Product news, field notes and what we're seeing across the markets we build in, Syria's tech reopening included.
Syria's grain country and its busiest land bridge to the Gulf, wrapped around a basalt plateau that fed the Roman Empire. Here is what Daraa is, what it grows, and what it means to build digital products on the southern frontier.
Backed by the Public Investment Fund, HUMAIN is building data centres, the ALLaM model and a 6GW compute ambition.
On the black-basalt highlands of Jabal al-Arab, As-Suwayda grows the country's apples and grapes, sends its sons across the world, and remembers it was once called the city of Dionysus. A profile of Syria's mountain heartland and its digital prospects.
Wrapped in olive groves and ringed by some of the best-preserved Byzantine ruins on earth, Idlib turns fruit into trade and stone into heritage. A forward-looking profile of Syria's olive city and its digital footing.
Set in a high valley of the Golan at nearly a kilometre's altitude, Quneitra carries a Circassian and caravan heritage and a landscape of fertile volcanic uplands. A neutral, forward-looking profile of return, renewal, and what comes next.
An oasis caravan city whose monumental ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage site, Tadmur married Greco-Roman, Persian, and local art at the crossroads of the ancient world. A forward-looking profile of heritage, desert economy, and careful restoration.
A mountain resort in the Anti-Lebanon range, famous for its apples, cherries, and cool springs. As visitors and growers return, its valley is a study in renewal.
On Syria's Mediterranean coast, Jableh layers a Roman amphitheatre and a Bronze Age tell over a living town of fishing boats, orange groves, and beaches.
The largest town of Eastern Ghouta and a historic bridge between Damascus and its orchards, Douma is rebuilding its markets, schools, and trade.
An ancient holy city turned regional trade hub between Aleppo, the Euphrates, and the Turkish border, Manbij anchors a rich farming plain now rebuilding.
On the margin of the Syrian steppe, Salamiyah farms a fertile plain and carries a deep literary heritage — the birthplace of the father of Arabic free verse.
For a decade, 'Syrian software engineer' almost always meant 'working from somewhere else.' The rails that made leaving necessary are being rebuilt in the other direction.
With sanctions easing, Stripe is anticipated to add Syria to its supported countries — opening online payments to local developers.
An $800 million stc-backed fiber project, a Mediterranean submarine cable system, and a new link to Cyprus. The geography that made Syria a trade route for four millennia works for data too.
The Technology Innovation Institute's Falcon-H1 Arabic leads the Open Arabic LLM Leaderboard, while the Falcon 3 series adds image, video and audio.
On May 9, 2026, the first Visa and Mastercard transactions in over fifteen years were processed in Damascus. Here's the full chain of events — and what it unlocks for anyone building software in Syria.
Cross-platform got good. The conversation moved from 'will it feel native?' to 'what ships fastest without compromising craft?' Here's our playbook.
Qatar is committing major capital to AI data-centre infrastructure, partnering with global investor Brookfield.
The global AI gathering returns to the UAE capital, drawing model-makers, chipmakers, governments and startups.
Hundreds of international companies at Syria Hi-Tech 2026, a presidential-patronage infrastructure conference, and a finance minister talking about digitization as anti-corruption policy. Conferences are a lagging indicator — that's exactly why they matter.