Syria-focused Gulfsands Petroleum has agreed with Australia’s AuDAX Resources to farm into the Chorbane and Kerkouane exploration permits in Tunisia, and another in southern Italy.

President Bashar Al-Assad has quashed rivals within the Baathist regime and is gaining confidence on the international stage. Could he be leading Syria to a new dawn?

As Riyadh’s new envoy Abdullah Al-Eifa prepares to take up his post in Damascus, President Bashar Al-Assad is enjoying the diplomatic payback for a sustained period of good behaviour over the past two years. The timing of the return of both the US and Saudi ambassadors, after four- and one-year hiatuses respectively, is no coincidence – foreign partners are once more seriously courting Syria. Riyadh and Damascus have decided to close a troubled chapter in Syria’s relations with the wider Arab world after Assad’s regime demonstrated good faith in its conduct during the Lebanese parliamentary elections of 7 June, which saw its proxies lose to the Saudi/US-backed 14 March coalition led by Saad Hariri.

President Bashar Al-Assad issued a decree on 3 June naming General Hassan Ali Turkmani assistant vice president. The US Navy is to take over the former commercial port at Mina Salman.

As it focuses on what many in Washington view as Iran’s uncomfortable rise up the international pecking order, US analysts are reappraising old ideas about detaching Syria from the so-called Shia Crescent linking Iran and Hizbollah in Lebanon. This so-called ‘Wedge Theory’ argued that a strategic deal with Syria, most likely involving peace with Israel and international rehabilitation, could be used to induce Damascus to end its strategic alliance with Iran and cut off one avenue of support for Hizbollah and Hamas.