Syria in Transition

Our June issue is out. Inside: ☑️ The Druze Supervillain: Attempts to securitise Suwayda are ill advised ☑️ The logic behind the madness: Why Trump’s Middle East strategy is not new – and may even be working ☑️ Free the loaves: Syria’s bread economy could benefit from gradual market liberalisation ☑️ Lessons in obedience: How Syria’s schools reproduced authoritarian rule beyond the classroom ☑️ Romance and reality: A review of Robin Yassin-Kassab’s book ‘The Blood Between Us’ syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

How was authority exerted in Assad’s Syria, and how was it reproduced in classrooms? Part II of our series looks at the school, the place where children first encounter state authority. And since the ways schools are run says a great deal about how a state sees its citizens, we also ask what has changed since Assad’s fall. More in our June issue: syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

“The flesh is yours, the bones are ours. Do what you want and raise them.” Teachers we spoke to recalled hearing this chilling expression from parents on a regular basis. Even from those who rejected physical violence at home.

Syrian President a-Sharaa described the reports about the Syrian intervening against Hezbollah inside Lebanon as "nothing but rumors." Adding that Syria is seeking to stop the war in Lebanon, rather than expanding it and getting involved in it. This is absolutely the right call in my view, because: - The Syrian Army is dealing with enough security challenges inside Syria (ISIS, Druze militias, Alawi militias, Iranian-backed cells). The last thing the Syrian Army needs are a war with Hezbollah, which would lead to attacks on Syria from Hezbollah (which possesses rockets and missiles in the Beqaa), and likely Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq. - The Syrian people are exhausted by war after 14 years of being subjected to brutal violence. The war is unpopular among Syrians. According to a @SyriaTransition survey only 17% of Syrians support such a war x.com/SyriaTransitio… - Syria is seeking to build a positive relationship with all of its neighbors, and such an invasion would derail this path vis-a-vis Lebanon and Iraq. - The Syrian Army is still largely a conglomeration of militias, and some of the fighters are poorly disciplined and driven by sectarian animus. Only 11 months ago, this Army carried out a major massacre against fellow Syrians, Druze, who didn't harm them during the civil war. Imagine what they'll do to Shia civilians perceived as implicated in Hezbollah's crimes against the Syrian people. - Such an intervention would damage Syria's international standing & make it appear an aggressor country. Very few globally know about the atrocities Hezbollah perpetrated against the Syrian people, and even those who do, would struggle to justify a war based on vengeance. - Such a war is feared and opposed by most Lebanese, even hard-core opponents of Hezbollah. Christians and Druze who are largely aligned against Hezbollah according to polls, yet fear the entry of what they perceive to be jihadist forces into their country. I say this based on conversations with Lebanese in those communities. Thus, such an intervention would harm Syrian-Lebanese relations on the popular level too.

Assad’s relationship with video games began long before his downfall. During his years in power it became a habit pursued across internet platforms and mobile phones. As Syria was disappearing into the worst chapter of its history, Assad became a “professional gamer”, his interests ranging from titles such as FIFA, Uncharted and The Last of Us, to Candy Crush Saga and Battlefield. It was, to all intents and purposes, a psychological refuge. syriaintransition.com/en/home/opinio…

Wheat farmers across Syria are unhappy with government procurement prices. We spoke to some of them. They argue that the wheat, flour and bread sectors should be gradually liberalised to improve incentives for producers, boost productivity and strengthen Syria’s food security. syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

Even as a fleeting thought... The suggestion of Syrian intervention in Lebanon, sends shivers down the spines of millions of Lebanese. The easiest way to turn the Lebanese against you is to suggest to give Syria a role in Lebanon. Negotiations in Washington should guarantee that Israel and Syria stay out of Lebanon... @POTUS @LebEmbassyUS @usembassybeirut @LBpresidency @grandserail @nawafsalam @ATFLebanon

In 'The Blood Between Us', Robin Yassin-Kassab chronicles the emotional experience of liberation and return after decades of dictatorship. Our review examines where understandable revolutionary romance gives way to analytical blind spots, both in the portrayal of the revolution’s genesis and in assessing authoritarian continuities. syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

In our most recent poll, conducted in April, 63% of Syrians opposed military involvement against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In @SyriaTransition, @ajaltamimi notes overheated rhetoric about Hekmat al-Hijri’s role in Sweida from both his followers and his detractors, arguing that the latter paint Hijri as a supervillain to avoid grappling with the real causes of Druze alienation. syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

The US/Israel war on Iran is described by some as impulsive, chaotic, and even irrational: a war that the US has already lost. This view might generate clicks, but it overlooks the deeper logic shaping American policy in the Middle East over the past decade and a half. The war in the Gulf is not a rupture from a previous, more enlightened US strategy, but its continuation by harsher means. syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

Suwayda is being turned into Syria’s security scapegoat. @ajaltamimi argues the focus on the Druze risks obscuring the deeper failures driving Syria’s instability. meforum.org/mef-online/the…

Suwayda compresses many of Syria’s key challenges into a remarkably narrow space: decentralisation of governance, minority relations, competing victimhood narratives, a lack of accountability and transitional justice, war-economy networks and Israeli intervention. None of these are unique to the province. How they are handled in Suwayda may prove a revealing indicator of the Syria of tomorrow. syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

Does a research team have the right to withhold criminal evidence for years? What of the right of families and relatives of victims to know the fate of their missing loved ones? And if the evidence has been in the hands of official and international bodies for years, who bears responsibility for transforming it into a truth that reaches the families of the disappeared? syriaintransition.com/en/home/opinio…

School is where children first encounter state authority in a sustained way: through everyday discipline, hierarchy and the regulation of speech and behaviour. In Assad’s Syria, this meant taking first steps in a system where violence, corruption and opportunistic spying on others were treated as practical virtues. What’s left of it? syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

Free the loaves: Syria’s bread economy could benefit from gradual market liberalisation syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

Lessons in obedience: How Syria’s schools reproduced authoritarian rule beyond the classroom syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

Timely piece on @SyriaTransition that pushes back against recent vilification of Druze communities in Suwayda opposed to the gove't by pro-Damascus media, especially simplistic claims that the area is a haven for Assad loyalists and a hub for Captagon. syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

A new month, a new issue of Syria in Transition. For those who prefer the good old PDF, you can download the June issue - neatly laid out and easy on the eyes - here: syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…