Some of Syria’s young men completely reject the idea of fighting, not desiring to waste their lives on battle fronts or risk dying as martyrs. Many others refuse the fighting because they will not accept becoming a mere pawn on the Syrian regime’s board.
Markets in Syria seem- like the majority of Syrians in Syria- to be dying slowly, since news of the Caesar Act and its consequences has exhausted them psychologically before it has had the chance to take an effect economically.
How will the people progress, or even start to imagine days going by without misery, when they spend half their days in queues, and the other half wondering and asking about the time they will be receiving their rations, or resting after the fatigue of the long wait?
Many questions remain unanswered by the “Caesar Act”, the one supposedly directed against the Syrian regime. Among the most significant ones is: “Does the Caesar Act have the ability to disturb the Syrian Regime’s military machinery and its security grip, since it has been labelled the Civilians Protection Law?”
“The Lebanese hate us, the Syrians, I am so sorry you are dealing with this.” These words have never managed to comfort me. Who are these abstract Lebanese and Syrians who are at war with one another, and where do I fit into these binaries?
The current rift between Bashar al-Assad and his wife on the one hand, and Rami Makhlouf on the other hand, raises questions about the regime’s ability to liquidate Makhlouf…
The Syrian regime has a mysterious history, during the rule of the Assads, a hidden history, giving way to a narrative that refers everything in Syria to the regime that was established or controlled by Hafez Al-Assad…
These are the facts of an incident narrated to me by a former employee of one of the companies owned by Rami Makhlouf; the maternal cousin of President Bashar al-Assad. The former employee refused to reveal his identity for personal reasons.
The increasing censorship, which includes omitting scenes from dramas, totally prohibiting broadcasting them, or even excluding opposition actors from acting, has produced a weak Syrian Ramadan season.
Within the tremendous amount of fear Syrians have been through, it is just routine to them, so they go out and talk about a viral infection that attacks behind closed doors, and about a war they’ve witnessed with their own eyes. In a battle between war and virus, war is always the victor.
