Syria - سوريا
Community about Syria and it's surrounds. Arabic and English posts are accepted.
Participation guidelines
Commenting is more useful then down voting. Please use words to express disagreement or dislike and please engage in respectful discussion.
Community
Community artwork was set by previous mod. Leaving in place for time being.
Icon: Flag of Syria and the Syrian revolution, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Banner: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Links
All links and categories below in no particular order, updated over time.
News, analysis, zines
Syria Untold
EA Worldview | Syria
Enab Baladi
The New Arab | Post-Assad Syria
New Lines Magazine | Syria
aNtiDoTe Zine | Syria
The Palestine Chronicle | Syria
Middle East Eye | Syria after Assad
ANF News | Rojava-Syria
Medya News | Syria
El Pais | Siria
UnHerd | Syria
Common Dreams | Syria
Syria Direct
The Kyiv Independent | Syria
Al Majalla | Syria
Al Jazeera | Syria
Al-Jumhuriya
Muslim Girl
UN News | Syria
TIMEP | Syria
Raseef22 English | Syria
New Internationalist | Syria
Daraj English
Mada | Syria
Jadaliyya | Syria
The Guardian | Syria
NPR | Syria
Syria in Transition
Radio
Blogs
Aymenn’s Monstrous Publications (subscription required)
Qunfuz
Syria Freedom Forever - سوريا الحرية للأبد
Art and culture
ISIS Prisons Museum
The Markaz Review
Non government and inter-government organisations, non-profits and projects
Syrian Network for Human Rights
Justice For Life
Synergy Association For Victims
MENA Rights Group | Syria
GCR2P | Syria
ReliefWeb | Syria
Reporters Without Borders | Syria
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression
Human Rights organisations
Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC)
The Syria Campaign
Advocacy
Committee to Protect Journalists | Syria
Education, history, research & investigation
The Syrian Memory Project
MENA Research Center
Bellingcat | Syria
The Syrian Revolution and on YouTube
People
Mai El-Sadany - Bluesky
Leila Al-Shami - Bluesky | Mastodon
Zaina Erhaim - zaina-erhaim.com
Rami Jarrah (Alexander Page) - Bluesky
Qusay Noor - Bluesky
Muhammad Najem - Bluesky
Nour Qormosh - Instagram
Podcasts
Campaigns
Archival
Local Coordination Committees in Syria (via archive.org)
view the rest of the comments
It's easy to say that a brutal dictator must be deposed, but it's important to understand what happens after they're removed. Is his removal worth the risk of another theocracy in the region? The track record does not look good, but I guess we'll find out.
Perhaps. But the fact of the matter is Assad did get removed. He was never able to gain full control of the country or showed any desire to enter real negotiations.
The only way to gain full control in a war is through might, but I wouldn't say might makes right. As for negotiations, all opposition demanded "Assad must go" as a base requirement, which is kind of hard to find a middle ground on.
"One officeholder must step down" is apparently an impossible demand.
When the officeholder is the one on the opposite side of the negotiation table, it tends to be a difficult point to reconcile. Do you think the ruler of a country should step down any time a group demands their resignation? Do you think Biden should've negotiated with the January 6th insurrectionists who wanted to forcibly install their own ruler?
Are you dense?
Heads of state stepping down as a result of domestic failures, even in authoritarian regimes, is incredibly normal.
Maybe consider losing most of the country for over a decade with no end in sight as a sign?
Jesus fucking Christ.
You'll do anything to play apologist for dictators and atrocities, as per usual.
No, but I know you are. In the future, avoid such an inflammatory posture if you'd like to continue having a polite conversation (assuming that is what you'd like). I've noticed that you love to immediately downvote my posts and then post your response, so maybe you aren't interested in polite conversation but rather you're just in it to win internet points. Speaking of which, enjoy a downvote from me.
Depends on the domestic failure and whether that head of state thinks there is another path forward.
With the power of hindsight, sure, but obviously that wasn't the anticipated outcome. Even his opposition didn't think the war would have lasted this long.
I see that you didn't bother to answer my question and instead decided to accuse me of being an apologist for dictators and atrocities. This may blow your mind, but political discussions don't have to consist of shallow absolutist statements over cartoon caricatures. Following your logic, I could just as easily accuse you of being a simp for terrorists (like the leader of HTS who still has a $10 million reward on his head for any information by the US), but I recognize how disingenuous that is, unlike you.
edit: Refreshed and saw your downvote. LMAO, another incoming PugJesus response, I guess!
Sorry, I'm not the one that tried to imply that heads of state stepping down was an impossible demand that could not have reasonably been expected to be fulfilled by the opposition, instead of one of the most common demands and one of the most commonly fulfilled demands upon national unrest even in authoritarian regimes.
Sorry that was too complex for you to parse. Would you like me to simplify it further?
Too much trouble, clearly what needs to be done is to slaughter civilians en masse. That's what you're onboard for, after all, since this isn't your first time bootlicking Assad.
"With the power of hindsight, sure"
With the power of every passing fucking year. But sure, Assad was just waiting for victory around the corner.
This may be over your head, but there's a bit of a difference between rioters attempting to stop certification of a democratic election and people under a legitimately authoritarian regime taking up arms for a years-long struggle against the legitimacy of the government itself.
But you're here to downplay Assad as much as you can, because "West Bad", hence why you've slobbered all over Assad's (and Gaddafi's, and Saddam's) boots in declaring them the superior regimes to their alternatives.
That's literally your wording. Looking at the rest of your post, I've deemed it not worth my time to respond to you until you've finished your temper tantrum. Come back to me when you've settled down, gained some maturity, and learned reading comprehension instead of arguing with a strawman you've made up in your head. By the way, have another downvote.
@[email protected] and @[email protected] please bring this conversation to a close.
Me:
You:
If you don't like your dictator bootlicking being called out for what it is, maybe you should consider not being a fascist apologist in the future?
Sorry, I know that's a big request to ask of you.
Yes, that's definitely a question asked in good faith ('any time a group demands their resignation') and not at all downplaying the fact that the resignation was demanded in the process of a nationwide uprising including mass defections from the nation's military, directed towards a figure who had never allowed legitimate elections in his life. /s
Since you're genuinely having trouble understanding, I'll help you out with this. My exact words were, "it tends to be a difficult point to reconcile", I didn't say it was impossible. Notice that I followed that up with a question about whether a ruler should step down any time a group demands their resignation. This goes back to my original point of looking toward the future. If the leading opposition is looking to install a theocracy, then do you consider this acceptable? I guess you do since you must be a terrorist bootlicker and apologist, according to your own logic.
This is my final response for real now. Have a nice day.