The great pretender: how Ahmed al-Sharaa won Syria

Syria’s new president is a chameleon. Is that enough to rule the Middle East’s most volatile country?

One summer morning in 2021 a debonair-looking man approached the crossing point into rebel-held Syria. As he left Turkey behind, Khaled al-Ahmed felt his chest tighten. He was a member of the Alawite sect, a minority group from which the Assad dynasty, which had ruled Syria for 50 years, was drawn. Until 2018 he had been a close adviser to Bashar al-Assad, the country’s president. Now he was about to enter territory controlled by Sunni Islamist rebels, many of whom would have been happy to see people like him executed.

1843 | Dope and glory: inside the Enhanced Games

Athletes want to break records. The founders hope to take performance-boosting drugs mainstream

1843 | Grate expectations: the troubled quest for tasty vegan cheese

The plant-based boom failed to deliver. But there may yet be hope

1843 | Reform’s pub crawl to power

It’s not easy to satisfy the working class and the super-rich. But do they both just want to have fun?

1843 | The horsemen of the West Bank

Palestinians brave checkpoints and gunfire to see their favourite Arabian stallions compete

1843 | The Republican congressman taking on Trump

Thomas Massie has launched a one-man rebellion from Kentucky

1843 | How do you replace 40 million dead vultures?

The scavengers are vital for public health in India. But politics is interfering with efforts to breed them