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The Slough — SYRIAWISE

The Minister of Transport issued a decree appointing Engineer Ghazwan Jabr as Director-General of the General Railway Authority in the capital of a certain country.Ghazwan could not bear the thought of parting with his personal chauffeur, Abboud. The man was not only a skilled driver but also an amusing companion. Abboud himself welcomed the prospect of moving to the capital and continuing to serve his benefactor.The road to the capital was riddled with potholes filled with water and mud, and Ab...

When Hospitality Hardens: The Anatomy of Violence Against Syrians in Türkiye — SYRIAWISE

For more than a decade, Türkiye opened its doors to 3.6 million Syrians fleeing war. This act of refuge was called “ansar“, protectors, reflecting a deep cultural and religious morality. But in 2026, the atmosphere in the streets, in parliament, and on social media tells a different story: one where hospitality turns into hostility, and rumors spread faster than facts.Violence against Syrians is not hypothetical, but it erupts in predictable patterns. In Kayseri, June 2024 and following allegati...

Rania al-Abbasi: The Syrian Mother Who Vanished with Her Six Children  — SYRIAWISE

Some stories transcend the individuals at their center and become part of a nation’s collective memory. The story of Syrian dentist and chess champion Rania al-Abbasi is one of those stories; a wound carried in the hearts of Syrians for more than thirteen years. It is the story of a mother who vanished along with her six children, leaving behind unanswered questions and a hope that endured despite the passage of time.For many Syrians, Rania al-Abbasi was never simply another name on a list of th...

From the Granary of Rome to a Global Agricultural Powerhouse: Can Syria Follow Vietnam's Path? — SYRIAWISE

The Roman Empire relied heavily on the fertile plains of Hauran for wheat and agricultural products, earning Syria the title of the “Granary of Rome”, a vast food reservoir that helped sustain one of history’s greatest empires. Because Roman prosperity depended significantly on agricultural production, particularly wheat, the Romans invested extensively in land development and irrigation systems, constructing canals and wells under the supervision of skilled engineers.In the 1940s, Syria’s pione...

A Fragile Ceasefire, An Unfinished War — SYRIAWISE

For more than a decade, Syria was the epicenter of death and destruction in the Middle East. Assad repeatedly tried to justify his war against the Syrian people with false claims that he was fighting American backed terrorists, even though the US was reluctant to provide adequate military support for the Syrian revolutionaries to successfully facilitate his overthrow. Ultimately, it was Syrian militants who marched through the country to Damascus who forced Assad to flee the country. Since his d...

Washington’s Syria Shift  — SYRIAWISE

When CENTCOM Commander General Charles Bradford Cooper II described Syria as the “center of gravity” in the fight against ISIS during his testimony before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on May 14, 2026, the statement was not merely military language. It was a political signal. Behind the security terminology lies a broader American reassessment of Syria’s role in the Middle East after years of isolation, war, and shifting regional alliances.For Washington, ISIS remains far from a close...

Sound Governance in Syria Is Essential to Reaping the Benefits of Economic Globalization — SYRIAWISE

The participation of developing countries in the process of globalization enables them to make better use of their comparative advantages, introduce advanced technologies, attract foreign capital, and acquire managerial expertise. It also helps reduce monopolies and enhance competition in markets. Yet while globalization offers opportunities for development, it also presents major risks that depend largely on the awareness and competence of governments in defining their role within this intercon...

The Assad Regime Still Living Within Us — SYRIAWISE

Whenever the new authorities issue a decision, a large segment of people who still carry the remnants of Assad’s regime and Baathist thinking in their minds and souls immediately rise in objection to the changes taking place in the economy, politics, administration, and society. But this raises a fundamental question: Did the Syrian people seek to remove Bashar al-Assad merely because he belonged to a certain sect, only to replace him with a president from another sect while keeping everything e...

Fall of Assad and rebirth of the Syrian media scene

Now that Syrians are no longer under the political persecution of the Ba’ath party of Bashar Assad, the domestic population is free to like, share, and follow any accounts they wish on social media. According to a survey conducted by Southern Illinois University in 2016,  96.1% of social media users from Syria reported they use Facebook daily. With over 23 million Syrians currently in the country, and millions more planning to return from the diaspora of nearly 13 million, a future population ne...

How Assad created refugee crisis and turned it into a playing card

Recently the Assad regime has been able to open a negotiation channel with Erdogan’s Turkey, along with members of the Arab League, at a time when European political shifts have been opening the door for further political gains on the side of the Assad regime. This follows recent attempts by neighboring countries to deport masses of Syrian refugees from their respective countries, attempting to return them to Syria which multiple regional governments have deemed “safe” even though reality says o...

Assad’s sport squad: A whitewashing scheme

For the first time in its history, Syria has qualified for the knockout stage at the AFC Asian Cup tournament currently being hosted in Qatar. Large crowds have turned out to support many of the teams, but not all. One of the teams that have little support comes from Syria as many activists believe that the national team has been tailor-made to sports wash the Assad regime. According to the math required for moving to the next round, one win, a draw, and a loss, gave the Syrian team four points...