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

by | Jan 12, 2025 | Levant

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

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.

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

by | Jan 2, 2025 | Chronicle

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

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…

Call to all Syrian progressive forces !

by | Dec 12, 2024 | Levant

Call to all Syrian progressive forces !

Apart from the accomplices of the Assad regime and the civilian populations still being targeted in the North and East of Syria, all Syrians are happy with the liberation of Syria thanks to the offensive of the Syrian rebels and the support of many Syrian communities who were only waiting for a signal to participate in the liberation.

After 58 years of one of the most ferocious dictatorships, and not 13 or 24 years as suggested by the Western media, Syrians needed at least 48 hours to breathe and share their infinite happiness, their cries, their joy, but also their tears of relief and sorrow too long contained.

Many abroad have not respected this need, continuing to infantilize Syrians and scorn their democratic and secular aspirations, constantly brandishing the Islamist threat in front of our faces since the start of the rebel offensive (which we refuse to reduce to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, because hundreds of other factions have joined the operation).

We didn’t need to be told. We were among the first to suffer this threat, which has been with us for years, but we also know that jihadist criminal groups didn’t just spring up. They were born out of the chaos produced by decades of colonization, armed invasion and indiscriminate bombing.

Having celebrated, Syria’s progressive forces must now act fast and not relax too early. The threats of a reactionary and fundamentalist backlash are real.

That’s why we want to share a few essential demands with you, to be widely disseminated within ALL Syrian communities and passed on to those who will ensure the political transition in Syria.

We must:

END THE VIOLENCE

  • Put an immediate end to all military intervention in the areas of Idleb, Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir Ez-Zor and Hasakeh and implement ceasefire agreements between rebel forces and YPG/SDF armed forces;
  • Condemn and put a definitive end to foreign bombing raids on Syrian soil;
  • Demand the liberation of Syrian territories and civilian communities held hostage by neighboring states and armed groups serving their interests, in particular Israel and Turkey in the Golan, Quneitra, West Damascus, Idleb, Aleppo, Raqqa and Hasakeh regions;
  • Disarm non-Syrian armed fighters and ask them to leave the country, return home or apply for asylum in Syria, to be considered in the light of serious investigations into the crimes committed by the armed groups to which they belonged;
  • Guarantee access to Syrian territory for humanitarian NGOs and journalists;

IMPLEMENT A RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROCESS:

  • Protect and analyze the archives of the Assad regime’s security services, then make them available for consultation by those concerned, to enable grieving and reparation for the crimes, as well as prosecution of the perpetrators;
  • Protect and allow full access to the lists of detainees and victims of the Assad regime for the families of victims searching for missing persons;
  • List those complicit in slanderous denunciations and protect their identity to prevent personal vengeance and ensure fair judicial procedures, which may involve transformative and restorative, rather than punitive, modes of justice;
  • Arrest and detain in humanitarian conditions all army, security service or armed militia personnel suspected of direct involvement in the commission of crimes against civilians and war crimes;
  • Prevent any public humiliation or execution, and initiate justice processes that respect international conventions against the death penalty;
  • Enable the establishment of alternative systems of conflict resolution and justice, allowing defendants to choose under which justice system they wish to be tried, while prohibiting the use of penalties involving corporal punishment or the death penalty;

GUARANTEE POLITICAL TRANSITION:

  • Prevent the establishment of a political regime based on religious or ethnic affiliations, to prevent a sectarian division of Syria;
  • Prevent the use of symbols of armed groups, as well as flags associated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, and other Islamist groups, in the public institutions of the new political regime;
  • Organize a political transition to a confederal regime allowing egalitarian and non-segregative representation of the different ethno-religious communities of Syrian society that represent at least 1% of Syrian society: Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, Christian Arabs, Druze, Alawites, Kurds and Assyrians. Ethnic communities representing less than 1% of the Syrian population must be given proportional representation in order to ensure respect for their specific identities and related rights: Turkmen, Circassians, Bedouins, Armenians, Mizrahim Jews, Yezids, Palestinians, Romanis, Aramaic/Syriacs;
  • Freeze all cooperation with a neighboring state that does not guarantee full freedom for populations belonging to at least one of the above-mentioned Syrian communities;
  • Restore full and unrestricted political and religious freedoms, as well as freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of the press;
  • Guarantee the freedom and protection of the rights of women and sexual minorities;

Without the implementation of all these demands, the self-determination of Syrians is not guaranteed, and the resurgence of authoritarian powers is to be feared. We must mobilize en masse to prevent history repeating itself and autocratic or reactionary ambitions compromising the democratic and secular Syrian revolution.

We must therefore loudly proclaim our solidarity with the Palestinian, Lebanese and Kurdish peoples in the face of oppression and unjustified violence. It’s not a question of supporting armed groups who carry their voice, but of sending a clear message to our brother peoples and to civilians who don’t deserve to suffer the repercussions of colonial wars.

We only want peace and democracy in Syria and the surrounding region.

Fajawat Initiative