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Switching Currency Will Not Save Syria’s Idlib From More Misery By Haid Haid - Aug 2, 2020
The value of the Syrian pound has been in freefall. A financial crisis in neighboring Lebanon, a national lockdown due to Covid-19 and the US’s new Caesar Act sanctions have all combined to create a perfect storm of misery. As a consequence, rebel authorities in Idlib and other parts of northwest Syria now are trying … Continue reading “Switching Currency Will Not Save Syria’s Idlib From More Misery”
Syria’s Assad Is Losing the Battle for Food Security By Haid Haid - Jul 19, 2020
The focus on Syria long has been, understandably, on the civil war. But there is another, potentially equally serious, conflict going on almost unnoticed in the country: the battle over bread. More than 60 percent of the country’s wheat is produced in the northeast. The problem for Bashar Al Assad and his regime is that … Continue reading “Syria’s Assad Is Losing the Battle for Food Security”
Despair in Idlib: ‘Stop the Bombing or We Will Break the Border’ By Haid Haid - Feb 24, 2020
On February 2, a crowd several hundred strong gathered in Idlib province in northwest Syria and began marching toward the border with Turkey. This “Break the Border” protest constituted a desperate plea to the outside world to acknowledge the plight of the people trapped in the last opposition-held province of Syria and suffering the last, … Continue reading “Despair in Idlib: ‘Stop the Bombing or We Will Break the Border’”
With Syria’s Economy and Currency in Crisis, Assad Turns to Extortion By Haid Haid - Feb 13, 2020
Attention to Syria has slipped. The gaze of the world, when cast toward the Middle East, now hovers over Libya, lingers on Lebanon and then alights on Iraq, Israel, Palestine and elsewhere. There is much misery in the region competing for attention. That said, suffering has not abated in Syria, either. Conditions continue to deteriorate … Continue reading “With Syria’s Economy and Currency in Crisis, Assad Turns to Extortion”
Are ISIS Prisoners Still Under Secure Guard In Syria? By Haid Haid - Nov 21, 2019
The ongoing Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria presents the worrying prospect of many captured ISIS fighters taking advantage of the chaos to escape and return to the battlefield. Caught between the Turkish army and the Syrian regime they have fought against for eight years, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces admit that securing ISIS prisoners is now a “second priority” for … Continue reading “Are ISIS Prisoners Still Under Secure Guard In Syria?”