Category Archives: Middle East

12May/08

A Twist of Faith in Syria

Middle East, Syria, ,

By Nir Boms
Published July 28, 2006

Another bomb of Syrian origin exploded – but this time it did not hit Haifa, Israel, but rather Washington. Although its impact inside the corridors of the Capitol, where it was quietly detonated, was barely noticed, it was felt in the Middle East and has given Syrian dictator Bashar Assad another reason to worry. 

The “bomb”: a well-known and respected Sufi scholar from Syria, Sheikh Abdullah AlgharibAlhamadAltamimee, stepped off a plane in Washington and publicly called for Mr. Assad’s ouster. While the development may not appear significant on the surface, the sheikh has broken the thousand-year-old Sufi tradition of refraining from politics. 

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12May/08

Unsilenced Voices

Middle East, Syria, , , , ,

The road to Damascus.
November 30, 2005.

By Nir Boms

With increasing international pressure over the U.N. investigation into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, Syria’s young president, Bashar al-Assad, has taken the identification of his country with the Assad name to new levels. In a recent speech he defiantly stated: “It will not be President Assad who will bow his head nor the head of his country. We only bow to God almighty.” As he desperately calls for an emergency meeting of the Arab league that might help alleviate the growing international pressures, Assad is trying to reassert control in a troubled country that now must handle parallel attacks from the United Nations, United States, and, increasingly, the Syrian opposition.

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11May/08

Rumblings in Damascus

Middle East, Syria, , ,

By Nir Boms and Erick Stakelbeck

For Bashar Assad, the diffusion of last weekend’s anti-government riots in northern Syria represented a dodged bullet, as his Ba’ath Party was ultimately able to maintain its tyrannical grip over the lives of 22 million Syrians. 

For Syria’s democratic reformers, however, the unrest may merely have signified the calm before the storm. 

As of Tuesday, armed police continued to stand guard on the streets of Qamoshli in northeastern Syria, where the atmosphere remained tense following the largest uprising against the Syrian Ba’ath Party in years. 

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11May/08

On to Damascus

Middle East, Syria, , ,

Feb. 14, 2004
On to Damascus
By NIR BOMS & ERICK STAKELBECK

Last month at the Free University of Brussels, just 200 meters from the Syrian Embassy, a group of Syrians gathered to discuss something that can only whispered about in their native land – freedom.

The scene was the second conference of the Syrian Democratic Coalition (SDC), a union of pro-democracy groups comprised of both resident Syrians and those living abroad. Under the auspices of the Belgian government representatives of 19 Syrian political parties, civil rights and student organizations gathered from January 17-19 to discuss replacing the world’s last remaining Ba’ath Party dictatorship with a secular democracy.

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