Middle East 4 ChangeAfter ISIS
Friday, February 5, 2021
Patrick Cockburn Alend Shoresh is a Kurdish farmer and teacher from north-east Syria who was conscripted into fighting Islamic State in 2018: he joined the Syrian Democratic Forces…
With love and fury: the Syrian writers proving there’s more than one war story: Book Review
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Robin Yassin-Kassab “Syrians. I hated the deceptive simplicity of that word. We were twenty-three million people. Soldiers and fighters. Revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries. The torturer and the victim. How…
Syrian rebels sign up to fight for Azeris in Nagorno-Karabakh to feed families
Sunday, October 4, 2020
MEE and agencies Desperate to help his family displaced by Syria’s war, pro-Turkey rebel fighter Abu Ahmad is waiting to be deployed to Azerbaijan, hoping to earn almost 80…
Three Years Later: The Evolution of Russia’s Military Intervention in Syria
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Joseph Daher. As it draws closer to the eve of September 30—when three years earlier Russian military intervention in Syria first began—it is telling that Russia’s influence in…
How the Assad regime has exploited “evacuation deals” to redirect Isis against the rebels
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Omar Sabbour. In September 2018, when the Assad regime was preparing to launch its (now on-hold) offensive against rebel-held Idlib in northern Syria, a rather surprising report emerged in the…
Iran’s Policy In Post-US Syria Is To Block Kurdish Left
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Maysam Behravesh. US President Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement last week of the withdrawal of American troops from Syria caught many people off guard, including his own administration officials. It…
The Women of the Revolution: inside the Kurdish Rojava Revolution
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
David Pratt. A remarkable story is unfolding that defies the usual narrative about Syria. In contrast to the misogyny and anti-democratic values of the jihadists of the Islamic…
Book Review: Women in crossfire, Diaries of the Syrian Revolution
Friday, October 12, 2018
Robin Yassin-Kassab. ‘A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution’ by novelist Samar Yazbek is part journalism, part personal memoir, and all literature. It’s literature of…
Idlib, Syria: Fire burn and cauldron bubble
Monday, September 17, 2018
Esen Uslu. Posted on Weekly Worker Sept 13, 2108. The forces of Bashar al-Assad and his allies, Iran and Russia, are poised to strike deep into Syria’s Idlib…
Syria is not exceptional: interview with Joseph Daher | Part 2
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Joe Hayns & Joseph Daher. Posted on RS21 May 10, 2018. This is Part 2 of an interview with Joseph Daher, on revolution and counter-revolution in Syria. In…
Syria is not exceptional: interview with Joseph Daher | Part 1
Friday, May 25, 2018
Joe Hayns. Posted on Revolutionary Socialism April 27, 2018. Last summer, in Rabat, a friend explained the Syrian families begging from the passing crowds, five minutes from Parliament,…
The Syrian Revolution and the Emancipation of Palestinians and Kurds: Interview with Joseph Daher
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Joseph Daher and Ela Liberta. Posted on Alliance of Middle East Socialists May 19, 2018. Below, we reprint an interview which the Greek socialist collective Ela Liberta conducted…
Systematic destruction of healthcare in Eastern Ghouta, Syria
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Posted on BMJ 28 March 2018. Systematic attacks on hospitals, patients, doctors, and civilians in Eastern Ghouta, Syria, have killed nearly 1600 civilians and resulted in the internal…
Exclusive emails show how the White Helmets tried to recruit Roger Waters with Saudi money
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Max Blumenthal. Posted on MRonline (April 22, 2018). Originally published: Gray Zone (April 19, 2018). During a Barcelona concert on April 13, Roger Waters denounced the Syrian White Helmets…
Seven years after: what is next for Syria?
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Syrian playwright Mohammad Al Attar moderates a panel on seven years of the Syrian revolution featuring the great Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Thomas Pierret and Kristin Helberg. The 18th…
Iran, Russia and Turkey plan Syria’s future as Trump seeks an exit
Friday, April 6, 2018
Erin Cunningham Posted on Washington Post on April 4. 2018 ISTANBUL — The leaders of Iran, Russia and Turkey met Wednesday for high-level talks on ending the Syrian…
Survivors of the Syrian Wars
Thursday, April 5, 2018
Patrick Cockburn. Published in London Review of Books Volume 40 number 7 April 5, 2018. When I first visited Kurdish-held territory in northern Syria, early in 2015, it…
The Fall of Afrîn
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Güney Işıkara and Alp Kayserilioğlu. Posted on Jacobin 22nd March 2018. On January 20, the Turkish military launched its invasion of the Syrian-Kurdish canton of Afrîn in northwest…
Turkey: conflicts on many fronts
Monday, March 12, 2018
Esen Uslu. Posted on Weekly Worker, number 1193, March 8, 2018. Despite the popularity of Turkish actions in Syria, Cyprus and the Aegean, the ruling AKP is forced…
On the front line in Syria, a confusing conversation with a doctor who may be an official of the YPG
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Robert Fisk. Posted by the Independent on February 2, 2018. Dr Heddo – trained as a doctor at the Aleppo medical school, he confided – wouldn’t exactly confirm…
As my recent trip to Syria proved, wars can be at their most dangerous when they’re coming to an end
Friday, February 2, 2018
Robert Fisk. Posted on Independent February, 1, 2018. Debts will have to be paid for the casualties of this war, and some soldiers are becoming rather too over-confident….
Showdown in Afrin: Turkey’s Attack on Syria’s Kurds Threatens That Country’s Most Democratic, Pluralist Force
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Meredith Tax. Posted on the Nation 26th January 2018. The Kurds have said they will fight to the death before they give up an inch of Afrin. Last…
A War Within a War: Chechnya’s Expanding Role in Syria
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Neil Hauer. Posted on Souciant on December 4, 2017. TBILISI – International actors have been positioning themselves to exploit new realities in Syria and solidify their involvement in…
Russia’s multilayered Syrian diplomacy worries Iran
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Hamidreza Azizi. Posted by al Monitor on December 6, 2017. TEHRAN, Iran — The Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, widely known for its tourist attractions, has recently…
The Ossington Circle Episode 16: The Destruction of Syria and Solidarity with Max Ajl
Friday, December 8, 2017
Max Ajl and Justine Podur. Interview transcript posted on podur.org on April 29, 2017. In this episode of The Ossington Circle, academic, activist, and editor at Jadaliyya Max…
Revolution, counterrevolution, and imperialism in Syria: Interview with Yassin al-Haj Salah
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Yassin al-Haj Saleh interviewed by Ashley Smith. Posted on International Socialist Review, Issue 107 Yassin al-Haj Saleh is one of the pivotal figures in the Syrian Revolution. He…
Syria: Underground in Raqqa
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Patrick Cockburn. Published on London Review of Books October 2017, volume 39 number 20 pp15-17. Shortly before the siege of Raqqa began in June, Islamic State officials arrested…
Syria: Assad and allies target the YPG: The marriage of convenience hits a wall
Friday, September 29, 2017
Kareem Chehayeb. Posted on Middle East Eye on September 28, 2017. The alliance of convenience between the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) –…
Syria War Diary: What Life Is Like Under ‘Moderate’ Rebel Rule
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Eva Bartlett. Posted on MPN News on August 23, 2017. Since the liberation of Aleppo, and the restoring of peace to Madaya and al-Waer, most Western media have…
With the imminent defeat of ISIS in Syria Russia re-examines relationship with Iran
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Anton Mardasov. Posted on Al-Monitor on August 14, 2017. As the Islamic State (IS) has been in steady retreat, Iran and Russia are facing real difficulties sustaining their…