First Person
Hope and Hazard
A journey from Damascus into eastern Syria — along a busy smuggling route — shows that the desire for a united country remains strong, despite the efforts of factions and external actors to sow discord and fuel sectarian fears.
Burning Remnants
Firsthand accounts of the recent massacres on Syria’s coast reveal lingering sectarianism and a post-Assad regime that has not yet come to terms with its role as a government for all Syrians.
My Grandpa, the Fascist?
Leafing through an old family photo album led the author to a personal reckoning with Italy’s dark past in Libya — at a time when telling the often forgotten and sidelined story of the country’s fascist exploits abroad seems more urgent than ever.
The Weight of Gold: A Mandaean Journey Through Exile
Mandaeans follow ancient precepts of Gnosticism and worship John the Baptist. During Mesopotamia's golden era they settled along the banks of the Tigris, Euphrates and Karun rivers in what is now known as Iraq and Iran. Forced into exile by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, they are slowly disappearing.
The Limits of a Liberal Understanding of the State
Can liberalism understand — and counter — strongman politics? In the wake of Trump’s reelection, the Egyptian writer Mahmoud Hadhoud spoke to the American legal theorist Paul Kahn in search of lessons for the Arab world.
Syria Is Alive With Possibility
The streets, the buildings, even the smells were as I had left them. But the people — they were entirely different. In markets, on public transportation and in the souks, the change was palpable. Smiles adorned people's faces. There was a lightness in their movements and a joy in their interactions.
Christmas in Homs
Who could have imagined that the statues of Hafez al-Assad and his sons would topple, that the yoke of slavery would fall so easily? We do not know, but I believe that God's providence covered us in mercy.