Rami Jarrah

Syrians must reckon: Assad regime was not the root of all evil Until we face every era’s crimes—not just Assad’s—true reckoning in Syria is impossible. Justice demands we confront all who built this tyranny.

Even now, in the middle of the night in a small apartment in Milan, he (my father) wakes screaming, staring into the darkness—searching for the light of a saviour and for an official apology that will likely never come.

By Shady Hamadi

www.newarab.com/opinion/syri...

Syrians must reckon: Assad regime was not the root of all evil Until we face every era’s crimes—not just Assad’s—true reckoning in Syria is impossible. Justice demands we confront all who built this tyranny.

Even now, in the middle of the night in a small apartment in Milan, he (my father) wakes screaming, staring into the darkness—searching for the light of a saviour and for an official apology that will likely never come.

By Shady Hamadi

www.newarab.com/opinion/syri...

This isn’t the look of a mother's despair. this is the moment the world has already killed her.

Sudan...

5/5

What world leaves fear to engulf a child’s eyes like this? A mother calculating the order of death, willing to die for her everything, yet wonders if mercy is that her children go first, sparing them the sight of their mother being destroyed, abandoned by her comfort that will never come.

4/5

None of us are innocent, we all have matches to light someone else's fire. Yet those at the very bottom are left indifferent only to themselves, where fire becomes the only mercy left.

3/5

Still, the suffering of the Sudanese people is on a whole other level. The indifference isn’t owned by the West alone; it’s shared by those closest too. Arabs watch Africans burn and feel nothing, just as others once shrugged as Syrians fought the flames. It’s not geography. It’s hierarchy.

2/5

“All children’s lives have equal value,” we say, with confidence. But having for years witnessed my people buried under the weight of global silence, let’s face it: That sentence only applies if the children are the right color, from the right wars, dying in ways the news can romanticize.

1/5

Just look at how they all cling to the illusion that, somehow, this time it’s different: "for the sake of a GENUINE greater good"

It’s textbook Assadism, rotten to the core, and it most certainly will not last.

3/3

Instead, it is drawing those who once had a conscience and were free of such tendencies back in, encouraging them to engage in collective cover-ups of crimes against innocent civilians, pitting Syrians against one another, and manipulating them into deceit, even towards themselves.

2/3

The Assad regime will only have truly fallen when those in power take decisive steps to crush the Assadist tendencies many Syrians have adopted through decades of ruthless rule.

1/3

Let there be no doubt at what I’m saying: these people are complicit in crimes against humanity.

…as if to grant their murderers some sick justification, it’s an unmistakable attempt to cover-up the true nature of the massacre committed against innocent Druze civilians, which is the only crime I can think of as vile and disgusting as the massacre itself.

Anyone who claims that dozens of Bedouin women and children were slaughtered should present a shred of evidence, which they won’t, because it’s a blatant lie fabricated to distort the truth and conceal the real crime. When such lies are used to shift blame onto the victims…

The Vanishing Act: How Assad’s Top Henchmen Fled Syria, and Justice

Assad's Henchmen:

For years they sold us pride & sacrifice, swore they’d die for Syria, nothing could shake their courage. But when the walls closed in, the heroes of their own myths dropped the flag and ran like mice, proving their loyalty ended where danger began. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/w...

Should I be proud as a Syrian that my country is one of two on earth that recognize Putin's illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories, alongside North Korea?

Al-Sharaa seems to think so, otherwise he would have taken Syria off that shameful list Assad put us on.

I have no doubt Putin will be happy to vote in favor of a UN Security Council resolution to delist Al-Sharaa and HTS from the UN’s terrorist list.

let's hope that's not the only thing "Syrians" get out of this.

END

..one would think that it would be a Syrian leader's priority to make abundantly clear that those days were over and that justice for Syria's victims is now paramount. Instead, today’s message was devastating:

You can shed Syrian blood without having to worry about any consequences.

9/10

Whether one supports or opposes restoring ties under these terms, the reality is: this move legitimizes a war criminal, Putin is directly complicit in the destruction & mass murder of Syria and Syrians. Call it idealism all you want, but after years of Syrian lives being cast as worthless..

8/10

- Accepting Moscow’s refusal to surrender Assad as inevitable, rather than leveraging Russia’s military presence in Syria to make his extradition even a possibility. And if such an outcome was never realistic, then why make the request at all?

7/10

- Preserving Syria’s position as one of only two countries on earth that recognize Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory, alongside North Korea.

Yet another slap in the face to the Ukrainian people and their ongoing struggle.

6/10

- Granting Russia access to Syria’s investment and reconstruction sectors despite its role in destroying the economy and protecting the billions stolen by Assad. Again agreement still stand that prioritize Russia's ability to invest and benefit from Syria's economy.

5/10

- Allowing Russia to retain its military foothold in Syria, with full immunity for its forces, bases, and transport, beyond the reach of Syrian law or inspection, and exempt from local claims or prosecution.

4/10

- Waiving the Syrian people’s right to seek reparations from Russia for war-related losses and destruction, ironically it is Russia that is now demanding compensation from Damascus.

3/10

- Committing to uphold all existing Russian-Syrian agreements, reinforcing Moscow’s control over Syrian sovereignty. Al-Sharaa justified this citing the agreements were signed between Russia & Syria, not Assad. As if to say Russia wes immune from any consequences for aiding and abetting Assad.

2/10

While many view Al-Sharaa's visit to Moscow as a necessary step for Syria’s security, the concessions Damascus will have to make are hard to swallow, a few:

Lose a single note from a melody, and the harmony falls apart. To my Druze brothers and sisters, drown out the noise of those who hate, listen to those of us who know that Syria without you is unrecognizable.

We need you.

Zelenskyy, a leader at war, uses the podium to plead not just for Ukraine, but for Syria too. I hope Al-Sharaa doesn’t return the favor with an overdose of pragmatism with Moscow. Russia might no longer murder our children, but it still murders Ukraine’s.

Prominent Egyptian-British human rights defender Alaa Abdel Fattah was released from prison after years behind bars and reunited with his family in an emotional celebration following a long-awaited pardon by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

There is a phenomena of Syrians bootlicking for Al-Sharaa, and so while all Syrians including those who accept anything he says describe him as pragmatic, now that he has expressed he sees it as an insult, they'll backtrack and deny he is.

I should point out that there is relative freedom right now in Syria, it is not comparable to Assad's era. But overall its complicated.