Current Analysis How to Help Syria Now The appalling civil war in Syria is well into its third year. With upwards of 70,000 dead, countless numbers maimed and injured, and millions of refugees, there are recurrent calls for the United States to “do something” to end the mayhem. That “something” is usually defined as military intervention Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis Syria's Disabled Future Jamal is not yet a teenager. His school closed in 2011, soon after the Syrian revolution turned into an armed conflict, and his father found him a factory job. One day in 2012 as he returned from work there was a battle going on in the main street near his home. Jamal immediately started carrying wo Edward Thomas • 11 min read
Current Analysis The Syrian Heartbreak There was a distinctive sense of national pride in Syria. It flowed from the confidence of a civilization dating back to the times of the earliest alphabets and visible in the country’s wealth of archaeological sites, including some of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It came f Sarah Birke, Peter Harling • 19 min read
Current Analysis The Syrian Cataclysm For obvious reasons, coverage of the uprising and internal war in Syria has been dominated by the terrible human toll. An estimated 60,000 Syrians (or more) have been killed, with tens of thousands more scarred bodily and emotionally by the violence. As of the end of February, over 3 million Syrians Omar S. Dahi • 6 min read
Current Analysis CAFMENA Letter re: Syria The Committee on Academic Freedom [http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/committees/academic-freedom/index.html] of the Middle East Studies Association of North America has published an open letter [http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/committees/academic-freedom/intervention/letters-syria.html#021913]regarding armed (Author not identified) • 3 min read
Current Analysis The Many Roles of Turkey in the Syrian Crisis On October 4, 2012, the Turkish Grand National Assembly approved a motion, by a vote of 320 to 129, authorizing deployment of the armed forces in “foreign countries,” essentially where and when the government saw fit. It was an expansive, vague-sounding mandate, but in fact there was only one target Aslı Ilgıt, ROCHELLE DAVIS • 18 min read
Current Analysis Syrian Kurds on the Verge of Crisis With the civil war in Syria past the point of no return, the country’s economy is undergoing unprecedented shrinkage. Inflation is running rampant. Purchasing power is plummeting as the value of the Syrian pound falls against the US dollar. Damascus and Aleppo, the main economic hubs, are badly aff Sirwan Kajjo • 2 min read
Current Analysis Condi-ist Manifesto In one of the most nonsensical sentences published in the Washington Post since the US invasion of Iraq, and perhaps ever, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice writes in a November 23 op-ed [http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/condoleezza-rice-syria-is-central-to-holding-together-the-middle Sheila Carapico • 2 min read
Current Analysis Fissures in Hizballah's Edifice of Control On August 15, Beirut awoke to the news that more than 20 alleged members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had been captured by a group calling itself “the military wing of the al-Miqdad family.” The group had sent footage to the al-Mayadin television network, which was quickly picked up by other local Lara Deeb, Mona Harb • 12 min read
Current Analysis After the Bomb in Beirut As a recent arrival in Beirut, I quickly learned the Lebanese map, geographic and political, when the bomb hit Ashrafiyya on October 19, killing eight and injuring more than 100. A friend in the US e-mailed to ask if the bomb was close, but since I didn’t hear it explode or smell the smoke, gauging Lori Allen • 4 min read
Current Analysis Displaced Syrians As in Iraq, the internal war in Syria has forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes. Some 155,000 Syrians have registered [http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96136/Briefing-The-mounting-Syrian-refugee-crisis] with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq or Turkey Chris Toensing • 1 min read
Current Analysis To Save Syria, Work with Russia and Iran As the violence intensifies in Syria, external powers, including the United States, are embracing increasingly belligerent positions. Indeed, in recent days the United States and Turkey have announced plans to study a no-fly zone after calls by many American commentators for a more direct military r Aziz Rana, Aslı Bâli • 3 min read
