The explosions in Damascus that overshadowed the French president's visit point to a wider governance crisis in Ahmed al-Sharaa's Syria, more than a year and a half after he took power.

Near Quneitra in the central Golan, al-Sharaa's security forces are consolidating control with Israeli approval, even preventing operations against Israel. In the south, at the Syria-Jordan-Israel border triangle, control is far weaker. Friction flared this week between the IDF and residents of Abedin in the Yarmouk Basin when routine IDF activity was read as an attempt to take the village. The regime stayed out but set up barriers to block militants and limit escalation.

- @kaisos1987