Rami Makhlouf – the cousin of President Assad and Syria's most important businessman – has announced that he is giving up some of his business interests in a move apparently calculated to appease anti-government protesters.
Makhlouf, who is generally regarded as a symbol of corruption and privilege… Read more
Archive: syria
13th June 2011
The "Gay Girl in Damascus" mystery was solved, up to a point, on Sunday when Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old postgraduate student at Edinburgh university, announced that he was the person behind the blog, and apologised.
The confession came after investigations established a link between him and the… Read more
11th June 2011
The speculation about Amina Araf, aka Gay Girl in Damascus, reminds me of a similar episode in 2003 when many in the west were captivated by the writings of an Iraqi blogger who called himself Salam Pax.
His posts from Baghdad during and shortly before the US-led invasion became a must-read for… Read more
21st May 2011
On Thursday, President Obama called on the Syrian government to "stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests". President Assad has a choice, he said: to lead the country through transition "or get out of the way".
On Friday, Assad gave his reply. His forces continued to fire on… Read more
26th April 2011
So now we know. The citizens of Daraa appealed for help, and the army obliged. For what it's worth, that's the government's line from Damascus.
"In response to the calls for help from the citizens of Daraa," the official Syrian news agency says, army units entered the city "to restore tranquillity… Read more
25th April 2011
Syrian forces unleashed a large-scale military offensive in the southern city of Deraa early on Monday. About 3,000 troops – some in standard army uniforms, others in black – entered the city around 4.30 am, accompanied by tanks and began "shooting randomly", according to a report (in Arabic)… Read more
23rd April 2011
The first person to file an application under Syria's new law "permitting" demonstrations – Fadel al-Faisal from Hassakeh in the north-east of the country – ended up being detained for several hours by the authorities, the Guardian reports.
That, basically, tells us everything we need to know about… Read more
22nd April 2011
President Assad issued a decree on Thursday ending Syria's 48-year state of emergency, though without abolishing the Emergency Law which will remain in place for possible use in future emergencies.
At the same time, he issued another decree (full text here) which ostensibly permits demonstrations… Read more
21st April 2011
An article on al-Jazeera's website explains why optimism about the proposed lifting of Syria's state of emergency is misplaced: it will make little or no difference:
"Many of the draconian charges on which opponents of the regime are routinely imprisoned exist either within the Penal Code itself or… Read more
20th April 2011
As protests continued in Syria on Tuesday, the newly-appointed cabinet held its first full-scale meeting and took a series of stepstowards "reform". These included approving a draft decree to end the 48-year state of emergency and replace it with a law "regulating the right to peaceful… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
