Damascus

Sadiq Jalal al-Azm seen during a lecture series at University of California, Los Angeles's Department of Near Eastern Studies in 2006. (Bgadsby)

Goodbye to the Syrian intellectual who sought to liberate his homeland

Sadiq Jalal al-Azm, who passed away last week, was a Syrian intellectual of the highest order. He placed a mirror in front of both the Arab world and its tendency to blame the West for all its ills. By Dror Ze’evi The Arab states are in trouble. Their citizens are unable to break through the…

By +972 Magazine December 18, 2016

A Syrian teenager in front of his shelter in one informal camp for Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, near the village of Jib Janin, eastern Lebanon, April 14, 2016. (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Who speaks for Syria?

We who are Syria’s neighbors, among whom so many of Syria’s victims have sought shelter, owe it to them — and to ourselves — to speak honestly and without shame about this singularly Arab tragedy. In so doing, we must create space for our Syrian sisters and brothers to lift their voices above those of…

By Samer Badawi October 5, 2016

Mahmoud Abbas. (Olivier Pacteau)

Abbas’ peace project has hit a dead end

He chose the path of moderation. He agreed to a small Palestinian state alongside Israel. He won the support of America and Europe. He proved his obligation to maintaining security for Israelis. And he got nothing in return. The tragedy of Mahmoud Abbas, part one of a two-part series.

By Menachem Klein September 30, 2015

Latest

Palestinian refugees seen in Yarmouk refugee camp, Damascus, Syria. (photo: Walla Masoud/UNRWA)

Finding my family in Yarmouk — then losing them again

Six decades after the Nakba forced us into different corners of the world, social networks allowed us to reconnect with our families and villages. In Yarmouk, I found the people I should have grown up around—the ones who looked like me and my immediate family. And then war broke out in Syria, Facebook went dark…

By Samah Salaime April 8, 2015

Destruction due to shelling in Douma, a town under siege northeast of Damascus. (photo: Adasa Sham)

After chemical attack, Damascus suburbs face starvation

Since the beginning of 2013, Assad’s forces have laid siege on the suburbs of the capital known as Ghouta, which was the target of a chemical weapons attack earlier this summer. Regime forces are stopping food and other goods from coming in and as winter approaches, activists are warning that the situation is about to…

By +972 Magazine October 3, 2013

Bombed out buildings in Aleppo, Syria. December 26, 2012 (Freedom House/CC)

Arguments against intervention in Syria are losing steam

After Israel’s reported air strike on Damascus, intervention is no longer a theoretical concept. The question now is whether international military action should move from containment to humanitarian intervention? Last week, Larry Derfner made an argument against international intervention in Syria. This was before news broke of the recent attack (video above), and things are…

By Noam Sheizaf May 5, 2013

Syrian refugee camp Za'atari, in Northern Jordan (photo: Roee Ruttenberg)

Five Palestinian children killed in Syria

The United Nation agency for Palestinian refugees is reporting that three separate incidents in Syria claimed last week the lives of five children. One of the children died in Dera’a and four others in Damascus. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East UNRWA, Mohammad Al-Khateeb (aged 14) was killed on March 15 by…

By Noam Sheizaf March 24, 2013

Last man standing? Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad (Picture: Agencia Brasil)

‘100 Days in Syria’: An eyewitness account of a country imploding

By Yacov Ben Efrat In seeking the “truth” about Syria, I came across a book by Lebanese reporter Ghadi Francis, “My pen and pain: One hundred days in Syria” (Beirut: Saqi Books 2012), in Arabic. I did not find the “truth” but I did find many things which explain the outbreak of revolution in Syria, and especially its…

By +972 Magazine June 21, 2012

To liberate Syria, the West must curb its savior fantasy

While it is increasingly evident something must be done to stop the violence in Syria, the history of intervention in internal conflicts has shown there are no quick fixes. Western powers must realize that in order to liberate Syria all they can do is help the Syrians help themselves. By Yoni Eshpar | From Hebrew:…

By +972 Magazine March 5, 2012