How did the rebels manage to topple Bashar al-Assad’s regime so quickly? How inclusive will any new government realistically be? Who in the region wins and who loses? Andrew Mueller speaks with Syrian-born writer Rime Allaf, counter-insurgency expert David Kilcullen, Middle East security analyst Burcu Ozcelik and Russia expert Mark Galeotti.

Remarks on Day 2 after the fall of the Assad regime, as rescuers attempt to liberate detainees in the horrific Sednaya Prison near Damascus.

Rime Allaf in conversation with CNN’s Becky Anderson.

Listen to the podcast: https://newlinesmag.com/podcast/syria-the-bashar-years/

Rime Allaf is a Syrian-born writer and political analyst. In a wide-ranging conversation with Newlines’ Faisal Al Yafai, she recalls living through the end of the Hafez al-Assad era and traces the Bashar years from the initial optimism of Syrians, through the end of the Lebanon occupation and the Iraq War, to the start of the Syrian revolution.

The executive producer for this season of OPP is Lian Ryan-Hume. This episode was researched by Frederique St. Jean, Hafsa Anour and Veniecia Laylor; produced by Veniecia Laylor, and edited by Veniecia Laylor, Hafsa Anour and Allisha Azlan. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Instagram @OxfordPolicyPod_ and Twitter @OxfordPolicyPod.

You can also listen to the podcast here: https://oxfordpolicypod.captivate.fm/episode/unpacking-the-crisis-in-syria-the-role-of-the-international-community-and-humanitarian-organizations

Excellencies, esteemed peers, ladies and gentlemen,

I was born in Syria, spent the best part of my childhood in my beloved United States, and much of my adult life in the UK and different corners of the European Union, of which I am a proud citizen. On regular visits to Syria, I would wish for its people what we take for granted in the US and in Europe – rule of law, freedom of speech, basic human dignity, and, to borrow from that most famous of preambles, certain unalienable Rights, such as Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Young people everywhere have dared to dream that their lives are just as valuable as those for whom those words were written, words that the democratic world has preached for decades. Never again, we were told … only to find ourselves in a never before situation. How?

Never before has the world been able to observe - in real time - the destruction of a nation and the extermination of a people who dared to demand dignity and freedom.

Never before has a civilian population been filmed under attack with barrel bombs, savage airstrikes and chemical weapons by its “own” illegitimate authorities.

Never before have starvation sieges and old-fashioned barbaric massacres been so well documented as they happened.

Never before has torture on an industrial scale been so evidenced.

Never before has the world’s indifferent silence been so loud, save for perfunctory condemnations and erasable red lines.

And never before have the mightiest superpowers the world has ever known shamelessly pretended to be impotent. Syria is the not only the epicenter of the greatest crimes against humanity in modern history, but also the epicenter of our collective failure as a global community.

So here we are today, again, marking another anniversary and repeating the same mantras year after year. The only updates are in the horrific numbers that have come to summarize the Assad regime’s war on the Syrian people. In 10 years, the numbers of killed, wounded, maimed, displaced, tortured, detained, forcibly exiled continue to rise.

Since we marked the last anniversary of the Revolution, Bashar Assad celebrated his 20th year on the throne, and the Assad dynasty marked its 50th year of dominating, subjugating and terrorizing the Syrian population.

So, would you care to wager on what else we will be mentioning in March 2022? Or should we rather cut to the chase and decide, once and for all, that this anniversary should be the last of its kind?

It’s complicated, some of you say. No, it’s really not.

Despite every atrocity they have endured, Syrians are still raising their Independence flag as they continue to demand a life of dignity. They have never raised a white flag. So why, WHY are you all raising a giant white flag in surrender to undemocratic forces, even as they impact life in your own countries?

This gluttonous, incompetent, barbaric regime is unreformable, proving repeatedly it will use all means at its disposal to maintain its violent hold on power. So yank away this blanket of legitimacy you are inexplicably giving to actors who prop up a genocidal maniac boasting he will not negotiate, refusing to comply with even the most basic demands of Security Council Resolution 2254.

THEY are desperate to come out of this entanglement, and the solution is with you. They want reconstruction money? We want the right conditions to allow Syrians to turn a page. They want a nuclear deal? We want a cessation of armed interference from all their militias in the entire region. They want sanctions relief? We want to free all detainees, allow aid to reach all Syrians, and let them decide for themselves how to run their country.

We want accountability for all, so that we can have justice and peace.

Syrians started their revolution 10 years ago; it’s time the international community started its own as well. Fight this war, not the last ones, and fight it with logic, resolve and unity, not with weapons.

Make the solution a new precedent, not only so that surviving Syrians can go home and begin to rebuild their country and their lives, hand in hand with the millions of Syrians still held hostage in regime controlled areas, but also so that no other evil force is ever led to believe it can wreak havoc and sow the seeds of radical despair anywhere on our planet.

Here’s hoping that your legacy will be one which inspires your own people, and for which young, educated, healthy Syrians will one day thank you. The ball is in your court.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Rime Allaf, March 18, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4-L82KL8O8

The authors will be joined by MEI Syria Program Advisory Council Member Rime Allaf and MEI Senior Fellow Robert Ford, who will reflect on the origins and development of this conflict and explore what avenues exist today toward reconciliation, humanitarian relief, or solutions for the millions of displaced Syrians around the world. 

February 19, 2021

Speakers:

Amb. (ret.) Itamar Rabinovich (author)
President, the Israel Institute; Israel’s Chief Negotiator with Syria in 1990s

Carmit Valensi (author)
Research fellow, Institute for National Security Studies

Rime Allaf
Advisory Council Member, MEI Syria Program

Amb. (ret.) Robert Ford
Senior fellow, MEI

Charles Lister (moderator)
Senior fellow and director, Syria and CTE programs, MEI

See original publication

You can also listen to the podcast here: https://soundcloud.com/user-64338953/the-arab-spring-a-decade-on-syria

How will the Caesar Act’s sanctions be enforced and with what goals in mind? What effect are they likely to have within today’s context? Does a policy of escalating pressure on the Assad regime promise diplomatic progress or humanitarian suffering? 

The Middle East Institute (MEI) is pleased to welcome a panel of esteemed speakers to address these and many other questions.”

Speakers:

Amb. James F. Jeffrey 
Special Representative for Syria and Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS

Rime Allaf
Syrian writer and commentator; board member, The Day After Project

Qutaiba Idlbi
Non-resident scholar, MEI; Syria fellow, International Center for Transitional Justice

Charles Lister, moderator
Director, Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism Programs, MEI

See original publication

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01xt3qf

“More than 150,000 people, according to human rights groups, have been killed during Syria's three-year civil war and almost 10 million have been displaced. Following the conclusions of the Geneva II peace talks, there is still no imminent end to the conflict in sight. [Rime Allaf] outlines what the options are for the Syrian Opposition Coalition and discuss what can be done by the international community to help bring the conflict to an end.”