1. Against imperialist regime-change intervention in Syria and the Middle East
   Resource Type: Article
   First Published: 2017
   David Bush has published an appeal for reasoned and informed discussion in Canada of the war and humanitarian disaster in Syria. Roger and Courneyeur write this essay as a contribution to the discussion David suggests be opened.
2. Al Qaeda Is Attacking Major Syrian Cities with US Weapons -- but You Wouldn't Know That from the Media
   Resource Type: Article
   First Published: 2017
   Norton analyzes media coverages of attacks linked to Al-Qaeda in the West to highlight how this emphasis on Muslim extremism is used to justify Islamophobia.
3. "Al Qaeda's MASH Unit": How the Syrian American Medical Society Is Selling Regime Change and Driving the US to War
   Resource Type: Article
   First Published: 2018
   The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) is not merely a group of Syrian doctors tending to the wounded in war torn areas, nor is it an objective and relaibale source on chemical attacks and other atrocities. This article explains that SAMS is actually a politically enaged organization that has for years been actively seeking to overthrow the Syrian government.
4. Another Dangerous Rush to Judgment in Syria
   Resource Type: Article
   First Published: 2017
   The U.S. government and the mainstream media have rushed to judgment again, blaming the Syrian government for a new poison-gas attack and ignoring other possibilities, reports Robert Parry.
5. Assad's Death Warrant
   Resource Type: Article
   First Published: 2016
   The war in Syria did not begin when the government of Bashar al Assad cracked down on the uprisings in the spring of 2011, but rather the war began in 2009, when Assad rejected a Qatari plan to transport gas from Qatar to the EU via Syria.
6. The Authoritarians Who Silence Syria Questions
   Resource Type: Article
   First Published: 2018
   A look at the unchallenged western media narrative on Syria and notably recent commentary by Brian Whitaker, the Guardian's former Middle East editor, who is opposed to experts in the study of propaganda setting up a panel - the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media - which aims to "provide a source of reliable, informed and timely analysis for journalists, publics and policymakers" on Syria.
7. An Awkward Silence - Burying The Hersh Revelations of Obama's Syrian Deceit
   Resource Type: Article
   First Published: 2013
   All governments lie, the US journalist I.F. Stone once noted, with Iraq the most blatant example in modern times. But Syria is another recent criminal example of Stone's dictum.
8. The Balance of Probabilities
   Resource Type: Article
   First Published: 2017
   Unlike the famous chemical weapons "attack" portrayed by the BBC in Saving Syria's Children, it does appear that in the latest incident at Idlib there was real horror inflicted by chemical attack of some kind. The question is who did it and why?
9. The Bankruptcy of the West's Syrian Policy
   Factions on the Run
   Resource Type: Article
   First Published: 2013
   The final bankruptcy of American and British policy in Syria came 10 days ago as Islamic Front, a Saudi-backed Sunni jihadi group, overran the headquarters of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) at Bab al-Hawa on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey.
10. British Government-Funded Outlet Offered Journalist $17,000 a Month to Produce Propaganda for Syrian Rebels
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    The Revolutionary Forces of Syria media office, a major Syrian opposition media outfit and frequent source of information for Western media, is funded by the British government as a propaganda outlet.
11. Canadian journalist and activist killed in Syria
    Ali Mustafa, In Memoriam
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2014
    I will never forget when I first met Ali Mustafa. It was September 2012, during my first year at York and just before I joined Students Against Israeli Apartheid (Ali was a former member), where he did a talk on his visit to Egypt.
12. The Chemical Weapons Pretext for War on Syria
    The Latest Pack of Lies?
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    Washington is digging deep to conjure up a pretext for yet another war of aggression in the Middle East. The White House claims that the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons against rebel fighters.
13. The Chickens Come Home to Roost ... in Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2019
    American meddling in the Middle East since 9/11 may finally be reaching a crisis as the process produces irreconcilable conflicts with allies.
14. A Children's Book Introduces German Kids to the True Story of Syrian Refugees
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    Germany has received more than 1 million refugees, mostly from Syria and Iraq. Despite supporters initially celebrating Chancellor Angela Merkel's actions, many Germans have begun voicing concerns about when this acceptance of migrants will come to an end. But while the adults in Germany have expressed mixed reactions to the refugees, German author Kirsten Boie wants children at least to realize that a refugee child is just like any other kid in the world.
15. Connexions Library: Middle East Focus
    Resource Type: Website
    First Published: 2009
    Selected articles, books, websites and other resources on the Middle East.
16. The Danger in Lebanon
    Against The Current vol. 120
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2006
    The assasination [of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri] resulted in the intensification of the campaign by the USA and France against the Syrian presence and influence in Lebanon. This pressure was able to base itself on the mass mobilization inside Lebanon, which forced the withdrawal of Syrian troops.
17. The Death of a Reporter
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2014
    Serena Shim, who leaves behind a family that includes her two young children, found herself chasing the truth in a highly charged situation.
18. Debunking Obama's Chemical Weapons Case Against the Syrian Government
    Fact and Fiction
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    The "U.S. Government Assessment of the Syrian Government's Use of Chemical Weapons on August 21, 2013" is a poorly constructed attempt to justify the politically, militarily, and morally unjustifiable war against Syria.
19. Destroying Syria: a Joint Criminal Enterprise
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    Everyone claims to want to end the war in Syria and restore peace to the Middle East. Well, almost everyone.
20. Down the Memory Hole: NYT Erases CIA's Efforts to Overthrow Syria's Government
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    FAIR has noted before how America's well-documented clandestine activities in Syria have been routinely ignored when the corporate media discuss the Obama administration's "hands-off" approach to the four-and-a-half-year-long conflict.
21. Eight reasons why the latest Syria chemical weapons attack allegations are almost certainly complete nonsense
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2018
    A discussion on the chemical attack in Douma, Syria, and why the allegations are likely false.
22. Embassy Row Online
    Resource Type: Website
    Contact names and numbers for all embassies to Canada and all Canadian embassies abroad.
23. The erasure of Syrian voices in Western media
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2017
    Trapped between a police state and Al Qaeda, average Syrians explain why they fear regime change.
24. Fake news about the Rojava revolution
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2017
    Sharply different opinions have developed among the radical left in recent years towards the Syrian radical democratic movement led by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) -- an initially Kurdish-based force which through a series of political and military struggles and alliances has recently formed the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, as a model for a multi-ethnic, non-sectarian, federal and socially just alternative for the nation and the region.
25. Fisk Puts to Test the Free-Press Myth in Douma
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2018
    Veteran Middle East corrrespondent Robert Fisk was the first western correspondent to arrive in Douma following the US, UK and French attacks on Syria. Based on first hand interviews Fisk's account is clearly honest about what he reported and certainly plausible, yet respected British newspapers like the Guardian gave his reports a cursory if not hostile treatment.
26. 'Flooding the Zone' with Bullshit on Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has been embarked on a massive propaganda campaign they call “flooding the zone.” We hope to provide the most direct and systematic refutation of the Administration’s case for war in Syria.
27. The Fog of Intelligence 
    Or How to Be Eternally "Caught Off Guard" in the Greater Middle East
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    The phrase "the fog of war" stands in for the inability of commanders to truly grasp what's happening in the chaos that is any battlefield. Perhaps it's time to introduce a companion phrase: the fog of intelligence.
28. From Sykes-Picot to "Islamic State": Imperialism's Bloody Wreckage
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2014
    When the Jihadist group Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS) changed its name and declared the establishment of the Caliphate, it did so with the release of a promotional video entitled "The End of Sykes-Picot." This was a reference to the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement that marked the end of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of two zones of influence, British and French.
29. The Fun of Empire: Fighting on All Sides of a War in Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2014
    Now the Obama administration and American political class is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the failed “Bomb Assad!” campaign by starting a new campaign to bomb those fighting against Assad – the very same side the U.S. has been arming over the last two years.
30. Harper's Worst Offense against Refugees May Be His Climate Record
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    The Middle East drought between 2006 and 2011 was without precedent since modern record keeping, killing over 80 per cent of livestock and driving up local food prices. Already poor populations had to contend with higher temperatures that dried soil and failed rains during the normally wet season due to weaker winds from the Mediterranean. A key long-term driver of this unfolding humanitarian catastrophe is climate change. And on that front, Canada’s record of contributing to this crisis is far more significant than our wretched record so far in resettling Syrian refugees.
31. How Brown Moses exposed Syrian arms trafficking from his front room
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    A Leicester-based blogger's monitoring of weapons used in conflict has been taken up by media and human rights groups. Never having been near a warzone has not stopped him from breaking some of the most important stories on the Syrian conflict in the last year.
32. How Media Bias Fuels Syrian Escalation
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2017
    The mainstream U.S. media now reports as "flat-fact" the Syrian government's guilt in the April 4, 2017 chemical weapons incident, but the real facts are less clear and some point in the opposite direction.
33. How Syria's Secular Uprising Was Hijacked by Jihadists
    Al Qaeda's Second Act
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2014
    On Syria's descent into a sectarian civil war.
34. How the West's Economic Sanctions are Inflicting Suffering on Ordinary Syrians
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    The US and EU economic sanctions on Syria are causing huge suffering among ordinary Syrians and preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid, according to a leaked UN internal report.
35. How the White Helmets Became International Heroes While Pushing U.S. Military Intervention and Regime Change in Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    Created by Western governments and popularized by a top PR firm, the White Helmets are saving civilians while lobbying for airstrikes.
36. The Illusion of Debate
    Consensus for the People that Matter
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2014
    A recent article in FAIR reviewed the findings of its latest study on the quality of political “debate” being aired on the mainstream networks. It studied the run-up to the military interventions in both Iraq and Syria. Perhaps the arbiters of the study intended to illustrate what we’ve learned since the fraudulent Iraq War of 2003. Well, it appears we’ve learned nothing.
37. The Imaginary Cuban Troops in Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    Fair-and-balanced Fox News reported on Wednesday that "Cuban military operatives reportedly have been spotted in Syria, where sources believe they are advising President Bashar al-Assad’s soldiers and may be preparing to man Russian-made tanks to aid Damascus in fighting rebel forces backed by the U.S." Fox's claim of an imaginary enemy alliance relies on two sources: the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies and an anonymous U.S. official.
38. In Middle East Wars It Pays to be Skeptical
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2018
    In the context of Western air strikes on alleged Syrian biological weapons sites on 14 April, 2018, the history of the bombing of the Abu Ghraib baby milk factory in 1991 underscores the need for permanent scepticism towards claims by U.S. and Western governments that they know exactly what is happening on the ground in Syria.
39. In Syria, Western Media Cheer Al-Qaeda
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2017
    Khalek criticizes Western media for their failure to report on attacks in Syria because to do so would highlight how the West has been responsible for prolonging Al-Qaeda's bloodshed.
40. Inside the Shadowy PR Firm That's Lobbying for Regime Change in Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    Posing as a non-political solidarity organization, the Syria Campaign leverages local partners and media contacts to push the U.S. into toppling another Middle Eastern government.
41. An Interview With Noam Chomsky on Obama's Human Rights Record
    Nothing Can Justify Torture
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2012
    America's human rights record under the administration of President Obama and the military intervention policies that have seen increased use during the Arab Spring.
42. IS and climate change - an inconvenient truth for Republicans
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    US Democratic presidential contender Martin O’Malley sparked controversy last month by saying that the conditions for the rise of the so-called Islamic State (IS, also known as Isil, Isis or Da'esh) were set by the impact on Syria of climate change, which drove farmers from their land into slums around cities and created extreme poverty.
43. ISIS Thrives on the Disunity of Its Enemies
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    The aftermath of terrorist attacks such as the massacre in Paris are a bad time to produce new policies, but they provide ideal political conditions for a government to take radical, if ill-thought-out, initiatives. Leaders are carried away by a heady sense of empowerment as a worried or frightened public demands that something be done in response to calamity and to prevent it happening again. The moment of greatest risk is not when the bombs explode or the guns fire, but when governments react to these atrocities.
44. It's WMD all over again. Why don't you see it?
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2017
    Today’s frenzy over alleged use of poison gas in Syria is the 2017 version of Anthony Blair’s WMD in Iraq. Why can you not see it? Did you think they would do it in exactly the same way again? You are being assailed through your emotions, to act first and think long after, and far too late.
45. Just How Gray Are the White Helmets of Syria?
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    While thousands of humanitarian organisations around the world are struggling fiercely with diminishing support from governments and the public, one has achieved a surprising amount of support from Western governments in a surprisingly short period of time and gained a surprising attention from mainstream media and ditto political elites: The Syrian Civil Defence or White Helmets.
46. Killing Hope 
    U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II
    Resource Type: Book
    First Published: 2008
    Is the United States a force for democracy? William Blum serves up a forensic overview of U.S. foreign policy spanning sixty years. For those who want the details on the U.S.'s most famous actions (Chile, Cuba, Vietnam, to name a few), and for those who want to learn about lesser-known efforts (France, China, Bolivia, Brazil, for example), this book provides a window on what U.S. foreign policy goals really are. "If you flip over the rock of American foreign policy of the past century, this is what crawls out… invasions … bombings … overthrowing governments … occupations … suppressing movements for social change … assassinating political leaders … perverting elections … manipulating labor unions … manufacturing “news” … death squads … torture … biological warfare … depleted uranium … drug trafficking … mercenaries … It’s not a pretty picture. It’s enough to give imperialism a bad name."
47. The Kurdish Crisis in Iraq and Syria
    Against the Current vol. 192
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2018
    In discussion of right of self-determination for the between 28 and 35 million Kurdish people in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran, the author considers the current polticial landscape.
48. 'Let's Bring In Our Pentagon Spokesman' - Bombing Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    If you want to get close to the 'defence' establishment, you better be close to the 'defence' establishment: ideologically, sympathetically, 'patriotically'.
49. Lying to Ourselves About the Air War
    The Killers
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2014
    Most US citizens have never been subjected to an air raid. They have never heard the roar of planes flying high above them while an air raid siren wails, its whine competing with the planes’ roar and piercing the audio centers of the brain making sequential thought difficult if not impossible. Nor have they heard the sound of bombs — canisters filled with high explosives and fire — whistling as they fall through the air toward their targets on the ground. Nor have most US citizens ever sat in a bomb shelter wondering if their homes will survive the aerial assault they are hoping to survive themselves.
50. Made in the USA: Report Shows ISIS Using US Arms from 'Syria Rebels'
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2014
    From the moment the US began sending lethal arms to Syrian rebel factions, there was a chorus of people expressing fears that those arms would end up in the “wrong hands,” and US officials insisted they were going to carefully vet everyone who got those weapons.
51. Massacres That Matter - Part 1 - 'Responsibility To Protect' In Egypt, Libya And Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    Where offending states fail to live up to this responsibility by inflicting genocide, ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity on their own people, the international community has a responsibility to act.
52. No Easy Victories
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    In today's "new Middle East" with its cauldron of Arab upheavals and the likelihood of longterm revolutionary processes, the United States cannot dictate terms unilaterally.
53. No matter how it appears, Trump isn't getting out of Syria and Afghanistan
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2018
    Trump's plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Syria don't reflect a large change in US foreign policy. US troops are only a small part of the forces currently deployed there and they will probably be replaced with mercenaries paid for by oil monarchies.
54. Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    The U.S. has been warring with the Islamic State (IS) for more than a year now. The centerpiece of that war has been an ongoing campaign of bombings and air strikes in Syria and Iraq, thousands upon thousands of them.
55. Obama Launches an Illegal War in Syria
    Resource Type: Unclassified
    First Published: 2014
    President Obama’s decision to bomb Syria stands in stark violation of international law, the UN Charter, and the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.
56. Obama's Obscenities on Syria
    Obama Offers No Evidence Assad was Behind Poison Gas Attack in Damascus, Yet Defends Unprovoked War Anyway
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    President Obama did not give any compelling evidence to prove that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was behind the alleged Sarin attack on residents of a suburb of Damascus.
57. On Syria Crisis and Prospects
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    This article speculates and considers the probable outcomes and consequences that could result if a U.S. bombing campaign against Syria takes place.
58. On the Perils of Imperialism
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    Barak Obama's September 10, 2013 address, originally meant to mobilize Congress in support of an authorization for using military force against Syria, turned into a "life-saving" speech for Obama avoiding embarrassment and political defeat.
59. 'Only I and my paper were prosecuted'
    Journalist who exposed Turkey's hospitality for jihadists
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    Jihad fighters are treated in Turkey with state complicity; Journalist Dogu Eroglu of the opposition daily BirGun (One Day) was prosecuted.
60. Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - August 27, 2017
    Official Enemies
    Resource Type: Serial Publication (Periodical)
    First Published: 2017
    Why and how do some countries become 'enemies'? How and why do governments and media work in tandem to demonize official enemies? Who are the people who live in those countries, what are their lives like, and why should we consider them our enemies?
61. Over-grazing and desertification in the Syrian steppe are the root causes of war
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    Civil war in Syria is the result of the desertification of the ecologically fragile Syrian steppe, which began in 1958 when the former Bedouin commons were opened up to unrestricted grazing. That led to a wider ecological, hydrological and agricultural collapse.
62. Overthrowing other people's governments: The Master List 
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    Instances of the United States overthrowing, or attempting to overthrow, a foreign government since the Second World War.
63. Palestine Peace Not Apartheid
    Resource Type: Book
    First Published: 2006
    Former U.S. President Carter calls Israel's treatment of Palestinians 'apartheid' and identifies continuing Israeli control of the occupied territories as the primary obstacle to peace.
64. Photographing Tragedy
    What Victims Actually Want
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    What is the use of a photo when the human conscience has grown numb, and barely appreciates the artistic expression of the photo, not the moral and political crisis it represents?
65. Preparing For More Slaughter in Syria
    Moloch's Minions
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    it is likely that Western leaders will give the nod to launch the airstrikes that will kill a large number of human beings.
66. Press for Conversion #51
    May 2003
    Resource Type: Serial Publication (Periodical)
    First Published: 2003
    Why is the U.S. government reviled by so many people in the Middle East and North Africa? This issue looks at the past 50 years of wars and regime changes in the region and unveils a consistent pattern of U.S. involvement.
67. Putting Syria Into Some Perspective
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2012
    The 19th- and 20th-century colonialist-imperialist mentality is alive and well in the West.
68. Radical Digressions 4
    Resource Type: Website
    First Published: 2006   Published: 2008
    
69. Red Lines Drawn with Syrian Blood
    The Problems With Obama's Case Against al-Assad
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    The US and its allies are likely to carry out an attack on Syria in the very near future whether or not Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons.
70. Report: Hundreds of Civilians Killed by U.S.-Led Bombing of ISIS in Iraq and Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    A new report from a group of journalists and researchers says that hundreds of civilians have died during airstrikes by the U.S. and other nations fighting the Islamic State, a marked contrast to the Pentagon’s official admission of just two civilian deaths.
71. Research Shows Internet Shutdowns and State Violence Go Hand in Hand in Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    When an oppressive regime blocks Internet access during social unrest, violence usually follows. This is a pattern that has become famous with the Arab Spring but is the violence that follows a response to the repression of free speech? Or is the repression of free speech a means to another end? New research suggests the latter. Using Syria as a case study, it seems that governments blackout the Internet as a means for security forces to gain some tactical advantage when they violently engage protesters.
72. Revealed: The British government's covert propaganda campaign in Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2020
    The British government covertly established a network of citizen journalists across Syria during the early years of the country's civil war in an attempt to shape perceptions of the conflict, frequently recruiting people who were unaware that they were being directed from London.
    
    
73. Revolution and counter-revolution in Syria
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    A large part of the Western left and radical media have written off the struggle against the totalitarian Assad regime in Syria as irretrievably lost. Effectively, for them, the counterrevolution has triumphed. And alongside them, there are also those who never supported the revolutionary uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad in the first place.
74. The Right Kind Of Terror
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2012
    When is an act of terrorism not terrorism? When the victims are officially sanctioned state enemies.
75. Roads to the Arab Uprisings
    Book review of "The Journey to Tahrir" eds. Sowers and Toensing and "The Arab Revolts" eds. McMurray and Ufheil-Somers
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    The strength of all the essays in these two collections is that the principal trends the authors analyzed have become critical background to recent events in Egypt and Syria during the summer of 2013, even as the nature of these events continue to shift.
76. Russia's Fantasy "Stray Missiles," America's Real Ones
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    Even to those who do not watch closely it has to be apparent that Washington's vast disinformation machine is finally out of control, seriously awry, or desperate.
77. Secret Pentagon Report Reveals US "Created" ISIS As A "Tool" To Overthrow Syria's President Assad
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    
78. The Selective Compassion of the Media & Human Rights Establishment
    Ignoring the Victims of State Crimes
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2012
    “Human rights” doctrine has devolved into a mere tool used by the U.S. to carry out its imperial aims, and many times by means (such as war) which cause many more human rights violations than they purport to solve.
79. 70,000 Kalashnikovs: Cameron's "Moderate" Rebels
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    Not since Hitler ordered General Walther Wenck to send his non-existent 12th Army to rescue him from the Red Army in Berlin has a European leader believed in military fantasies as PR Dave Cameron did last week. Telling the House of Commons about the 70,000 "moderate" fighters deployed in Syria was not just lying in the sense that Tony Blair lied - because Blair persuaded himself to believe in his own dishonesty - but something approaching burlesque. It was whimsy - ridiculous, comic, grotesque, ludicrous. It came close to a unique form of tragic pantomime.
80. The Six Most Disastrous Interventions of the 21st Century
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2015
    On October 2, 2015, President Barack Obama, alluding to Russia's decision to launch air strikes in Syria, told reporters at the White House that for Russia to view the forces targeted "from the perspective they're all terrorists [is] a recipe for disaster, and it's one that I reject."
81. Six Ways the Media Has Misreported Syria
    How One-Sided Reporting is Facilitating Escalation
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2012
    The Western mainstream media’s coverage of the Syrian conflict has been mostly simplistic and black & white with a Hollywoodian good (opposition) and evil (Syrian government) story.
82. Sources HotLink - June 30, 2016
    Resource Type: Serial Publication (Periodical)
    First Published: 2016
    Articles about the FBI and the information it gathers, Donald Trump and the media, and the role of pharmaceutical companies in suppressing information.
83. Stop That Shit
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2006
    Whoever longs for a solution must know: there is no solution without settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
84. The Subterfuge of Syrian Chemical Weapons
    Investigating a Forgone Conclusion
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    UN independent commission is investigating whether or not chemical weapons were used in Syria.
85. Syria chemical warfare claims aim to provoke Western intervention
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    The unsubstantiated charges that the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad carried out a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus killing large numbers of civilians have all the hallmarks of a staged provocation aimed at provoking Western intervention.
86. Syria, "Credibility" and Historical Amnesia
    Grandpa Made Mustard Gas
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    The first casualty of war is truth. Comparison between WWII and the Syria situation.
87. Syria, "Credibility" and Historical Amnesia
    Grandpa Made Mustard Gas
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    The first casualty of war is truth. Comparison between WWII and the Syria situation.
88. Syria in the Crosshairs
    The Kosovo Precedent
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    Some high officials in the Obama Administration consider the 1999 war in Kosovo to be a precedent for justifying cruise missile strikes in Syria.
89. Syria and the Left: Time to Break the Silence
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    The cold, hard reality of the war in Syria is that the violence, bloodshed, and chaos continues unabated while the Left, such as it is, continues on in a state of schizophrenic madness. Different points of view, conflicting ideological tendencies, and a misunderstanding of the reality of the conflict are all relevant issues to be interrogated, with civility and reasoned debate in short supply. The Left does need to seriously self-reflect though about just how it responds to crises of imperialism and issues of war and peace.
90. 1953 - 2002 - 2016: Syria and the Reemergence of McCarthyism
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    A history of McCarthyism, or red-baiting, in US politics to justify or bolster foreign war efforts, and how the recent Syrian involvement has brought about a revival of McCarthyist discourse and tactics in the political and social realms.
91. The Syrian Observatory: Funded By The Foreign Office
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2018
    The UK funded a project worth £194,769.60 to provide the 'Syrian Observatory for Human Rights' with communications equipment and cameras.
92. "Syrian people are asking for our solidarity. The local civilian councils are a good place for us to start"
    Reporting From the Inside
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    In 2013 Syria is on the verge of collapse. What began as a grassroots protest movement, inspired by revolutionary action in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East, is now a bloody civil war. As media headlines focus on the armed aspects of the battle against the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, there is a sustained popular resistance being waged in Syria that is not being fully reported.
93. The Syrian Target
    Why Only an All-Out War Can Depose Assad
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    Syria is close to becoming the target of a major Western military intervention
94. Syria's Disaster, and What's Next
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2018
    Detailed description of Syrian crisis as of July 2018.
95. A Tale of Two Atrocities: Douma and Gaza
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2018
    Compare the intense media coverage of an alleged Syrian chemical attack to the near silence accorded the horrific civilian massacre perpetrated by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, at the very same time.
96. This is why everything you’ve read about the wars in Syria and Iraq could be wrong
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2016
    A description of how much of the coverage of the wars in Syria and Iraq is second-hand reporting, due to the dangers posed, and subject to political bias and propaganda.
97. 'This Madman Must Be Stopped'
    Syrian Chemical Weapons
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2013
    The White House claims that US intelligence assessed 'with varying degrees of confidence' that 'the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin'.
98. Trump's War on Terror Has Quickly Become as Barbaric and Savage as He Promised
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2017
    Although precise numbers are difficult to obtain, there seems little question that the number of civilians being killed by the U.S. in Iraq and Syria -- already quite high under Obama -- has increased precipitously during the first two months of the Trump administration.
99. Understanding the counter-revolution
    Resource Type: Article
    First Published: 2017
    A review of Gilbert Achcar, Morbid Symptoms: Relapse in the Arab Uprising (Saqi, 2016).
100. US Bombs Syria And Ridiculously Claims Self Defense
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2021
     So we are being told that the United States launched an airstrike on Syria, a nation it invaded and is illegally occupying, because of attacks on "US locations" in Iraq, another nation the US invaded and is illegally occupying. This attack is justified on the basis that the Iraqi fighters were "Iranian-linked", a claim that is both entirely without evidence and irrelevant to the justification of deadly military force. And this is somehow being framed in mainstream news publications as a defensive operation. This is Defense Department stenography. The US military is an invading force in both Syria and Iraq; it is impossible for its actions in either of those countries to be defensive. It is always necessarily the aggressor.
101. US-Funded NGO in Syria Uses Old Photo to Claim Civilian Death in Russian Airstrikes
     Group Lashes Russian Official on Twitter for Noting Picture Wasn't Real
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2015
     The "White Helmets" organization, heavily funded by the US State Department, has claimed that Russia killed 33 civilians in its attacks. The NGO attached a photo to the story which was pointed out to be from an incident five days prior and not related to Russia.
102. US Isn't Leaving Syria -- but Media Lost It When Possibility Was Raised
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2018
     The US military exists to fight wars. It is the most heavily armed, most violent organization in the world. Saying that it should continue to occupy Syria, and most of the mainstream media do, is a way of saying that the war in that country should continue. In fact, it’s a call for escalation of that war.
103. A Useful Prep-Sheet on Syria for Media Propagandists
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2015
     State Department talking points on Syria for cable news anchors.
104. War With Syria and its Repercussions
     A Smoldering Tinderbox
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2013
     Obama seems intent on going to war with Syria. The U.S. will be leading Europe, Arab and Israeli allies while pushing an already unstable Middle East into full fledged regional chaos, which could instantly take on an international character.
105. When Is Direct Military Intervention Not Direct Military Intervention?
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2016
     Since 2014, according to official Pentagon figures, the US has carried out 5,337 airstrikes in Syria. Yet the New York Times continues to pretend that the U.S. has not intervened militarily in Syria.
106. Where War Reporting Goes Wrong
     A Diary of Four Wars
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2013
     The four recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria have been propaganda wars in which newspaper, television and radio journalists played a central role. In all wars there is a difference between reported news and what really happened, but during these four campaigns the outside world has been left with misconceptions even about the identity of the victors and the defeated.
107. The 'White Helmets' and the Inherent Contradiction of America's Syria Policy
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2016
     The danger faced by the White Helmets is not a fiction -- to date, 141 first responders affiliated with the Syrian Civil Defense have been killed while performing their duty. And although their claims of having saved more than 60,000 lives are unverifiable, there can be no doubt that many lives have, in fact, been saved as a result of their work. But let there be no doubt -- despite their oft-cited claims of being neutral and impartial, that the White Helmets are very partisan.
108. Why Is the Truth on Syria Difficult To Decipher?
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2016
     According to Steven Kinzer, the American media's misinformation on Syria is leading to the kind of ignorance which is enabling the American government to pursue any policy, however imprudent, in the war-torn Arab country. The US government can "decree the death of nations" with “popular support because many Americans - and many journalists - are content with the official story," he wrote.
109. Won't Get Fooled Again? Hyping Syria's WMD 'Threat'
     Resource Type: Article
     First Published: 2012   Published: 2013
     Reading about crimes of state over many years, it is tempting to try to fathom the mind-set of political leaders. What actually is going on in their heads when they order sanctions that kill hundreds of thousands of children? What is in their hearts when they wage needless wars that shatter literally millions of lives? Similar questions come to mind as the US and UK governments once again raise the spectre of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ to demonise a target for ‘regime change’, this time in Syria.

Experts on Syrien in the Sources Directory

1. The British Museum
2. League of Arab States
3. United Nations