Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Turkish writer and analyst Aslı Aydıntaşbaş. With the victory of the Salafist HTS in Syria both Türkiye and Israel see opportunities to accelerate their regional ambitions but the two may be heading toward an intense new rivalry as Netanyahu woos the Kurds of Northeast Syria and Erdoğan weighs up whether to offer them the hand of peace or to unleash the hounds of war.

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Syria: caught between Türkiye and Israel

Former British Ambassador to Bahrain and Syria Peter Ford discusses how Syria fell. It was the last man standing, the U.S. Empire cannot tolerate an independent Arab state. He comments on the future of the region, Israeli expansion into Gaza and West Bank, the new regime in Damascus, the fate of the Axis of Resistance and multipolar world, the future of NATO, U.S. foreign policy under Trump, and more!

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About Peter Ford
Peter Ford is a former British diplomat who was Ambassador to Syria and Bahrain. He is a Deputy Leader of the Workers Party of Britain.

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Peter Ford: Collapse of Syria, Empire Can't Tolerate an Independent Arab State #504

This week, on the Global Research News Hour we take a special look at post-Assad Syria and its fate with two experts who bring us enlightened and seldom talked about perspectives on who’s in charge of the oldest current capital city in the world and the stakes for the country and the region. In our first half hour, Drago Bosnic, the commentator from last week joins us to talk to us about the role of the US and other foreign powers directing affairs in the West Asian country behind the scenes and why they are doing it. Then in our second half hour we are joined by Middle East analyst and commentator Laith Marouf about who the new regime is, what the people crossing the border into Lebanon experienced recently, and how the Middle East stands to be affected by the fall of the once strong supporters of Lebanon against Israel.

From the Frying Pan into the Fire? Analysis of What is Happening in Syria in 2025.

There is a striking parallel between the Russian war crimes in Syria and Ukraine. In both cases, the Russian army has been using extreme violence not to achieve military means, but to intimidate people and impose a tyrannical power over them through fear. 

Our guest today is Raji Abdul Salam, a legal data archive analyst with experience in documenting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and attempted genocides in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. Currently, he works as the chief legal data archivist at The Reckoning Project (https://www.thereckoningproject.com/)

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko – Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is a multilingual media about Ukraine produced by Internews Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

This episode is made in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute.

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/ukraineworld – we offer exclusive content for our patrons.
You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines via PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

Russian war crimes in Syria and Ukraine: similar patterns?

This track is inspired by an interview with Syria’s deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad. He claimed that those who fled the country were corrupt, terrorists, or cowards—unworthy of their homeland. But in reality, they were refugees escaping the horrors he unleashed upon Syria. They left everything behind, not out of weakness, but to survive.

"Khalas" means "enough." Enough of the lies. Enough of the tyranny. Enough of the oppression.

Eventually, he is the one who ended up fleeing. Karma had the final word. Syria is free, and its people are returning home.

Khalas

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the New Lines Institute's Caroline Rose an expert on the illicit drug Captagon. With the fall of Bashar al-Assad his family's hold on the lucrative trade has suddenly evaporated but the drug hasn't disappeared from Syria and other actors and other countries are eying up opportunities as the Trump administration freezes US engagements in the global fight against illicit drugs.

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Assad is gone, Captagon hangs on

In Episode 268 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the continued fighting in Syria since the fall of the Bashar Assad dictatorship in December. The recent outburst of violence in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast made headlines, but this week also saw anti-regime protests by Druze in Syria's south. And fighting has never stopped between forces aligned with the new transition government and those of the Kurdish autonomous zone in the northeast. The situation is complicated by continuing military adventures on Syrian territory by foreign powers—Israel, Turkey, Russia and the US. Will Syrians be able to overcome these challenges and forge a democratic and multicultural order, in repudiation of sectarianism, ethno-nationalism and Great Power intrigues?

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

Production by Chris Rywalt

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Free Syria and the Kurdish question II

Casa Árabe organiza una mesa redonda sobre Siria con la participación de Rim Turkmani, investigadora principal del London School of Economics, Azzam Al Kassir, experto en seguridad e islam político y Dima Moussa, miembro de la Coalición de la Oposición Siria. 

El evento está disponible en Youtube: https://youtube.com/live/v4RT1vgn1ok?feature=share 

Tras la caída de Bashar al-Assad, Siria enfrenta un complejo proceso de transición política marcado por luchas de poder internas, la reconstrucción de un Estado devastado por la guerra y la influencia de múltiples actores internacionales. La ausencia de un liderazgo centralizado ha dado lugar a una pugna entre facciones opositoras, grupos islamistas y milicias locales, dificultando la estabilidad del país. A nivel geopolítico, potencias como Rusia, Irán, Turquía y Estados Unidos buscan asegurar sus intereses en la región, ya sea mediante el respaldo a grupos armados o la intervención directa en el proceso de reconstrucción. En paralelo, la ofensiva israelí que ha devastado Gaza también ha afectado al sur de Líbano y a los Altos de Golán, territorio estratégico sirio bajo ocupación desde 1967 y anexado por Israel en 1981.  

Mientras tanto, la población civil sigue sufriendo las consecuencias de años de conflicto y sanciones económicas, con una crisis humanitaria que requiere un esfuerzo internacional coordinado para garantizar la seguridad y el acceso a servicios básicos, en un contexto de millones de desplazados internos y refugiados intentando regresar a un país devastado por años de guerra. Además de los actores estatales, facciones kurdas, grupos islamistas y organizaciones de resistencia locales juegan un papel clave en la configuración del nuevo régimen, haciendo de Siria un tablero geopolítico altamente volátil con un futuro aún incierto.  

La mesa redonda contará con la participación de Rim Turkmani, investigadora principal del London School of Economics (Legitimacy and Civicness in the Arab World), Azzam Al Kassir, experto en seguridad e islam político y Dima Moussa, miembro de la Coalición de la Oposición Siria. El diálogo ha sido facilitado por la Asociación Árabe de Derecho Constitucional (AACL) en el marco del seminario que organiza en Madrid con la LSE. Presenta Karim Hauser, coordinador de Cultura de Casa Árabe.

Más información: https://casaarabe.es/eventos-arabes/show/siria-despues-de-al-assad-%C2%BFhacia-donde-transicion-y-desafios-de-la-posguerra

Foto: Dimitriy Fomin 

Siria después de Al Assad: ¿hacia dónde? Transición y desafíos de la posguerra

I made this song in praise of Bashar al-Assad. Fu$k the HTS!!!

Geroy Siriya (Extended Version)

Geroy Siriya

I'm an music producer from Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Born and raised in SC, I'm a proud paranaense.
My own songs I post here have a unique and varied style (I guess).

Spanish public consortium that aims at promoting the knowledge and development of the relations between Spain and the Arab and Muslim world.

The Geopolitics & Empire Podcast conducts interviews with prominent international experts on a wide-range of topics.

Past guests have included diplomats, government officials, whistleblowers, soldiers, spies, economists, academics, scientists, wealthy investors, dissidents, journalists, and musicians.

The broadcast seeks to gain insight from guests who come from the left, right, and beyond. It should go without saying that the host does not always agree with beliefs espoused by podcast invitees, but maintains an open mind, and believes it important to respectfully listen to a multitude of voices and let listeners come to their own conclusions.

*Music used in podcast intro is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

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A podcast by UkraineWorld.org, a multimedia project about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine. Explaining Ukraine, its politics, society and its culture. Support us: patreon.com/ukraineworld

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Arab Digest is where business leaders and experts on the Middle East and North Africa come together to share analysis and insight about the issues in the region that matter most.
contact email: editor@arabdigest.org

New tracks tagged #Assad