Hazem Saghieh

If the peoples of Syria and Lebanon are to press forward and build on their recent achievements- a big "if"- they must slay the three golden calves that are largely responsible for their suffering. While it is true that they cannot rid themselves of these golden calves overnight, it is equally true…

The Lebanese are demanding the "reconstruction of what has been destroyed" today; much has been destroyed, and it must be rebuilt. They are raising this demand to friendly and capable countries, both in the Arab region and the world. However, as they rejoice at the collapse of the "old regime" with…

Those who follow Facebook closely have noticed a new pattern: writers, historians, and critics have deleted past remarks (posts) glorifying "Al-Aqsa Flood" and praising the men who led the attack and the leaders of the Lebanese "support war,” as well as the posts categorically claiming that a…

Even as Israel continues, albeit at a lower rate than before, to commit crimes in Gaza, and Syrian territory is being subjected to Israeli strikes, while the Lebanese are waiting for the occupation of their territory in the south to end, interest in this subject has declined dramatically. It is not…

Circumstances of history beyond the scope of this column have suppressed Syrian patriotism and placed the term between scare marks. The Baath’s notorious lexicon rendered Syria, “the beating heart of Arabism," nothing more than a “qutr” (segment). "More” and “less” were made interchangeable, which…

A theory that genuine revolutions are those that change society, not the regime, has been ubiquitous in discussions of Syrian affairs. Nonetheless, this claim is more of a slogan than a theory- it says everything and nothing. That revolutions are assessed by the extent to which they change social…

We have been hit with two earthquakes since October 7, 2023: Operation "Al-Aqsa Flood" and Operation "Deterrence of Aggression." jointly and in opposition to one another the two operations have changed almost everything in the Levant and reshaped the broader Middle East. One fundamental…

Nothing has harmed our conception of the Levant’s affairs, and the affairs of those of us who live in it, more than a succession of theories that sprung from divergent intellectual traditions but came to the same practical conclusion. Sectarianism (along with ethnic loyalties) was the primary…

Regardless of what we think of "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, it is difficult not to be taken aback by his remarks about war and peace. He has openly stated that he does not want Syria to fight Israel or become embroiled in conflicts because the task of rebuilding his devastated,…

It might be premature to determine the direction that the countries of the Levant are going in. This is particularly true of Syria, but it is also of Lebanon and Iraq. These countries have all been in perpetual freefall, though not in equally apparent measure, and their collapse has toppled the…