For today, links to reports from Middle East Monitor and Middle East Eye, and to commentary from Indian Punchline; other articles are accessible by clicking on its name below. (GAZA, WEST BANK, UKRAINE and MEDIA entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. SYRIA 2-1-25 entry is HERE.) — MCM

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Syria’s new president visits Saudi Arabia in first overseas trip. From Middle East Monitor. Syria’s recently appointed interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, has arrived in Saudi Arabia today for his first international visit since rebel forces ousted Bashar Al-Assad last month. READ MORE . . .

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Massacres and resilience in Hama, Syria’s insubordinate city, by Omar al-Aswad, Daniel Hilton and Harun al-Aswad | Middle East Eye  HAMA, Syria — Cities across Syria have been pulverised by a decade and a half of civil war. Syrians are quite literally picking up the pieces now that Bashar al-Assad and his government have been removed. Hama’s levelling came much earlier, in 1982, during a massacre that began on Feb. 2 of that year. READ MORE . . .

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FROM FEB. 1  Syria enters new era amidst uncertainties, by M.K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline  The appointment of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as Interim President on Wednesday marks the advent of a new era in Syria’s history. The New York Times in a feature article on al-Sharaa called the HTS an “Islamist rebel group once linked to Al Qaeda.” [Emphasis added.] READ MORE . . .