Author Archive

On the Yazidi Mothers of Children Fathered by Jihadists

Interview with Lebanon’s Minister of Refugee Affairs, Mouin Merhebi

Romancing Rojava: Rhetoric vs. Reality

Turkey’s Afrin Operation Stokes Syrian Yazidi Fears and Fuels Displacement — by Sylvain Mercadier

Creating a New Syria: Property, Dispossession, and Regime Survival — by Erwin van Veen

Peak Fragility: Why The Middle East Is Doomed — by Ehsani

Follow-Up and Correctives on Hashd al-Sha’bi Article

The Militias in Iraq, From Popular Mobilization to Political Interference

What the KRG’s Loss of Kirkuk Means for Iraq

Minorities and the Kurdish Referendum—by Alda Benjamen

KRG Targets Minorities Ahead of Kurdistan Independence Referendum — Part Two: Annexing Christian Lands

Iraqi Minorities Face a Dilemma in Kurdish Independence

Kurdish Independence and the Unheard Yazidi Voice — by Murad Ismael

KRG Targets Minorities Ahead of Kurdistan Independence Referendum — Part One: Exploiting the Yazidi Genocide

Resolving Article 140: Settling the Issue of Iraq’s Disputed Territories Ahead of an Independence Referendum for Kurdistan

The End of the PKK in Sinjar? How the Hashd al-Sha’bi Can Help Resolve the Yazidi Genocide

The KRG’s Relationship with the Yazidi Minority and the Future of the Yazidis in Shingal (Sinjar)

Kurdish Blockade of Sinjar Harms Yazidis: New HRW Report

Report on Mass Graves of Yazidis in Sinjar

The Plight of Syria’s Druze Minority and U.S. Options

ISIS: A Caliphate of Torture and Rape

How to Understand Those 60 Trainees

The Iran-Syria Alliance: Sectarianism or Realpolitik? — by Mohammad Ataie

Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi Responds to al-Julani’s al-Jazeera Interview

Syria in Limbo: Neither Reunification nor Partition Are Yet Possible

Round-Up: Palmyra, Contingency Planning for Regime Losses, UN Response to Enslavement Crisis

New Dabiq Issue Reiterates Justifications for Yazidi Enslavement

The Alawi Community and the Syria Crisis – by Fabriche Balanche

Conference Announcement—Syria: Moving Beyond the Stalemate

HRW: “ISIS Escapees Describe Systematic Rape”

The Children of Syria: A War and Image Industry

The Kobani Model: Strengthening Kurdish-Arab Relations in Syria

Meet the Badris

Video presents views of al-Qaida’s European jihadists in Syria

Train-and-Equip: Fight for Pluralism in Syria

Interviewing Asad — by David W. Lesch

Syrian Refugees Collectivizing in Jordan Becomes a Security Issue — by Katy Montoya

Syria News Round-Up Feb. 9, 2015

J.K. Gani’s “The Role of Ideology in Syrian-US Relations” — Reviewed by Julio Rivera

After Burning of Muaz al-Kasasbeh, Jordan & al-Azhar’s Gestures of Vengeance Will Not Heal

News Round-Up

Syria: Should the United States Do More? — Debate at the McCain Institute

Footnotes on the SSNP—Comments from Nouhad Samaan, Head of SSNP in Homs

Resurgence of the SSNP in Syria: An Ideological Opponent of the Regime Gets a Boost from the Conflict

Will the Revolutionary Command Council be Syria’s New Rebel Government?

On Camps and Cities: The Lived Experience of Displaced Syrians in Jordan

Video: ISIS, Yazidis, and the Enslavement of Thousands of Women

Al-Qaeda’s Syrian Judiciary—is it really what al-Jolani makes it out to be?

Islamic State Officially Admits to Enslaving Yazidi Women

The Yazidis Are Not Getting Support

If the U.S. Wanted To, It Could Help Free Thousands of Enslaved Yazidi Women in a Single Day

The Unintended Consequences of Closing and Restricting Jordan-Syria Border Crossings—by Justin Schon

Sinjar Was Only the Beginning—by Matthew Barber

IS Routs Peshmerga, Takes Control of Sinjar Mountains, Jeopardizes Yazidi Homeland

The Expulsion of Mosul’s Christians, part 1: The Account of the Kidnapped Nuns

The Six Words You Need to Know to Be a Successful Jihadi and Establish Your Own Caliphate

“Bilal” – by Stephen Boeshaar

Joshua Landis & Robert Ford discuss Syria at Wilson Center event

Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Syria – by Fabrice Balanche

Religious Groups and Scholars of Islam in the Syrian Revolution – by Issam Eido

Syrians in Lebanon Vote in Presidential Elections

Did the Killing of Abu Bassir Lead to the First Lattakia Offensive?

Middle-East’s Sectarian Balance Shifts as Syrian Uprising Enters Fourth Year — by Jawad Anwar Qureshi

Detailed Syria Maps; Activists Honor Revolution Dead in Washington

Starvation: a Twisted Example of the Assad Regime’s Terrorism

New ISIS Leaks Reveal Particulars of al-Qaida Strategy

All this talk about Assad staying…

Administrative Update plus Round-Up

The Names of the Revolution

Recapitalising the Syrian Banking System: Costs and Challenges

Aymenn al-Tamimi Speaks to Ali Kayali and Profiles “The Syrian Resistance,” a Pro-Assad Militia Force

Jabhat al-Nusra and Other Islamists Briefly Capture Historic Christian Town of Ma’loula

Chemical Weapons and Responses; The Developing Story of Tripoli’s Bombing; Theories on Outcomes for Syria

Should the Use of Chemical Weapons Prompt a US Attack in Syria?

Problems for Syrians in Egypt; News from Kurdish North; Looting & Oil; Round-up

The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham Expands Into Rural Northern Syria

Where Does Jabhat al-Nusra End, and the Islamic State of Iraq & ash-Sham Begin?

Round-up: News from the North, Changes to Opposition, Egypt, and a lot of Miscellany

The End of the Line: A Microbus Map of Damascus – by Matthew McNaught

The Effect of the Conflict on Syrian Banking and Economy

Round Up: Lethal Aid, Human Interest Stories, Lebanon

Clerics in Egypt Call for Global Jihad Against Regime’s Shiite Allies, Egypt Cuts Syria Ties

Round Up: Qusayr, Hezbollah, Regional Sectarianism, Ehsani on Economics, Foreign Jihadis Behead & Kill for Blasphemy, US Intervention Proposal

“Let ‘Lawfare’ Shape the Conflict, Not the Flow of Arms” – By David Falt

Turkey Engulfed in Protests, Syria Conflict Worries Turkish Alevis, Syrian Turkomen Support Opposition

“The Turkish-Syrian Border Dispute: A View From the Past” – By Meir Zamir

Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi Interviewed by Syria Comment

Has the War Reached Lebanon? Meanwhile, Obama Updates War on Terror

Brotherhood Figures Block Yaqoubi’s Appointment, Post-Confirmation

Sheikh al-Yaqoubi Elected to the NC—its first non-Brotherhood-aligned religious figure

Oil Wars—Nusra’s Expanding Reach—Syrian Taliban

Jordan Shudders Under 331% Increase in Refugees as Conflict in Dera’a Intensifies

Regime Gains Ground—For Now

Islamic State Declared in Syria

The Raqqa Story: Rebel Structure, Planning, and Possible War Crimes

Dera’a is Falling

Drones, A New Alawite Opposition, Obama in Israel

Lebanese Tension, Egyptian Chaos, Iraqi Memories… and all the news from Syria

al-Nusra, al-Raqqa, Calls for Jihad, River of Death

“The Uprising and the New Syria: Islamists Rise in Raqqa while Damascene Christians Dodge Fire” By Matthew Barber