Syrian civil war

Raed Fares was killed on November 23rd, but his work as a citizen journalist and activist lives on in the people he taught and empowered. Contributing writer Oula Alrifai, a Damascus-native and activist herself, remembers Raed.

The Idlib de-militarized zone (DMZ) deal is a powerful tool for advancing peace, but only if Turkey and Russia commit the resources to properly enforce it. The implementation of the Idlib DMZ holds powerful consequences for the ongoing Syrian constitutional committee and the broader peace process.

Although fighters have been offered the chance to leave eastern Ghouta, as in Aleppo, there is no longer a clear safe haven to which they could flee. Combined with the regime’s systematic denial of humanitarian aid, the conditions there have become increasingly unlivable as the death toll continues to climb.

The stimulant Captagon has been portrayed as a super drug underlying the violence in Syria and Iraq. But the emphasis on the drug’s side-effects, in conjunction with a fear of narcotics bred by the war on drugs, has detracted from a proper analysis of the foundational causes of that violence.

In recent weeks, Ethiopia has been withdrawing its troops from the strategic Hiraan region in southern Somalia, where Al Shabab militants have battled the Somali army and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeeping forces. Reports indicate that Ethiopian troops have also withdrawn from Halgan, El Ali and Tiyeglow in Somalia’s Bakool region. The withdrawal paves […]

Ashes of Hama by Raphael Lefevre provides a chronological description of the progression of the Syrian Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood). The book discusses the establishment of the Brotherhood and its evolution in Syrian politics. Lefevre does a fascinating job analyzing the Muslim Brotherhood institutionally and organizationally, provoking the reader to move beyond stereotypes about the Syrian […]