It’s not complicated: A note to help you understand Syria

by | Jan 12, 2025 | Levant

In the age of social media and information for all and by all, it’s more than ever necessary to build up a reliable list of resources on the subjects you want to analyze and understand. Particularly when it comes to international geopolitics.

This note was prepared by “Interstices-Fajawat“. As an initiative connected to Syrian society, we have put together this note to share our sources of information on Syria. We do not claim that these sources are all impartial or neutral, as we believe that neutrality is often synonymous with blindness or complicity. We ourselves have our own bias regarding our beliefs in revolution and internationalism from below.

Wherever possible, we have indicated the biases and partialities we have identified. We have chosen to retain in the list resources whose analysis we do not share, because they are nonetheless well-informed and transmit first-hand information, which just needs to be taken with great care.

TO READ AND FOLLOW US :

📌 𝕏 (ex-Twitter) – https://x.com/IntersticesFaj

WEBSITES

At the top of the list, the first two categories contain most of the sources whose opinions we share, and which we recommend.

News and Analysis Websites :

 

Personnal Blogs (opinions & academic research) :

 

Syrian-led Advocacy & Media NGO Websites :

 

Local or specialized information websites :

 

General news websites :

 

ESSENTIAL FACT CHECKING WEBSITE 

Verify Syria (AR & EN) – based in Turkey, Syrian-led NGO 

https://verify-sy.com/

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS (ex-Twitter/X & Instagram)

⚠️ Some of these accounts can share sometimes BIASED or ACRITICAL (sectarian, pro-Sharaa/HTS, pro-SDF/PYD, western…) content ⚠️

Local JOURNALISTS  / ANALYSTS / ACTIVISTS :

Matar Ismaeel – @RevoreporterSy
Joseph Daher – @JosephDaher19
Robin Yassin-Kassab – @qunfuz2
Hassan Ridha – @sayed_ridha
Leila Al-Shami – @LeilaShami
Rim Turkmani – @Rim_Turkmani
Mohammad Hassan – @mohammed_nomad
Firas Kontar – @fkontar78
Rami Jarrah – @RamiJarrah
Mazen Hassoun – @HassounMazen
Nedal Al-Amari – @nedalalamari
Ibrahim al-Assil – @IbrahimAlAssil
Qalaat Al Mudiq – @QalaatAlMudiq
Aymenn J Al-Tamimi – @ajaltamimi
Hassan I. Hassan – @hxhassan
Jenan Moussa – @jenanmoussa
Hussam Hammoud – @HussamHamoud
Abd alhade alani – @abdalhadealani
Rami Safadi – @RamiSafadi93
Vlogging Syria – @timtams83
Suhaib Zaino – @suhaib_zaino
Qusay Noor – @QUSAY_NOOR_
“Osama” – @OsamaSHL
“Karim” – @Idlibie
Tawfiq Ghailani – @SyriaNewsMan
Ivan Hassib – @Ivan_Hassib
Karim Franceschi – @karimfranceschi
Evin Cudi – @FreedomKurds
ScharoMaroof – @ScharoMaroof

FOREIGN JOURNALISTS/ANALYSTS :

Cédric Labrousse – @CdricLabrousse
Thomas Van Linge – @ThomasVLinge
Charles Lister – @Charles_Lister
Wladimir van Wilgenburg – @vvanwilgenburg
CJ Werleman – @cjwerleman
C4H10FO2P – @markito0171

MEDIA & SYRIAN NGOs :

ACT for the Disappeared – @actforthedisappearedlb
Action For Sama – @actionforsama
Al Swaida Al Thawra – @alswaidaalthawrah
Aljumhuriya – @aljumhuriya_net
Association Of Detainees & The Missing in Sednaya Prison – @sednayamissing
Based Syria – @based_syria
Caesar Families Association – @caesarfamilies
Daraj Media English – @darajmediaenglish
Dawlaty – @dawlatysy
Don’t Suffocate the Truth – @donotsuffocatetruth
Eye On Syria – @eyeonsyriaeng
Families For Freedom – @families4freedomsyria
Free Syria’s Disapeared – @freesyriasdisappeared
From the Periphery Media – @fromtheperipherymedia
Half of Syria – @halfofsyria
Horan Free League – @horanfreemedia1
Jadaliya – @jadaliyya
Jusoor for Studies – @jusooren
La Cantine Syrienne de Montreuil – @lacantinesyriennedemontreuil
Live Updates Syria – @liveupdatesfromsyria
Madaniya Network – @madaniyanetwork
Megaphone News – @megaphonenews
Middle East Eye – @middleeasteye
Middle East Institute – @middleeastinst
Middle East Matters – @middleeastmatters
Raseef 22 – @raseef22en
Release Me – @release_me0
Revoleft Syria – @revoleftsyria
Rojava Information Center – @rojavaic
Scholars for Syria – @scholars4syria
SOAS Syria Society – @soassyriasoc
Street Archives Syria – @streetarchivessyria

Syria Civil Defense – @syriacivildefence
Syria Mobilization Hub – @thesyriahub
Syria Pixel – @syria_pixel
Syria TV – @syr_television
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression – @scmsyriancenter
Syrian Emergency Task Force – @syrianetf / @ualr_setf
Syrian Eyes – @syrianeyesteam
Syrian Feminist Lobby – @syrianfeministlobby
Syrian Hub Official – @syrianhubofficial
Syrian Network for Human Rights – @snhr
Syrian Print Archive – @syrianprintarchive_
Syrian Revolution Archive – @syrian_revolution_archive
Syrian Revolution Story – @syrian.revolution.story
Syrian Road to Justice – @road2justicesy
Syrian Solidarity Campaign – @syria_solidarity_campaign
Syrian Spot – @syrianspot
Syrian Women For Democracy – @cswdsyr
Syrians for Palestine – @syrians4palestine
Syrians For Truth & Justice – @syrians_for_truth_and_justice
Ta’afi Syria – @taafi.syria
Tastakel Organization – @tastakel
The Fire These Times – @firethesetimes
The New Arab – @thenewarab
The Syria Campaign – @thesyriacampaign
The White Helmets – @the_whitehelmets
Verify Syria – @verify.sy
Vive Levantine – @vivelevantine
Wanabqa – @wanabqa
Yarmouk Camp – @yarmouk.camp

BOOKS

👷🏽‍♀️🔧 🚧 – work in progress, please help us by sharing with us books about Syria written by progressive Syrians –

DOCUMENTARIES (with our rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️)

We find it unfortunate that most of these testimonies are inaccessible to the general public and restricted to discretionary festivals where only the intellectual elites and concerned people can see them, while the Humans in question suffer and die most often in the shadows. We respect copyright, but would nevertheless like to acquire all these films, so if you know how to download or buy them, please don’t hesitate to contact us:

collective@interstices-fajawat.org

1974 – EVERYDAY LIFE IN A SYRIAN VILLAGE by Omar Amiralay ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The first documentary to present an unabashed critique of the impact of the Syrian government’s agricultural and land reforms, Everyday Life in a Syrian Village delivers a powerful jab at the state’s conceit of redressing social and economic inequities.

2003 – A FLOOD IN BAATH COUNTRY by Omar Amiralay ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The movie examines the flood’s devastating impact on a Syrian village. With its powerful and daring critique of Syria’s political regime and the tribal politics that hold it together, the film foreshadows the wave of democracy currently sweeping the Arab world, with citizens finally rising up to demand a fundamental change in their countries’ leadership.

2013 – RETURN TO HOMS by Talal Derki ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A look behind the barricades of the besieged city of Homs, where for nineteen-year-old Basset and his ragtag group of comrades, the audacious hope of revolution is crumbling like the buildings around them.

2014 – SYRIA : CHILDREN ON THE FRONTLINES by Marcel Mettelsiefen & Anthony Wonke ⭐️⭐️

The story of five young children whose lives have been changed forever by the civil war in Syria.

2014 – THE LAST ASSIGNMENT by Rashed Radwan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On November 20, 2013, Iraqi freelance cameraman Yasser Faisal al-Jumaili crossed the Turkish border into Syria with his trusted Syrian fixer Jomah Alqasem. The Syrian war had been raging for two-and-a-half years and now saw the various rebel groups splitting one from another, mostly around ideological differences. The assignment was to access the groups and build a picture of who these men were, away from rhetoric, both on and off duty on the frontlines. For 13 days in Syria, the two reporters filmed the men behind the frontlines: fighters with the Free Syrian Army, Al-Tawhid Brigade, Al-Nusra Front, Ahrar Al-Sham, and even ISIL.

2014 – HAUNTED by Liwaa Yazji 

When the bomb comes the first thing we do is to run away, later we remember and think of everything we left behind. We did not bid farewell to our homes, memories, photos, identities and life that passed. It is about how homes haunt the life of the souls that were living in them, as much as they themselves haunt the houses.

2014 – OUR TERRIBLE COUNTRY by Mohammad Ali Atassi & Ziad Homsi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

How to make a film on violence without directly showing or reproducing it? The film Our terrible country attempts to respond to this approach by taking us on the perilous journey of Yassin Haj Saleh, a well-known Syrian intellectual and dissident, and young photographer Ziad Homsi who travel together in an arduous, dangerous route from the liberated area of Douma, Damascus to Raqqa in northern Syria, only to find themselves eventually forced to leave their home country for a temporary exile.

2014 – SILVERED WATER, SYRIA SELF PORTRAIT by Wiam Bedirxan & Ossama Mohammed ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A look at first-hand video accounts of violence in modern-day Syria as filmed by activists in the besieged city of Homs.

2014 – THE CAVE by Feras Fayyad

Deep beneath the surface in the Syrian province of Ghouta, a group of female doctors have established an underground field hospital. Under the supervision of paediatrician Dr. Amani and her staff of doctors and nurses, hope is restored for some of the thousands of children and civilian victims of the ruthless Syrian civil war.

2014 – LETTERS FROM YARMOUK by Rashid Masharawi ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Messages captured at the Yarmouk refugee camp in moments of extreme complexity; messages siding with life in the face of death; moments of love in a time of war and questions of homeland and exile.

2015 – SALAM NEIGHBOUR by Zach Ingrasci & Chris Temple

Two filmmakers fully embed themselves in a Syrian refugee camp, providing an intimate look at the world’s most dire humanitarian crisis.

2015 – 7 DAYS IN SYRIA by Janine Di Giovanni & Robert Rippberger ⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, Newsweek Middle East editor, Janine di Giovanni, risks it all to bear witness, ensuring that the world knows about the suffering of the Syrian people.

2015 – A SYRIAN LOVE STORY by Sean McAllister ⭐️⭐️

Filmed over 5 years, A Syrian Love Story charts an incredible odyssey to political freedom. For Raghda and Amer, it is a journey of hope, dreams and despair: for the revolution, their homeland and each other.

2016 – THE WAR SHOW by Andreas Dalsgaard & Obaidah Zytoon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Syrian radio DJ shares her experiences in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring.

2016 – HOUSES WITHOUT DOORS by Avo Kaprealian

Aleppo-Armenian filmmaker Avo Kaprealian shows the life of an Armenian family that has fled to Beirut during clashes in the New Village district of Aleppo, Syria, in 2015. Kaprealian documented the destruction in the district and the civilians who faced hardships. He managed to shoot footage from the balcony of his house […]

2016 – BORN IN SYRIA by Hernán Zin

Since civil war started in Syria in 2011, an estimated 9 million Syrians have fled their homes, half of them children. These children have fled unimaginable horror: the indiscriminate bombings of Bachar Al Assad’s government, and ISIS’ raping and beheading, only to find themselves trapped in makeshift camps or closed borders. We witness the journey of these refugees to the promised land of Europe.

2016 – THE WHITE HELMETS by Orlando von Einsiedel ⭐️⭐️

As daily airstrikes pound civilian targets in Syria, a group of indomitable first responders risk their lives to rescue victims from the rubble.

2016 – TADMOR / PALMYRA by Monika Borgmann & Lokman Slim ⭐️⭐️

Amidst the popular uprising in Syria that began in 2011, a group of former Lebanese detainees of the Assad regime decides to break their long-held silence about the horrific years they spent imprisoned in Tadmor, Palmyra, one of the Syrian government’s most dreaded prisons.

2017 – LAST MEN IN ALEPPO by Feras Fayyad ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Volunteers Khaled, Mahmoud, and Subhi rush toward bomb sites while others run away. They search through collapsed buildings for the living and dead. Contending with fatigue, dwindling ranks, and concerns for their families’ safety, they must decide whether to stay or to flee a city in ruins.

2017 – CRIES FROM SYRIA by Evgeny Afineevsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️

An attempt to re-contextualize the European migrant crisis and ongoing hostilities in Syria, through eyewitness and participant testimony. Children and parents recount the revolution, civil war, air strikes, atrocities and ongoing humanitarian aid crises, in a portrait of recent history and the consequences of violence.

2017 – CITY OF GHOSTS by Matthew Heineman ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The anonymous activists who exposed ISIS atrocities in Raqqa. Follows their undercover operations, exile, and risks taken to reveal the ruthless realities under ISIS rule. The story of “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently”:

https://www.raqqa-sl.com/en/

2017 – OF FATHERS AND SONS by Talal Derki ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Talal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses on Osama and his younger brother Ayman, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up in an Islamic Caliphate.

2017 – HELL ON EARTH: THE FALL OF SYRIA AND THE RISE OF ISIS by Sebastian Junger & Nick Quested

A look at the current state of Syria amidst war and chaos in 2017, featuring stories of survival and observations by political experts from around the world.

2018 – THIS IS HOME by Alexandra Shiva

The lives of four Syrian families, resettled in Baltimore and under a deadline to become self-sufficient in eight months.

2019 – FOR SAMA by Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In a time of conflict and darkness in her home in Aleppo, Syria, one young woman kept her camera rolling — while falling in love, getting married, having a baby and saying goodbye as her city crumbled. The story before “Action For Sama”:

https://www.actionforsama.com/

2020 – AYOUNI by Yasmin Fedda

Noura and Machi search for answers about their loved ones – Bassel Safadi and Paolo Dall’Oglio, who are among the over 100,000 forcibly disappeared in Syria.

2021 – OUR MEMORY BELONGS TO US by Rami Farah ⭐️⭐️

Three Syrian activists are reunited on a theatre stage in Paris. 10 years after the revolution, they revisit traumas and memories of a ferocious war.

2021 – LITTLE PALESTINE: MEMORY OF A SIEGE by Abdallah Al-Khatib ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After the Syrian Revolution, Al-Assad’s regime besieges the district of Yarmouk, largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world. Yarmouk is cut off. The director records the daily deprivations while celebrating the people’s courage.

2022 – THE LOST SOULS OF SYRIA by Garance Le Caisne & Stéphane Malterre ⭐️⭐️

In 2013, a Syrian official flees with 27,000 photos of corpses tortured to death in the country’s prisons since 2011. One year later, the photos of the Caesar Report reveal to the world the horror of the crimes of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.

2023 – UNDER THE SKY OF DAMASCUS by Talal Derki

In Damascus, a collective of young female actors comes together to research the topic. They plan to use the moving anonymous statements of countless women to create a stage play that will break taboos.

2024 – MY MEMORY IS FULL OF GHOSTS by Anas Zawahri

Like a visual elegy, My Memory Is Full of Ghosts explores a reality caught between past, present and future in Homs, Syria. Behind the self-portrait of an exsanguinated population in search of normality, emerge memories of the city, haunted by destruction, disfigurement and loss. A deeply moving film, a painful echo of the absurdity of war and the strength of human beings.

14 Years of Revolution: How the Syrian People Prepared for Justice – by Lily RADWAN

by | Jan 10, 2025 | Levant

When I was 10 years old, I was first introduced to the concept of freedom with the beginning of the Syrian revolution.

I come from a Syrian family from the city of Homs but I never lived in Syria. Like a lot of people, I visited the country many times and fell in love with it, and as I grew older, I chose to shape all my studies around understanding how I can contribute to the revolution and holding the Assad regime accountable for its crimes, to echo the values of Syrians’ demand for freedom. Now, I study a Masters in Transitional Justice.

Throughout my studies, I at times felt isolated from the diaspora justice process for Syria as I felt ‘not Syrian enough’, a feeling I am sure many members of the Syrian 2nd generation diaspora feel. Now that the Assad regime has finally fallen, I am searching for the best way to contribute to the rebuilding of our country, as a member of the diaspora and as a Syrian person that cares.

I want this article to be a place to start mapping the work that has already been done by the Syrian civil society, to avoid duplication and to continue the conversation on transitional justice for our country.

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad stands in a ransacked government security facility, in Damascus, on December 8, 2024. (Photo by Rami al SAYED / AFP) (Photo by RAMI AL SAYED/AFP via Getty Images).

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad stands in a ransacked government security facility, in Damascus, on December 8, 2024. (Photo by Rami al SAYED / AFP) (Photo by RAMI AL SAYED/AFP via Getty Images).

Ultimately, I want to  answer the question that any young, passionate or (re-)politicised Syrian may ask: Assad has fallen, but what can we do for our country now?

What is Transitional Justice: A Personal Definition

Transitional Justice (TJ)  is often referred to in a legal scope as the “legal responses that deal with the wrongdoing of repressive predecessor regimes”, with  five pillars associated with it : truth, justice, reparations, memorialisation and guarantees of non-recurrence.

Personally, I interpret TJ as all the processes, initiatives, projects, and movements that have and will lead to creating a Syria where everyone is free and feels free no matter their background and without this freedom being co-opted by external parties.  This is what many Syrian civil society actors have been working towards for 14 years or more.

So, how prepared are we?

Mapping the Syrian CSOs’ initiatives in Transitional Justice

TJ initiatives have been in progress for many years in the Syrian civic space,particularly in Northern Syria, but full-scale freedom could not be achieved with the presence of the repressive Assad regime. Now, it is time to put in practice the theories and projects developed by Syrian CSOs that fall under four categories: documentation of the revolution and human rights violations, criminal trials, truth-seeking initiatives, and preparatory plans for a post-Assad Syria.

  • Documenting the Syrian Revolution –

With 14 years of rampant impunity for horrific war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Syrian people have been left on their own to document, archive and show the world what Assad did to the country. Still, this documentation had little effect on destroying the monster of disinformation created by the Assad regime and its allies within the international community.

However, what these efforts created is an impressive archive of verified information, reports, and databases that can be used as evidence to fight impunity in post-Assad Syria.

Some very significant initiatives in the documentation domain include organisations fact-checking videos, pictures and documents exposing human rights violations and attacks on infrastructure by the regime and various armed groups in the country. Namely, the Syrian Revolution Archive, the Syrian Archive (as part of Mnemonic), the Syrian Network of Human Rights (SNHR), and the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), amongst others, have been working on this[1].

[1] I am currently working on a comprehensive yet non-exhaustive list of Syrian CSOs doing archival work.

The Syrian Archives’ Methodology of Research. Available at: https://syrianarchive.org/

The Syrian Archives’ Methodology of Research. Available at: https://syrianarchive.org/

An event organised by the Syrian Design Archive with the Syrian Oxford Society. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3A0OnDMPbm/?hl=en&img_index=1

An event organised by the Syrian Design Archive with the Syrian Oxford Society. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3A0OnDMPbm/?hl=en&img_index=1

There have also been huge amounts of documentation about the events of the revolution through artistic means. Projects working on this include the Creative Memory Archive and the Syrian Design Archive. In addition, countless documentary movies have been made exposing the crimes committed by the Assad regime.

These initiatives have created a strong base of evidence of the war crimes and crimes against humanity that can be used in processes of accountability of members of the Assad regime, as they include the names of the perpetrators, the locations and dates of the violations and the sequences of events as well as direct testimonies by the victims/survivors.

To strengthen the impact of these archival efforts, unifying organisations like Madaniya (see below) can bolster work on providing an easily-accessible and comprehensive database of this work to be used in accountability trials.

  • Criminal Trials of Regime Members –

Following up on the important archival work done by the Syrian people, Syrian legal groups have worked hard on holding accountable the perpetrators of torture and murder under the Syrian regime by using the concept of universal and transnational jurisdiction. This was significantly seen in the 2020 case of Anwar Raslan in Germany, where a Syrian regime colonel was convicted of torture of detainees of conscience. Many such cases followed suit.

Whereas these cases were previously small-scale, they have given the Syrian civil society working on criminal trials the experience to tackle the mountain of trials that need to take place with the change of powers. Many crimes are being uncovered with Assad’s fall and evidence must be handled with care so as not to jeopardise accountability trials.

Organisations like the Syrian Legal Development Programme, already having taken part in trials in Europe, have activated an accessible awareness campaign to advise those on the ground on how to handle evidence, including how to refer the evidence to UN human rights mechanisms. This is the type of knowledge Syrian CSOs gained throughout the revolution, waiting for the day of wide-spread accountability.

A demonstration outside the courthouse where former Syrian intelligence officer Anwar Raslan stands on trial in Koblenz, western Germany, on January 13, 2022. (Photo by Bernd Lauter / AFP) (Photo by BERND LAUTER/AFP via Getty Images)

A demonstration outside the courthouse where former Syrian intelligence officer Anwar Raslan stands on trial in Koblenz, western Germany, on January 13, 2022. (Photo by Bernd Lauter / AFP) (Photo by BERND LAUTER/AFP via Getty Images)

In moving forward with criminal trials, we  also have to ask ourselves where such trials will take place. Facilitating the access to justice of the Syrian people could be a crucial role for any new government that wishes to rebuild societal trust. This means, at the very least, to provide ample space (literally and metaphorically) to the Syrian civil society to participate and/or lead criminal trials and to aid the Syrian people in reclaiming their stolen rights, such as property rights. An organisation to consult with much experience in House, Land and Property rights is The Day After.

  •  Truth-Seeking in the Decay of Assad’s Disinformation Campaigns –

 The Assads, having left behind them 54 years of disinformation, are the reason for countless accusations and denialist rhetoric rejecting even the most obvious of violations that occurred in Syria. To name a few, the Assad regime has forcibly disappeared approximately 100’000 people since March 2011, and attacked civilians 217 times with chemical weapons.

An Infographic by Don’t Suffocate the Truth: Map of the Chemical Attacks in Syria. Available at:

https://donotsuffocatetruth.com/en/infographics/17#infographic

From the denial of these horrific events, arose organisations specifically dedicated to establishing the truth. For instance, the Don’t Suffocate the Truth Campaign has promoted the truth about the use of chemical weapons in Syria to counteract an intense disinformation campaign by Russia and the Assad regime on this topic. In this regard, Don’t Suffocate the Truth can support by providing evidence, the work of groups like The Syria Campaign and the White Helmets that have called for the formation of an Exceptional Chemical Weapons Tribunal (ECWT) to investigate and prosecute the users of chemical weapons in Syria.

As for enforced disappearances, countless on-going campaigns have formed by victims/survivors of the crime to establish the whereabouts of their loved ones. For instance, a coalition of associations raising awareness of enforced disappearances of detainees of conscience launched the Truth and Justice Charter in February 2021,  which eventually led to the creation of the new UN Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria in June 2023, a mechanism for the search and identification of ‘missing people’ in Syria.

In uncovering Assad’s crimes after his fall, mass graves have been discovered across the country, one of which an estimated 100 ‘000 unidentified bodies are buried. In this context, it is crucial to protect the evidence at all costs to identify and bring back the bodies to their families for proper burial.  Coming back to the SNHR, it has published crucial Guidelines on the Treatment of Mass Graves in Post-Armed Conflict Syria. These are more ways the Syrian civil society has prepared itself for the large-scale process of transition to justice, accountability, reparations and stable freedom.

DARAA, SYRIA - DECEMBER 16: Teams work on the uncovered 12 mass graves, believed to contain the remains of civilians killed by the ousted Assad regime, in Daraa, Syria on December 16, 2024. (Photo by Bekir Kasim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

DARAA, SYRIA – DECEMBER 16: Teams work on the uncovered 12 mass graves, believed to contain the remains of civilians killed by the ousted Assad regime, in Daraa, Syria on December 16, 2024. (Photo by Bekir Kasim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

To bring all of these crimes together, and to elucidate comprehensive truth, many groups, including the SNHR and the SCM, have advocated for the creation of a Truth Commission, to fully investigate the crimes committed in Syria by the Assad regime and its allies and to create the basis for widespread criminal prosecutions. This Truth Commission needs to be urgently supported by the international community and any new Syrian government.

  • Preparing for the Fall of Assad –

As anticipatory plans for the fall of the brutal regime, the Syrian civil society has created critical legal, political, and economic documents to help guide the process of democratisation and achieve full freedom in the country. Here are three examples to illustrate my point:

First, the SCM developed in 2022 a 60 page handbook on applying practical solutions to the TJ process in Syria, drawing on experiences of TJ in other countries and adapting entrenched concepts of TJ specifically to the Syrian context. In a similar vein, The Day After wrote a detailed plan on gender-sensitive TJ in Syria. Such documents should be indispensable to human rights activists in the Syrian context.

Second, the Center for Legal Studies and Research coordinated an important project in which Syrians of all backgrounds were consulted and given 10 workshops on constitutional culture, the result of which was the drafting of a constitution “with the aim of laying the foundations and mechanisms to protect [Syria’s] future from repeating past mistakes”. This is a full constitution with 282 articles addressing freedom and equality. Again, workers in TJ could use this constitution as a very helpful starting point.

Third, the Madaniya initiative was created in the context of the revolution  to reclaim political agency for civic actors in and outside of Syria. With the fall of the regime, they went from a diaspora initiative, to a group established in the Syrian capital. Uniting over 200 Syrian CSOs, this group has prepared a bloc of Syrian civil society groups that can serve as a powerful united entity pushing for lasting freedom in the country.

Madaniya Press Conference in Damascus. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/madaniyanetwork/p/DD4xp_7sedK/?img_index=1

Madaniya Press Conference in Damascus. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/madaniyanetwork/p/DD4xp_7sedK/?img_index=1

What now?

Now is the time to push the mechanisms and archives developed by Syrian civil society even further, to achieve deep and relentless accountability for the perpetrators of human rights violations in the country in the past 14 years. Everyone has a role to play.

To all those wondering what they can do for their country, I have provided examples of organisations whose initiatives you can contact and help strengthen. As for the organisations with active initiatives, let in newcomers with an open heart to the work you have been doing, as generations of young activists will be knocking on your door. Syria needs all its people of conscience, now is the time for collaboration and building trust, more than ever before.

This article was submitted by Lily RADWAN. Lily is a Syrian of the second generation diaspora in Europe. Since the Syrian revolution started in 2011, she has dedicated her time to researching, learning, organising and supporting the revolution and its goals towards freedom. This led her to her current Masters studies in Transitional Justice to answer the question: what can be done now that the Syrian regime has fallen. 

Some links to access Lily Radwan’s work :

The Syrian Chronicle by Interstices-Fajawat, January, 10, 2025

by | Jan 10, 2025 | Chronicle

CHRONICLE WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH FRENCH COLLECTIVE/MEDIA “CONTRE ATTAQUE“

On the first day of the year 2025, the Syrian transitional government made its first diplomatic outing abroad, visiting the Saudi government and then its neighbors Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. HTS thus sent a clear and strong message to the whole world, making Saudi Arabia and Qatar, in addition to Turkey, its priority partners in the reconstruction of the country. The resources needed to rebuild Syria are estimated at almost 400 billion dollars. In the days that followed, Saudi Arabia sent several truckloads of humanitarian aid by air to Damascus, then a convoy of 60 aid trucks entered via the Jordanian border on January the 5th, while Qatar and Turkey sent two “powerships” to the Syrian coast (floating power plants) to supply Syria with 800 MW of electricity (+50%). Jordan is also ready to supply energy to its neighbor. The lack of electricity and its rationing by the Assad regime was one of the major problems facing Syrian society.

After announcing Syria’s reconnection to the market economy, we can expect the transitional government to apply ultra-liberal measures aimed at reducing the new state’s spending as much as possible and favoring private investment. This may explain the unannounced dismissal of hundreds of public-sector hospital workers in Tartous and Aleppo, as well as a state-owned shoe factory in Suwayda in recent days, leading to spontaneous angry demonstrations in all three provinces.

Suffice it to say that the period ahead promises to be a tense one, especially as the security operations launched in Tartous, Homs and Rural Damascus over the past week have not been as consensual and peaceful as might have been expected. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has gathered extensive evidence and testimonies of violence committed by HTS forces during their sweep operations to arrest officers and agents of the deposed regime: aggressive raids, bullying and physical violence against hundreds of residents, as well as those arrested. For the operation in Homs, which lasted five days, HTS arrested 1,450 people, without knowing the reality of the charges brought against them. Above all, these operations gave self-proclaimed rebel groups or groups affiliated to HTS carte blanche to persecute and murder civilians. SOHR has counted 214 murders since December 8, including that of three farmers in Jableh (Latakia), which led to a demonstration of several thousand people demanding the expulsion of foreign fighters (in this case, Chechens and Pakistanis).

Syrian society urgently needs the implementation of transitional justice, accompanied by solid reconciliation processes. Fourteen mass graves have been discovered, with 1,582 bodies identified to date, and measures have finally been taken to guard Assad’s prisons and preserve their archives, at the insistence of the families of the disappeared. But these families are now joined by hundreds of others, who demonstrated in large numbers in Damascus on January 6 to demand information on the fate of almost 9,000 soldiers of the former regime arrested since its fall, including 2,000 sent back to Syria by the Iraqi authorities after fleeing. While several thousand Assad soldiers have passed through “reconciliation centers” over the past three weeks to hand in their weapons and be registered for possible prosecution, before being reincorporated into civilian society (under Assad, soldiers had their civilian identity cards confiscated and replaced by military identity cards), many are still being held without the transitional government being willing to give their names and places of detention. Finally, and this is perhaps the greatest irony of all, families in the Idleb region are also demonstrating to demand the release of their loved ones, imprisoned by HTS before the fall of the regime for their membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a Salafist group criticizing Joulani for abandoning the Islamic caliphate project (sic).

Other events are shaking up Syria’s new political life, particularly in the two southern regions of Syria. In Deraa the leader of the 8th Brigade, created by Russia from the region’s rebel groups under surrender agreements signed in 2018, refuses to disarm his men and join the new Syrian army. In Suwayda two of the main local factions have allied and also refused, through the province’s spiritual sheikh, to give up their weapons and join the new Syrian army without guarantees of a real democratic and secular transition at the end of the transition period. While this decision may come as a surprise to the Sunni-majority factions in Deraa, it is far less of a surprise to the Druze minority in Suwayda, whose survival has always depended on its means of self-defense and its ties of solidarity with the Druze of Mount Hermon (occupied by Israel since December 8) and Mount Lebanon (the Lebanese have been banned from entering Syria since January 3). The Druze cannot jeopardize their security in the face of a military apparatus entirely in the hands of former (not so former) jihadists[1]. Their defiance is therefore totally legitimate.

Still in the south of the country, Israel has seized new villages, as well as the important Mantara dam in the province of Quneitra, not hesitating to destroy houses and infrastructure, while exercising violence against residents. A French journalist, Sylvain Mercadier, and his Syrian fixer were arrested on January 8 and beaten while in custody, before being released. Israel claims it intends to hold out until the end of 2025, but there is ample evidence that it intends to occupy the territory permanently and wage a “water war” against the Syrians as well. At the time of writing, we have also learned of the detention of five Palestinian refugees by the Syrian branch of Fatah in Damascus as they took part in a demonstration in front of the Palestinian embassy to protest against the ongoing siege in Jenin. Not content with collaborating with the Assad regime, Palestinian political factions seem to enjoy impunity, aided by HTS’s silence on Israel.

The other obstacle to HTS’s hegemonic ambitions is represented by the Syrian Democratic Forces and their autonomous Kurdish allies in Rojava. The main reason for their non-allegiance is that the war continues between them and the pro-Turkish jihadist mercenaries of the SNA, supported by Turkish aircraft, artillery and drones. Since the end of December, the front line has crystallized around the Tishrin dam on the Euphrates, and the fighting has claimed the lives of 56 SDF fighters and 199 SNA members. Not to mention the many civilian casualties in jihadist-controlled areas, where persecution and arbitrary executions are commonplace, but also on the other side of the Euphrates due to daily bombardments. Beyond the fierce resistance of the SDF, the truly decisive factor is and will remain the position of the United States in the conflict. The US army has already reinforced its contingent in Kobane, and there is some talk of demilitarizing the area under agreements with France, involving the securing of the Turkish border by a Franco-American force. But it is clear that this will not be enough to put an end to the conflict as long as the regions north of Aleppo remain under the control of the SNA fanatics. On the HTS side, negotiations are still underway for a possible conciliation, as the autonomous administration of northeastern Syria has reaffirmed its desire to integrate into a unified national state.

Given these balances of power, as well as the diversity and regional specificities that characterize Syrian society, only a decentralized model of governance allowing greater local participation in decision-making can guarantee social peace. But only if HTS’s foreign sponsors accept this…

[1]  Recall that Al-Nosra jihadists had fought the Free Syrian Army’s Druse Battalion in 2014, while those of DAESH had massacred 258 residents of Suwayda in 2018.

The Syrian Chronicle by Interstices-Fajawat, January, 2, 2025

by | Jan 2, 2025 | Chronicle

CHRONICLE WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH FRENCH COLLECTIVE/MEDIA “CONTRE ATTAQUE“

Our previous chronicle was published at a time when a large-scale military operation was being launched by HTS in Homs and Tartus regions to arrest a number of former officers and henchmen loyal to the deposed Assad regime. These militiamen, who had taken refuge in the predominantly Alawite coastal regions (the religious minority from which the Assad clan is descended), had in fact begun issuing threats and agitating the population against a backdrop of fake news, accusing HTS of having deliberately attacked and set fire to a sacred site for the Alawites in Aleppo. Although the holy site was indeed attacked on December 5 during the first assaults against the regime, HTS immediately condemned the action and promised to punish those responsible, which is quite different from what Assad’s nostalgic supporters claim, alleging that HTS was organizing ethnic cleansing of the Alawites. In fact, this cleansing has not taken place, even though images of violence have circulated, showing militiamen from the deposed regime being mistreated when arrested. At the same time, Alawite religious and civil leaders met with HTS officials and issued statements invalidating rumors of persecution.

These sectarian tensions make us forget that the majority of Syria’s Alawite population was also suffering under Assad’s dictatorship, and that an attempted insurrection started from the Alawite community in August 2023 (August 10th Movement: https://en.majalla.com/node/297431/politics/alawite-protest-movement-emerging-syrias-coastal-areas ; https://syriadirect.org/where-does-latakia-stand-on-suwaydas-movement/ ), immediately put down by the regime. For the past two weeks, we’ve also been struggling on social networks (when we clearly have other things to do) with Western and/or pro-Assad accounts spreading disinformation and rumors about the persecution and massacre of Christians in Syria, which is simply not true. It seems that part of the world doesn’t want to leave Syrians in peace and finds interest or pleasure in circulating images of atrocities, which deny our need to heal from decades of trauma. Our nightmares make their fantasies. To sort out what’s true from what’s not, and to deal with the rumors, we invite anyone to follow the @VeSyria / https://verify-sy.com/en account.

Still on the security front, Al-Shara’a continued to reward his lieutenants with responsibilities within the new military apparatus. A list of some 50 appointments to the new Ministry of Defense was made public, including at least seven foreign fighters, three of them Uighurs, one Turk, one Jordanian, one Egyptian and one Albanian. The Minister of Defense and the Head of Intelligence have also been appointed, all from HTS and the multiple Islamist factions that constitute it.

On the political front, the transitional authority has made progress. Last week, Ahmed Al-Shara’a (aka Al-Joulani) appointed the first woman to the government, Aisha Aldebs, as head of women’s affairs. What appeared to be an encouraging sign was immediately tarnished by her first, extremely conservative statements, which for the past week have sparked strong polemics in Syrian society, as well as virulent reactions in the media. In the aftermath, Al-Shara’a seems to have wanted to adjust the balance by appointing other women to positions of responsibility: Maysaa Sabrine, as Governor of the Syrian Central Bank, Diana Elias Al-Asmar (Christian) as Director of the Damascus University Children’s Hospital, and finally Mohsena Al-Maithawi (Druze), as Governor of the Suwayda region, which was a request from the Druze community. At the same time, freelance journalist Mohammed Al-Faisal was appointed spokesman for the transitional government.

Beyond this, Al-Shara’a also announced deadlines for the drafting of a new constitution and the holding of elections, stating that it would take between 3 and 4 years to guarantee the implementation of UN Resolution 2254 for a democratic transition in Syria. Given the catastrophic state of Syrian society and institutions, these timescales seem realistic, although there is still considerable concern about how the transitional government will manage public affairs over this long period. While Shara’a has rejected the federalist option and justified his choice of appointing only officials close to HTS, he has nevertheless reassured his interlocutors and detractors by promising the future dissolution of HTS within the framework of the National Conference for Dialogue due to begin on January 5. A preliminary meeting of the conference was held on December 28, but it was roundly criticized for the low participation of women (3 out of more than 100 people) and young people, as well as for the superficiality of the exchanges that took place. The way in which participants are chosen and invited remains vague. The Madaniyya network, made up of over 150 Syrian civil society organizations committed to the principles of the 2011 revolution, and which has already met with a number of foreign delegations, is waiting, for example, to be taken into consideration by the transitional government and the national conference for dialogue.

One of the blind spots in this transition is therefore still the condition of women, as well as that of the thousands of detainees and forcebley disappeared people plus their relatives, who have not been offered any concrete support or any prospect of justice or reparation. Many associations and human rights groups have begun to denounce the fact that prisons and their archives have not been put under protection over the past two weeks, and have been subject to destruction and theft. This obvious negligence raises questions about the new government’s real desire to dig deep into the secrets of the deposed regime. Silence, too, on the fate of the Syrian communes occupied by Israel and Turkey, as well as that of the Druze community of Suwayda, which has enjoyed de facto autonomy for several years now and has so far neither been invited nor solicited by the new central authority in Damascus. Silence again on Russian military bases, whose total withdrawal is not mentioned, despite the fact that Russia has spent the last ten years bombing and participating in the massacre of Syrian communities. Al-Shara’a, on the other hand, has declared its desire to respect Russian strategic interests in the region, a priori on a level with those of Israel and the United States.

In conclusion, one of the main “Gordian knots” in post-Assad Syria remains the fate of the Kurdish population, and more specifically that of the autonomist Rojava project. The Syrian Democratic Forces are struggling to contain the onslaught of pro-Turkish militias on the banks of the Euphrates, and have even driven them back to the outskirts of Manbij, while the autonomous administration of north-eastern Syria has entered into negotiations with HTS, even considering demilitarization and the reunion of the SDF within the new national army. But not without serious guarantees from the new government in Damascus…

We Will Need Time: a podcast with The Final Straw Radio, Ashville, NC (USA)

by | Dec 29, 2024 | Levant

This podcast was made by THE FINAL STRAW RADIO, Asheville, NC, USA :

https://thefinalstrawradio.libsyn.com/we-will-need-time-two-libertarian-communist-perspectives-on-events-and-possibility-in-syria 

In this episode, you’ll hear Cedric and Khuzama, two libertarian communists with connections to Syria and editor contributors to the blog interstices-fajawat.org , speaking about their observations of what’s been going on leading up to and through the ouster of Bashar Al-Assad, as well as complications among various factions on the ground and the view from the Syrian diaspora. The situation on the ground is changing fast, so check the show notes for this episode on our website for links to news sources that can be helpful in keeping up.

And if you care to hear a perspective from an anarchist combatant affiliated with Tekosina Anarsist, which works with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria affiliated with the SDF and Rojava Revolution, you can find our episode from December 22nd and the transcribed zine.

We Will Need Time: two libertarian communist perspectives on events and possibility in Syria

by The Final Straw Radio