Download or read book Syria Under Assad written by Moshe Maoz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-26 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most striking recent developments in the modern Middle East has been the transformation of Syria under Hafez al-Assad from a weak, vulnerable and internally divided state to a leading regional power. While this is increasingly acknowledged by observers of the Middle Eastern scene , the scholarly discussion of the origins, the scope, the durability and the implications of this change is only beginning to take place. Syria Under Assad addresses itself to this discussion. Based on a carefully selected collection of original articles, this volume focuses on the elements of Syria’s power, on Syria’s relations with each of its neighbours as well as on Syria’s relations with the superpowers. In the final analysis, conclude the editors, Syrian policies appear paradoxical. Its conduct ever since the advent of Hafez al-Assad exhibits subtle and hard-nosed pragmatism. Yet, in order to consolidate the domestic legitimacy of the Alawi Ba’athist regime, Syria has been impelled to articulate its foreign policy goals in the far-flung rhetoric of the Ba’athist ideology. As a result Syria is widely perceived of as a menace and, treated as such, it often responds in kind.
Download or read book Assad or We Burn the Country written by Sam Dagher and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist specializing in the Middle East, this groundbreaking account of the Syrian Civil War reveals the never-before-published true story of a 21st-century humanitarian disaster. In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad decided to crush the uprising -- an act which would catapult the country into an eight-year long war, killing almost half a million and fueling terrorism and a global refugee crisis. Assad or We Burn the Country examines Syria's tragedy through the generational saga of the Assad and Tlass families, once deeply intertwined and now estranged in Bashar's bloody quest to preserve his father's inheritance. By drawing on his own reporting experience in Damascus and exclusive interviews with Tlass, Dagher takes readers within palace walls to reveal the family behind the destruction of a country and the chaos of an entire region. Dagher shows how one of the world's most vicious police states came to be and explains how a regional conflict extended globally, engulfing the Middle East and pitting the United States and Russia against one another. Timely, propulsive, and expertly reported, Assad or We Burn the Country is the definitive account of this global crisis, going far beyond the news story that has dominated headlines for years.
Download or read book Assad AND ME written by Issam Khoury and published by Issam. This book was released on 2022-06-22 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What piqued my curiosity the most was that not even cockroaches and mice came into this room. Perhaps they didn't dare to. Is it possible that humans have a greater tolerance for dirt than vermin? This is what crossed my mind on the evening of October 1st, 2013, just two days after I was arrested. The thoughts still haunt me here in New York, thousands of miles away from that awful prison cell. I anticipated the very moment of my arrest, years before it happened. I was certain that I would eventually be incarcerated, but couldn't yet imagine how or where. Assad and Me "Assad and Me" blends personal biography and national history. It is a description of the Syrian revolt and the murderous regime it opposed. I am the first Syrian journalist to cover the events of the Syrian revolution inside Syria; this is my report years after the catastrophe in my country. I have presented details about security, the economy, and Iranian penetration into the deep state leading to the Syrian civil war. Praise for Issam Khoury's "Assad and Me" Issam Khoury is a Syrian patriot and expatriate. His book “Assad and Me” is a unique truth-telling of how the Assad regime, aided by Russian forces, has struggled to imprison and expel millions of Syrians who want nothing more than a decent life for their families. We need to understand his story as we struggle to come to grips with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and find pathways to avoid similar catastrophes elsewhere. - Cameron B. Hume, United States Ambassador to Algeria (1997-2000), South Africa (2001-2004), and Indonesia (2007–2010), and author (United Nations, Iran and Iraq: How Peacemaking Changed, Ending Mozambique's War, and Mission to Algiers: Diplomacy by Engagement) The fact Issam Khoury has a reputation as a knowledgeable reporter on what is going on in his native Syria, in particular, and in the Middle East, in general, is very well-deserved. Khoury had engaged in the civil rights movements during the early 2000’s and ran afoul of the Assad government’ secret service. Eventually, he had to leave the country, and arrive in New York in 2013. -Veteran journalist Charles Weiss, regional correspondent for VOA. Issam Khoury has been detained, interrogated, beaten and tortured, and forced to flee his country because of his journalism and political activism over the last 15 years in Syria, a country torn apart by revolution and the reprisals of a brutal regime led by Bashar al-Assad. Hundreds of articles, many on freedom and human rights, and two novels that Khoury wrote put him in the radar of al-Assad and his secret police and provoked a series of interrogations throughout the years that ended with his detention in 2012. -LOUMAY ALESALI, MEDILL REPORTS CHICAGO Issam Khoury, a well-known freelance journalist, and civil rights activist, has faced consistent threats from the Syrian regime for more than a decade as the result of his work. -Newmark J-School Even before he started covering the civil war in Syria, Issam Khoury was under constant threat for what he wrote. As a Syrian Christian, Khoury was also pushing back against Assad's insistence that he was helping protect the country's religious minorities. -VERONIKA BONDARENKO, BUSINESS INSIDER Khoury, a Syrian freelancer, faced constant threats from the government of Bashar al-Assad for more than a decade before protests in 2011 spread to his hometown of Latakia, a stronghold for regime supporters. -The Committee to Protect Journalists
Download or read book Syria written by David W. Lesch and published by Polity. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today Syria is a country known for all the wrong reasons: civil war, vicious sectarianism, and major humanitarian crisis. But how did this once rich, multi-cultural society end up as the site of one of the twenty-first century’s most devastating and brutal conflicts? In this incisive book, internationally renowned Syria expert David Lesch takes the reader on an illuminating journey through the last hundred years of Syrian history – from the end of the Ottoman empire through to the current civil war. The Syria he reveals is a fractured mosaic, whose identity (or lack thereof) has played a crucial part in its trajectory over the past century. Only once the complexities and challenges of Syria’s history are understood can this pivotal country in the Middle East begin to rebuild and heal.
Download or read book Authoritarianism in Syria written by Steven Heydemann and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State expansion caused the reorganization of social conflict, promoting intense polarization between radicals and conservatives, high levels of popular mobilization, and a shift in the preferences of the Ba'th from an accommodationist to a radically populist strategy for consolidating its system of rule."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Syria Under Assad RLE Syria written by Moshe Maoz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-26 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most striking recent developments in the modern Middle East has been the transformation of Syria under Hafez al-Assad from a weak, vulnerable and internally divided state to a leading regional power. While this is increasingly acknowledged by observers of the Middle Eastern scene , the scholarly discussion of the origins, the scope, the durability and the implications of this change is only beginning to take place. Syria Under Assad addresses itself to this discussion. Based on a carefully selected collection of original articles, this volume focuses on the elements of Syria’s power, on Syria’s relations with each of its neighbours as well as on Syria’s relations with the superpowers. In the final analysis, conclude the editors, Syrian policies appear paradoxical. Its conduct ever since the advent of Hafez al-Assad exhibits subtle and hard-nosed pragmatism. Yet, in order to consolidate the domestic legitimacy of the Alawi Ba’athist regime, Syria has been impelled to articulate its foreign policy goals in the far-flung rhetoric of the Ba’athist ideology. As a result Syria is widely perceived of as a menace and, treated as such, it often responds in kind.
Download or read book Syria s Uprising and the Fracturing of the Levant written by Emile Hokayem and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As an upbeat and peaceful uprising quickly and brutally descended into a zero-sum civil war, Syria has crumbled from a regional player into an arena in which a multitude of local and foreign actors compete. The volatile regional fault lines that run through Syria have ruptured during this conflict, and the course of events in this fragile yet strategically significant country will profoundly shape the future of the Levant.
Download or read book Assad or We Burn the Country written by Sam Dagher and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist specializing in the Middle East, this groundbreaking account of the Syrian Civil War reveals the never-before-published true story of a 21st-century humanitarian disaster. In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad decided to crush the uprising -- an act which would catapult the country into an eight-year long war, killing almost half a million and fueling terrorism and a global refugee crisis. Assad or We Burn the Country examines Syria's tragedy through the generational saga of the Assad and Tlass families, once deeply intertwined and now estranged in Bashar's bloody quest to preserve his father's inheritance. By drawing on his own reporting experience in Damascus and exclusive interviews with Tlass, Dagher takes readers within palace walls to reveal the family behind the destruction of a country and the chaos of an entire region. Dagher shows how one of the world's most vicious police states came to be and explains how a regional conflict extended globally, engulfing the Middle East and pitting the United States and Russia against one another. Timely, propulsive, and expertly reported, Assad or We Burn the Country is the definitive account of this global crisis, going far beyond the news story that has dominated headlines for years.
Download or read book The Wisdom of Syria s Waiting Game written by Bente Scheller and published by Hurst. This book was released on 2014-02-03 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Syrian foreign policy, always opaque, has become an even greater puzzle during the Syrian revolt. Irrespective of the regime's international isolation in the wake of its violent response to domestic protest, it has paid lip-service to international peace plans while unperturbedly crushing the rebellion. The rare televised appearances of President Assad have shown a leader detached from reality. Has he-in his own words-'gone crazy'? In this book long- time Syria analyst and former diplomat Bente Scheller contends that Bashar Assad's deadly waiting game is following its own logic: whatever difficulties the Syrian regime has faced, its previous experience has been that it can simply sit out the current crisis. The difference this time is that Syria faces a double crisis-internal and external. While Hafez Assad, renowned as an astute politician, adapted to new challenges, his son, Bashar, seems to have no alternative plan of action. Scheller's timely book analyses Syrian foreign policy after the global upheavals of 1989, which was at the time a glorious new beginning for the regime. She shows how Bashar Assad, by ignoring change both inside Syria and in the region, has sacrificed his father's focus on national security in favour of a policy of regime survival and offers a candid analysis of the successes and shortcomings of Syrian foreign policy in recent years.
Download or read book Syria and the Assad Family written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures. *Includes excerpts from interviews of the Assad family. *Explains the Assad family's religious and ethnic background, as well as modern Syria's history. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. "I'm not a puppet. I wasn't made by the west to go to the west or any other country. I'm Syrian. I'm made in Syria. I have to live in Syria and die in Syria." - Bashar al-Assad, 2012 In early 2011, a political movement swept across the Arabic speaking world that toppled despotic regimes and dictatorships. The political movement, which became known as the "Arab Spring," was popular in nature and made use of the internet, particularly social networking websites, to remove dictators such as Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and Muammar Qadaffi of Libya. Those dictators, who ruled their countries for decades, were unable to stem the tide of popular indignation against them even though they tried using force and propaganda in ways reminiscent of the Cold War era. While some of these dictators bowed to the political pressure and others were pushed out by force through civil wars, the events of the Arab Spring have come to be overshadowed by the civil war in the Arabic speaking nation of Syria, which has been ruled throughout the 21st century by Bashar al-Assad. Though he had not planned on ruling Syria, several events conspired to make Bashar the successor of his father Hafez, who himself was notorious for crushing an uprising in the Syrian city of Hama by massacring thousands of inhabitants. Though the West frequently looked for signs that Bashar might be a reformer, due in part to his formerly popular Western wife, Assad remained part of a critical alliance with Iran and the sub-state groups Hamas and Hezbollah, forming an influential bloc that has influenced events across the Middle East, and one that Israel and the West have tried to break over the past decade. Like the other dictators, Assad faced popular demonstrations against his regime at the height of the Arab Spring, but the outcome has proved to be much different there than in the other Arab nations. Assad steadfastly refused to step down from power, and the protests against him and his government quickly turned violent, which eventually enveloped Syria in a civil war that has already killed over 100,000, left over half a million refugees, and shows no signs of ending anytime soon. Furthermore, on August 21, 2013, a chemical weapon attack outside of the capital city Damascus left around 1,500 civilians dead, and anti-Assad factions in Syria, as well as enemies of the Assad regime in other countries, have blamed Bashar for the attack, while Assad claims his enemies are responsible. A crisis that may have threatened to involve either the United States, Russia, or both, appears to have been solved at least temporarily, but bigger issues concerning Syria still remain. The two major questions that concern the future of Syria are whether Bashar al-Assad will literally and politically survive the civil war, and what Syria's future will be in the wake of the civil war. Answering these questions requires an understanding of Bashar's religious sect, the Alawites, the regional strife among Sunni and Shiite nations, Arab nationalism, and the Assad family as a whole. Syria and the Assad Family is a history that examines how Hafez al-Assad's middle son grew up and the events that brought him to power in Syria. It also comprehensively analyzes the ongoing civil war against Assad. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Syria's notorious dictator like you never have before.
Download or read book The Consequences of Chaos written by Elizabeth G. Ferris and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The massive dimensions of Syria's refugee crisis—and the search for solutions The civil war in Syria has forced some 10 million people—more than half the country's population—from their homes and communities, creating one of the largest human displacements since the end of World War II. Daily headlines testify to their plight, both within Syria and in the countries to which they have fled. The Consequences of Chaos looks beyond the ever-increasing numbers of Syria's uprooted to consider the long-term economic, political, and social implications of this massive movement of people. Neighboring countries hosting thousands or even millions of refugees, Western governments called upon to provide financial assistance and even new homes for the refugees, regional and international organizations struggling to cope with the demands for food and shelter—all have found the Syria crisis to be overwhelming in its challenges. And the challenges of finding solutions for those displaced by the conflict are likely to continue for years, perhaps even for decades. The Syrian displacement crisis raises fundamental questions about the relationship between action to resolve conflicts and humanitarian aid to assist the victims and demonstrates the limits of humanitarian response, even on a massive scale, to resolve political crises. The increasingly protracted nature of the crisis also raises the need for the international community to think beyond just relief assistance and adopt developmental policies to help refugees become productive members of their host communities.
Download or read book Road Warriors written by Daniel Byman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-02 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, fighters from abroad have journeyed in ever-greater numbers to conflict zones in the Muslim world to defend Islam from-in their view-infidels and apostates. The phenomenon recently reached its apogee in Syria, where the foreign fighter population quickly became larger and more diverse than in any previous conflict. In Road Warriors, Daniel Byman provides a sweeping history of the jihadist foreign fighter movement. He begins by chronicling the movement's birth in Afghanistan, its growing pains in Bosnia and Chechnya, and its emergence as a major source of terrorism in the West in the 1990s, culminating in the 9/11 attacks. Since that bloody day, the foreign fighter movement has seen major ups and downs. It rode high after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, when the ultra-violent Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) attracted thousands of foreign fighters. AQI overreached, however, and suffered a crushing defeat. Demonstrating the resilience of the movement, however, AQI reemerged anew during the Syrian civil war as the Islamic State, attracting tens of thousands of fighters from around the world and spawning the bloody 2015 attacks in Paris among hundreds of other strikes. Although casualty rates are usually high, the survivors of Afghanistan, Syria, and other fields of jihad often became skilled professional warriors, going from one war to the next. Still others returned to their home countries, some to peaceful retirement but a deadly few to conduct terrorist attacks. Over time, both the United States and Europe have learned to adapt. Before 9/11, volunteers went to and fro to Afghanistan and other hotspots with little interference. Today, the United States and its allies have developed a global program to identify, arrest, and kill foreign fighters. Much remains to be done, however-jihadist ideas and networks are by now deeply embedded, even as groups such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State rise and fall. And as Byman makes abundantly clear, the problem is not likely to go away any time soon.
Download or read book Syria under Bashar al Asad written by Volker Perthes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-27 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Syria entered a new phase with the death of its long-serving leader, Hafiz al-Asad, and the accession of his son Bashar in 2000. While the new president has disappointed much of the hopes for political opening which he himself has created, Syria is clearly undergoing a process of change. The author analyses the factors of economic and political change in the country, and gives a portrait of its new leadership.
Download or read book Syrian Requiem written by Itamar Rabinovich and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-12-20 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Syrian crisis is not over yet but the period of full-fledged civil war in that country appears to be drawing to a close, and it is now possible to view this calamity with some perspective. This short book will address the following questions about the conflict: How and why did quiet demonstrations in Southern Syria develop into a brutal civil war? Why did the political opposition to the regime of Bashar al-Assad remain weak and divided? How did radical Jihadi Islamists take over the main military opposition to the Syrian regime? How did the Syrian conflict become a main arena of the Saudi-Iranian regional rivalry? What explains the ambivalent Western attitude towards the Syrian rebellion? How did US policy under the Obama administration evolve and why did both Obama and Trump decide not to make a major investment in it? How stable is the status quo? And how could the conflict re-erupt in a different form? According to Rabinovitch, the Syrian regime and its supporters (including the Russians and the Iranians) have indeed emerged as victors, but it's a limited victory at best. The Syrian state under Assad controls only about 60 percent of the national territory and the potential for renewed violence is considerable. Assad's continued survival has come at the cost of deep dependency on Iran and Russia; his is now, arguably, a vassal state. This means that the country will remain in crisis for the foreseeable future, even if the full-scale civil war phase has come to an end. In his last chapter, Rabinovich will recommend policy options for the U.S"--
Download or read book Bashar Al Assad The Web of Interests Surrounding Syria s Dictator written by Katharina Eisen and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: 1,0, , course: Writing Skills, language: English, abstract: The Paris attacks in November 2015 have intensified the urgency of a resolution to the Syria conflict. The Syrian civil war that has been tearing apart the country for more than four years created the power vacuum which the Islamic State filled with its reign of terror. In a conflict as multi-layered as this war, there are, of course, many reasons of why peace negotiations have reaped so little success, but one of them has undeniably become the role of President Bashar al-Assad. As many of the most recent peace negotiations show, the major obstacle to agreeing on an action plan for political transition in Syria has been the future of Assad in the country’s government. Assad’s role is very controversial as his regime is a close ally for some and the epitome of oppression for others. After briefly examining major stakeholder interests, this report aims to show that the controversy over Assad’s future has become the prime reason for failure of most recent peace negotiations for Syria.
Download or read book Syria from Reform to Revolt written by Leif Stenberg and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Syria’s anti-authoritarian uprising and subsequent civil war have left the country in ruins, the need for understanding the nation’s complex political and cultural realities remains urgent. The second of a two-volume series, Syria from Reform to Revolt: Culture, Society, and Religion draws together closely observed, critical and historicized analyses, giving vital insights into Syrian society today. With a broad range of disciplinary perspectives, contributors reveal how Bashar al-Asad’s pivotal first decade of rule engendered changes in power relations and public discourse—dynamics that would feed the 2011 protest movement and civil war. Essays focus on key arenas of Syrian social life, including television drama, political fiction, Islamic foundations, and Christian choirs and charities, demonstrating the ways in which Syrians worked with and through the state in attempts to reform, undermine, or sidestep the regime. The contributors explore the paradoxical cultural politics of hope, anticipation, and betrayal that have animated life in Syria under Asad, revealing the fractures that obstruct peaceful transformation. Syria from Reform to Revolt provides a powerful assessment of the conditions that turned Syria’s hopeful Arab spring revolution into a catastrophic civil war that has cost over 200,000 lives and generated the worst humanitarian crisis of the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Syria from Reform to Revolt written by Raymond Hinnebusch and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-02 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Bashar al-Asad smoothly assumed power in July 2000, just seven days after the death of his father, observers were divided on what this would mean for the country’s foreign and domestic politics. On the one hand, it seemed everything would stay the same: an Asad on top of a political system controlled by secret services and Baathist one-party rule. On the other hand, it looked like everything would be different: a young president with exposure to Western education who, in his inaugural speech, emphasized his determination to modernize Syria. This volume explores the ways in which Asad’s domestic and foreign policy strategies during his first decade in power safeguarded his rule and adapted Syria to the age of globalization. The volume’s contributors examine multiple aspects of Asad’s rule in the 2000s, from power consolidation within the party and control of the opposition to economic reform, co-opting new private charities, and coping with Iraqi refugees. The Syrian regime temporarily succeeded in reproducing its power and legitimacy, in reconstructing its social base, and in managing regional and international challenges. At the same time, contributors clearly detail the shortcomings, inconsistencies, and risks these policies entailed, illustrating why Syria’s tenuous stability came to an abrupt end during the Arab Spring of 2011. This volume presents the work of an international group of scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Based on extensive fieldwork and on intimate knowledge of a country whose dynamics often seem complicated and obscure to outside observers, these scholars’ insightful snapshots of Bashar al-Asad’s decade of authoritarian upgrading provide an indispensable resource for understanding the current crisis and its disastrous consequences.
