Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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MER Article

Perpetual Protest and the Failure of the post-2003 Iraqi State
Image of a protester and the Turkish restaurant building in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, designed by Atef Al-Jaffal/Jummar.A Tishreeni mural from Tahrir Square, Baghdad. Photograph by author.A Tishreeni mural from Tahrir Square, Baghdad. Photograph by author.The November 2020 Sadrist demonstration at the Turkish restaurant. Photograph by the author.Safaa Al SarayThe Turkish restaurant during Tishreen. Photograph by the author.Hashd commemoration in Tahrir Square of the first anniversary of the assassination of Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and Qasim Suleimani. January 2021. Khalid Al-Mousily/ReutersBanner on the Turkish restaurant announcing the forthcoming Tishreen Museum. Photograph by the author.
MER Article

Perpetual Protest and the Failure of the post-2003 Iraqi State

Tishreen transformed Iraq's protest culture. Can protest transform the post-2003 state?
Fanar Haddad • 14 min read
Interview—The Past, Present and Future of Iraq’s Cultural Heritage
In the complex of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri and al-Habda Minaret, destroyed by ISIS in 2017. An earlier prayer hall and ablution rooms, dating to the 12th century, were discovered during the preparations for reconstruction. Mosul, Iraq, 2022. Ismael Adnan Yaqoob/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
MER Article

Interview—The Past, Present and Future of Iraq’s Cultural Heritage

A conversation with archaeologists Mark Altaweel and Jaafar Jotheri.
Mark Altaweel, Jaafar Jotheri, Hannah Parsons-Morgan • 14 min read
Rebuilding Douma—Syria's Reconstruction from Below
Umm Mohammed and her husband drink coffee at their destroyed home in Douma, March 23, 2017. She raises chickens as a source of food and income. Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty ImagesArtist’s rendering of one of many building plans for Marota City as seen on their website and Facebook page.
MER Article

Rebuilding Douma—Syria's Reconstruction from Below

Before the war, Douma was a city on the rise. A district seat in the Governorate of the Damascus Countryside (Muhafizat Rif Dimashq) and a market town, it served as a bridge, of sorts, between the agricultural areas of Ghouta and Damascus and was famous for its grape production. In
Najib Hourani, Safa Rawashdeh • 13 min read
The Jazira’s Long Shadow over Turkey and Syria
Map courtesy of Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı Osmanlı Arşivi.Aerial view of Deir ez-Zor, 1934, by the French 39th Artillery Regiment. Source: IFPO.Mardin, Turkey, looking south toward the Jazira. Photo courtesy of Chris Gratien.
MER Article

The Jazira’s Long Shadow over Turkey and Syria

In September of 2019, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called for the United Nations to establish a security zone in northern Syria east of the Euphrates. If the line extended south to Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, he suggested, some 3 million Syrian refugees could be resettled not only from Turkey
Samuel Dolbee • 14 min read
Nation-Making on the “Razor’s Edge” in the Egyptian-Libyan Borderland
Egypt sign along the Egypt-Libya border. Photo by Paul Robinson (Creative Commons License BY-NC-SA 2.0)
MER Article

Nation-Making on the “Razor’s Edge” in the Egyptian-Libyan Borderland

In 1908, the British lord and arch-imperialist George Curzon published a short treatise on the unique role of frontiers in modern history. “Frontiers,” he wrote, “are indeed the razor’s edge on which hang suspended the modern issues of war or peace, of life or death of nations.”[1] Curzon
Matthew Ellis • 10 min read