A visit to the souk in the old city in the Syrian capital of Damascus tell us a lot about the state of the country's current economy.

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 ...

A Syrian mother and daughter are reunited for the first time in 6 years after the fall of the Assad regime, and freedom of ...

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.

Can Syria avoid a similar fate today? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected]. ARI SHAPIRO ...

Travis Timmerman, a U.S. citizen found wandering barefoot in Damascus after being freed from a Syrian prison following the ...

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.

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 ...

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.