All posts by Nir Boms

12May/08

Defiance in Damascus

Middle East, Syria, , , ,

Article published Sep 27, 2007
Defiance in Damascus

By Nir Boms –

The streets of Damascus have seen most things. They saw military marches with strutting generals leading their people to war. They have seen the images of presidential figures, such as the late Hafez Assad and his son, the current president, Bashar Assad, displayed on every corner. They have seen those of other allies like Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah or Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But they had never seen a Syrian American calling for reform. Continue reading →

12May/08

Europe’s New Middle East Darling

Europe and the Middle East, Middle East, Syria, , ,

Friday, November 19, 2004

By Nir Boms and Erick Stakelbeck

With Yasser Arafat’s death, Europe has lost its oldest and dearest Arab despot. But the race to replace him as the European Union’s favored Middle East tyrant has already begun – and we seem to have a winner. Late last month, just days before Arafat was flown to Paris to receive medical treatment, the European Commission and Syria signed an “Association Agreement” that strengthened Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad’s iron grip on power. Amazingly, this significant development was all but ignored by the Western media.

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12May/08

Hell and Back

Human Rights, Middle East, Syria, ,

A firsthand account of Syrian atrocities.

By Nir T. Boms & Farid N. Ghadry

According to estimates, almost 100 Kurds were killed in the riots that followed a soccer match in the city of Qamoshli, Syria last month. Over 1,300 Kurds are believed to have been arrested for treason, espionage, incitement, and disrupting the public order in the cities of Qamoshli, Ifrin, Dar-a Zhur, Aleppo, and Damascus.

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12May/08

Syrian Peace Overtures: Timing is Everything

Middle East, Syria, , , ,

1/9/2005

Nir Boms and Elliot Chodoff

Since he abruptly returned from Britain to Syria five years ago to inherit the regime from his ailing father, thirty-six year old Syrian strongman Basher al-Assad has rarely smiled in public. After all – running Syria is a serious business. But lately, it seems that Assad is showing the world a different face. While visiting Cairo last week to discuss the situation in the Middle East he actually cracked a half-smile.

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