.Gideon Rachman talks to FT Middle East correspondent Raya Jalabi | رايه الجلبي about what she found when she arrived in Damascus shortly after the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad on.ft.com/4iBC16K

Syria’s largest oil refinery Baniyas halted operations after Iranian crude shipments stopped, previously the vast majority of Syria's input, its general manager said. But “there is a decent amount [of fuel] in storage". When it finishes will depend on use ft.com/content/9d65fb…

Around Damascus, stores are now lined with Turkish bottled water, Saudi bouillon cubes, Lebanese powdered milk & western chocolates like Twix. In one supermarket in the centre of the city, an entire wall was dedicated to Pringles, writes Sarah Dadouch | سارة دعدوش : ft.com/content/a1d032…

In the past week, the status quo has been upended in Lebanon, first with Joseph Aoun as president & now with top ICJ judge Nawaf Salam picked for PM. While the challenges ahead are immense, many Lebanese now feel hope for the first time in a long time. on.ft.com/4gcnRXz

Main points from our interview with Syria’s new FM Asaad Shaibani, his first with international media: -plans to privatise state-owned ports & factories -Syrian gov left behind $30 billion debt to Russia + Iran -exploring public-private partnerships ft.com/content/437467…

Syria’s new government pressed Moscow about reparations in their first meeting with a Kremlin delegation since the downfall of staunch Russian ally Bashar al-Assad’s regime last month. latest, with Raya Jalabi | رايه الجلبي Chris Cook ft.com/content/0fe18a…

ICYMI: I spent the past couple of months immersed in Ahmed al-Sharaa's world, looking for answers to Qs I've been asked the most since Dec 8: is his transformation genuine & can he be trusted? Pertinent Qs after days of bloodshed up & down Syria's coast: x.com/FT/status/1898…

Lebanon closes in on new BdL head in test of reform agenda: “The stakes are too high: you can’t have the same people responsible for the biggest crisis Lebanon has ever been through also trying to restructure the banking sector,” said ⁦Nasser Saidi⁩ on.ft.com/3QQJUZs

Syria will be fully reconnected to the Swift payment system “in a matter of weeks”, the country’s new central bank governor Abdulkader Husrieh told the Financial Times in a wide-ranging interview, relinking the country to the global economy after 14 years as a pariah: ft.com/content/75a114…