by Stephen Starr | Mar 25, 2014 | Majalla Blogs
For the past three years, millions of Syrians have been living in hellish conditions, either inside the country’s warzones or as refugees. But there are upwards of 15 million more inside Syria who live away from the frontlines and for whom life today is a never-ending...
by Stephen Starr | Feb 27, 2014 | Majalla Blogs
It was almost exactly three years ago. The cats of Damascus were as soaked by rain as the streets they tip-toed through. On February 4, 2011, the Shuam, the Damascenes, from the neighborhoods of Abu Roumanneh, Mezzeh, Baramkeh and the Old City went about their usual...
by Stephen Starr | Aug 1, 2013 | Majalla Blogs
There’s been much focus on religious-motivated violence by Al Qaeda-linked groups, Jabhat al-Nusra and others in Syria, and rightly so. However, other elements deserve consideration to offer a fuller understanding of the Syrian conflict. Over the past four decades,...
by Stephen Starr | Jun 25, 2013 | Majalla Blogs
Since the government forces were forced from much of north and eastern Syria, Islamic courts have emerged to take up the administrative baton of governing and regulating those towns and communities. But a look at how the Ba’athist state governed the country for...