Hazem Saghieh

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…

In a column about the “Axis of Resistance” for "Al Majalla," my colleague Houssam Itani asks: "Who can think of a book written by a thinker or writer associated with the Axis that is worth reading?" To the lack of such a book, we could add the lack of any idea, poem, novel, painting, play, film,…

As the Syrian army fell like a house of cards in the face of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and on the eve of the Israeli attack that destroyed this army’s military infrastructure with the press of a button, the rejectionist camp in Lebanon continued to call for a "strong" army in Lebanon(!) and to insist…

It might be useful to rearrange the achievements and fears of the Syrian earthquake. 1. “Forever” is no more. Now, we have the freedom of free people, their choices, and their pursuits. The nightmare went on for 54 of Syria's 78 years of independence. 2. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps…

The future of Hezbollah is unclear, as the divergent signals suggest that the direction it will take has yet to be decided. Secretary-General Sheikh Naeem Qassem and Hezbollah parliamentary deputies have begun to place greater emphasis on national political issues in their statements, stressing…