[Editor’s note: This article was produced as part of Al-Jumhuriya’s 2017 Fellowship for Young Writers. It was originally published in Arabic on 29 March, 2018] To live today in half a city; to live confounded between death and life, between the Damascus of the regime and the Damascus besieged by the regime, means being overwhelmed by guilt about your safety, and your obligatory silence in…

[Editor’s note: This article is the first in a series of four originally published in Arabic by Al-Jumhuriya during the siege and bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, Damascus Province, which ended in April 2018 with the forced displacement of over 100,000 residents. The original Arabic version of this article, published on 27 March, 2018, may be read here. The four articles have been translated in cooperation…

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Arabic on 22 March, 2018] DOUMA, Eastern Ghouta: “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:14) The military campaign against Eastern Ghouta has imposed its terms locally on civilians, creating a compounded siege pressing them from four sides: The military pressure practiced…

[Editor’s note: The below article was produced as part of Al-Jumhuriya’s 2017 Fellowship for Young Writers. It was originally published in Arabic on 22 March, 2018.] Who is the “inside”? Who is the “outside”? “He still lives in Syria.” This expression is commonly used by the media to describe Syrians, as though living in one’s own country is a distinguishing feature. The conception of the…

Assad was never going to save Syria’s Kurds from the Turkish army. That the Kurds sought a devil’s bargain with him anyway was a mistake in more than one way, argues James Snell.

[Editor’s note: The below is a response to Vicken Cheterian’s article, ‘How do you say “genocide” in Arabic?’, published on 2 March, 2018] When Vicken Cheterian alludes in his recent article to Arab denial of the Armenian genocide, it’s not clear if he means denial of the occurrence of the genocide per se, or the denial of Arab involvement in it. The concept of denial…

While the existence of sectarianism is of course not to be denied, ‘sects’ themselves remain unhelpful concepts that cannot form bases of effective policymaking, argues Dr. Rima Majed.

The French president has talked a tough game on Syria lately, especially as regards the regime’s chemical weapons crimes. But these words, much like those of his American counterpart, are ultimately so much hot air, argues James Snell.

One of the first genocides in modern history took place, in part, in the Arab world, including in Syria. That mass murder is happening again in Syria today offers a chance to draw new attention to this long-neglected subject, and explore the ties that may exist between the two exterminations.

Rania Abouzeid’s forthcoming book, No Turning Back: Life, Loss and Hope in Wartime Syria, succeeds in humanizing the individual participants in Syria’s agony—victims as well as villains.