Latest writing and updates:
VICE News: "The Syrian Regime Is Close to a Victory That Could Turn the War"
New from me on VICE News…
VICE News: "Syria Peace Talks in Geneva Get Suspended Even Before Really Beginning"
New from me on VICE News…
VICE News: "Faced With A Russian Onslaught, Syrian Rebels Are Calling for Help From All Muslims"
New from me on VICE News…
War on the Rocks: "A Cause for All Turks: Turkey and Syria's Turkmen Rebels"
New from me and S.G. Grimaldi on War on the Rocks:
The plight of Syria’s Turkmen minority has rallied groups across Turkey’s political spectrum, from pan-Islamists to hard-right Turkish nationalists. This mobilization is getting needed support to civilians inside Syria – but it may also be reshaping Turkish politics, as advocacy for the Turkmen helps to mainstream organizations that had been on the country’s political fringe…
World Politics Review: "Why Diplomatic Talks to End Syria’s Civil War Will Fail—Again"
New from me on World Politics Review:
Everyone is currently very excited about negotiations between Syria’s regime and opposition to resolve the country’s brutal war. But maybe don’t be? Because talks aren’t going to work, come on…
Ahrar al-Sham media activist: "I won’t claim that al-Fou’ah and Kafarya are entirely besieged."
Below is something I thought might be pertinent amid the coverage of Madaya, the Damascus countryside town that has recently been subjected to a crushing siege by the regime and Hizbullah. I’ve translated a response from Ahrar al-Sham media activist Marwan Khalil (Abu Khaled al-I’lami) to criticism of Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusrah’s blockade of the Shi’ite regime loyalist towns of Kafarya and al-Fou’ah. The criticism, which Ahrar and Nusrah have received from multiple opposition quarters: Their siege of the towns actually isn’t intense enough…
VICE News: "How Assad Is Using Sieges and Hunger to Grab More of the 'Useful Syria'"
New from me on VICE News…
VICE News: "Turkey Is Betting on Aleppo Rebels to Get Islamic State Out of Border Area"
New from me on VICE News…
Jabhat al-Nusrah leader on splits in Egyptian Brotherhood: “And that’s what jihadists are waiting for…”
Below I’ve translated a series of tweets from Abu Obeida al-Gharib, a leader in Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusrah. He weighs in at length on divisions within the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which was mostly decapitated after Egypt’s 2013 coup and has since been split between a militant youth wing and a more circumspect old guard…
VICE News: "Syrian Rebels Took One Very Small Step Closer to Negotiating an End to the War"
New from me at VICE News…
VICE News: "Syria's Newest Rebel Army Has Its Sights on the Islamic State"
New from me at VICE News…
Top Jabhat al-Nusrah shar'i attacks Jeish al-Islam, highlights broader jihadist anxieties
Below we see Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusrah’s top shari’ah official Sami al-Oreidi issue an unusually direct attack on top leadership in Jeish al-Islam, the most powerful rebel faction in Damascus’s East Ghouta suburbs. Al-Oreidi’s tweets (translated below) make clear that members of Nusrah’s top leadership share and endorse hardline jihadists’ hostility to Jeish al-Islam and its leader, Zahran Alloush. They also speak to broader anxieties among Syria’s jihadists as they attempt to coexist, often uncomfortably, with other political and ideological trends within the Syrian opposition…
Catching Up: (Most of) 2015
Woof, I really let this blog slide.
Anyway, I plan to update this more regularly as I continue to publish, if only to ensure that there’s a single clearinghouse for everything I’ve written. (You know, in case people are interested.)
Pieces I’ve published since my last post, in chronological order…
Catching Up: Two Jihadology Pieces and Middle East Week
Apologies, super-behind in updating this blog! (Also, following me on Twitter is a much better way to stay up-to-date on anything I’m writing.)
Two recent Jihadology guest pieces…
Jeish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar Shar'i: "I bring you good news..."
Below we see Jeish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar’s top shar’i “Mu’tasim Billah al-Madani” rebut the arguments of defected shar’i “Abu Azzam al-Najdi.” Mu’tasim Billah’s response is itself enlightening, insofar as it provides a window into how jihadists understand intra-rebel dynamics and their own legitimacy…
Suqour al-Sham commander: "Our land can’t bear a proxy war."
Below is Suqour al-Sham / Islamic Front commander Abu Ammar’s response to impending U.S. intervention in Syria. Unsurprisingly, after America’s stop-and-start support for rebels and recurring rumors that Ahrar al-Sham or the entire Islamic Front would be designated as terrorists, he is not in love with the idea…
Bishara on Syria: "The people are the ones who turned out to be strong!"
The above is a selection from Azmi Bishara’s appearance on the May 20 episode of Al Jazeera’s “Fil-‘Umq” (In Depth), titled either “Challenges Facing the Syrian Revolution” or “The Syrian Revolution at a Crossroads”…
Moaz al-Khatib Speech at the Arab Summit: March 26, 2013
Translation follows:
Greetings (al-salam alaikum) to you from a brave people, a quarter of whom have become homeless; and 200,000 of whose sons have been put in prisons; and who have paid a price for their freedom close to 100,000 martyrs; and whose country (infrastructure) has been destroyed at the hands of a mad, barbaric regime…
"Al-Bernameg": Amr Hamzawy on Democratic Institutions
In this translated clip – taken from the March 8 episode of “Bernameg al-Bernameg” – we see Egyptian political scientist cum politician Amr Hamzawy pretty effectively sum up the liberal critique of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-led process of institution-building…
The Charter of the Syrian Islamic Front
Below is a translation of the charter of the Syrian Islamic Front, a coalition of Islamist brigades working to topple the Assad regime. (Original document here, posted January 21.) …