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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Trying to Make Sense of Syria?

Weekend reading on the troubles in Syria bBillMoyers.com Staff.

Syria President Bashar al-Assad. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Do you find yourself trying to make sense of the dynamics that led up to Syria’s brutal civil war? Are you struggling to understand the geopolitics of it all in a news environment dominated by quick-and-dirty analysis? Here are some essential reads that will help you gain a deeper understanding of what’s happening in Syria, in Washington and in other countries with a stake in the conflict.

Timeline: The BBC has an informative historical timeline spanning 95 years, from the end of the Ottoman Empire’s dominance to the deployment of chemical weapons last month. It’s a quick way to get oriented.

Deep analysis: William Polk was a State Department analyst during the Kennedy administration. Over the Labor Day weekend, he penned an in-depth analysis of the crisis for The Atlantic. If you only have time for one long-read on Syria, this is the one.

A massacre resonates: One of the reasons Syria was believed to be immune from the uprisings of the “Arab Spring,” and one of the reasons the rebels see themselves in a life-and-death fight, can be summed up in a single word: Hama. In 1982, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, ordered an uprising in the city of Hama to be put down with extreme violence. Up to 30,000 people died. Reuters looked back at the bloodbath and spoke with some of the survivors.

Keep reading: Trying to Make Sense of Syria? Here's Our Essential Reader | What Matters Today, What We're Reading | BillMoyers.com.

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