The semantics of war have been thoroughly debated over the years—one man’s terrorist, as they say, is another man’s freedom fighter. And just as calling the participants in wars by different names affects our feelings toward them, so what we call each war itself is also very important.
As Hamas’ break with its longtime patron Bashar al-Assad illustrates, the Palestinian Islamist group is adapting to the new Middle East. Even with new bombs pounding Gaza, the group is bound to be recognized as a legitimate international player in due course–and the Israelis would do well to take a lesson.
The United States should consider taking China up on its four-point peace plan for Syria.
Locals say there are two types of camps for Syrians in Southeast Turkey—those for the refugees and those for the so-called opposition fighters. My Turkish colleagues and I drove to both kinds of camps, each located near the ancient polyglot province of Hatay, a small sliver of land squeezed between Syria and the deep blue Mediterranean Sea. We also drove to several border crossings to gain a clearer understanding of the situation in this restive area.
A new Syrian opposition group is trying to resurrect the nonviolent tactics that the opposition used during the first few months of the rebellion last year, when demonstrations and calls for civic activism filled the squares of towns across Syria. But more important is who formed the group: Syrian Alawites.
The Party of God will not disappear even if the Assad regime does. Nonetheless, if the Ba’athist order in Syria falls, Hezbollah will be compelled to operate in a more challenging environment, both domestically and regionally.
The Project for the New Century targeted Syria and Iran as sponsors of Hezbollah.
“Blood and destruction,” “dreadful objects,” and “pity choked” was the Bard’s searing characterization of what war visits upon the living. It is a description that increasingly parallels the ongoing war in Syria, which is likely to worsen unless the protagonists step back and search for a diplomatic solution to the 17-month-old civil war.
Almost 18 months after the onset of popular democratic protests, the Syrian revolution increasingly resembles a bloody marathon with no clear finish line on the horizon. But as Syrian society slowly disintegrates, non-aligned states from the developing world may show the way forward to a diplomatic resolution.
Although the prospects for an independent state in Syrian Kurdistan remain dim, unprecedented Kurdish autonomy will likely result from the conflict. The implications extend beyond Syria’s borders as various governments and non-state actors have strong, and often conflicting, interests in the political fate of Syria’s Kurds and the territorial integrity of the Syrian state.