By Ramazan Kılınç, Kennesaw State University (The Conversation) – Tens of thousands of minorities fearing persecution have fled Syria since its takeover by the Sunni Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham on Dec. 8, 2024. While the group has promised to respect all ethnic and religious minorities under its rule, human rights advocates have urged caution. […]
What the Fall of Assad says about Putin’s Ambitions for Russia’s Great-Power Status
By Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham (The Conversation) – The lightning-fast collapse of the Assad regime in Syria has sent shock waves across the Middle East. The disposal of the dictator whose family had ruled the country with an iron fist for more than half a century has triggered a potentially seismic shift in the […]
Reel Resistance: Netflix’s Removal of Palestinian Films adds to the Erasure of Palestine
By Chandni Desai, University of Toronto (The Conversation) – Netflix faces calls for a boycott after it removed its “Palestinian Stories” collection this October. This includes approximately 24 films. Netflix cited the expiration of three-year licences as the reason for pulling the films from the collection. Nonetheless, some viewers were outraged and almost 12,000 people […]
Rising Desertification shows we can’t keep Farming with Fossil Fuels; 3/4s of Earth’s Land is Drier
By Jack Marley, The Conversation Three-quarters of Earth’s land has become drier since 1990. Droughts come and go – more often and more extreme with the incessant rise of greenhouse gas emissions over the last three decades – but burning fossil fuels is transforming our blue planet. A new report from scientists convened by the […]
The self-governing Kurdish northeast of Syria comes under attack, with Country in Flux
By Pinar Dinc, Lund University (The Conversation) – After more than a decade of brutal civil war, it took Islamist militants just 11 days to sweep through Syria and topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The offensive, which has been driven by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has forced […]
How Israel’s regional War contributed to the Fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria
By Daniel L. Douek, McGill University (The Conversation) – When Hamas strategist Yahya Sinwar ordered the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis, he was planning to deal a mortal blow to an Israel weakened by internal divisions. Sinwar, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza a year later, likely did not imagine […]
Hamas – Hemmed in and Isolated – finds itself with few Options for the Day after the Gaza War
By Mkhaimar Abusada, Northwestern University (The Conversation) – In early December 2024, Hamas announced a major concession: It was prepared to cede future governance of Gaza to a unity Palestinian committee, working alongside its chief political rival, Fatah, to create the body. Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has since expressed hesitancy […]
Syrians, in a Triumph of Hope, turn the Page on the Horrors of Assad
By Wendy Pearlman, Northwestern University Millions of Syrians are feeling hope for the first time in years. The authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad fell on Dec. 8, 2024, after a 12-day rebel offensive. Most commentaries on this stunning reversal of a conflict seemingly frozen since 2020 emphasize shifts in geopolitics and balance of power. Some […]
Abu Mohammed al-Golani may become the face of post-Assad Syria – but who is he and why does he have $10M US bounty on his head?
By Sara Harmouch, American University (The Conversation) – The fall of President Bashar al-Assad has left a critical question: After a half-century of brutal dynastic rule has come to an end, who speaks for Syrians now? One group staking a major claim for that role is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which, under the leadership of Abu […]
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