Under Double Attack
Morgenbladet, 17 January 2014 The longer the Assad regime remains in power, the stronger the jihadists get, says the author Yassin al-Haj Saleh, a former political prisoner in Syria. ‘The revolution is no longer only against the dictatorial regime of Bashar al-Assad. Now there are three parties inthis conflict, and we are fighting on two…
Les rêves turcs et européens des réfugiés
Courrier international – 10 décembre 2013 Pour certains Syriens fuyant la guerre civile, la Turquie est le but du voyage, pour d’autres elle n'est que la première étape avant d’atteindre l'Europe. L’homme quinquagénaire qui vient d’arriver avec son fils adolescent voudrait s’installer à Istanbul, avant de faire venir son épouse et ses autres enfants de l’Egypte,…
Syria’s voice of conscience
Le Monde diplomatique, 3 December 2013 Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Syria’s most well-known secular intellectual who is known as hakim al-thawra, the sage of the revolution, has finally left his country to seek refuge in Turkey. He is one of the last intellectual activists leaving Syria. “I know a handful that are left behind, but most…
Adieu au doux pays effroyable
Courrier international - 31 octobre 2013 Depuis deux ans et demi, j’ai fait tout ce qu’il était possible de faire pour rester dans mon pays. C’est important pour moi en tant que journaliste de vivre sur le terrain et en tant qu’intellectuel de vivre parmi les gens et comme les gens, dans le milieu dont je…
A Syrian’s Cry for Help
The New York Times, 9 September 2013 The story is simple. Here in Syria, there is a regime that has been killing its subjects with impunity for the last 30 months. The notion that there is a mysterious civil war that is inextricably linked to the nature of the Middle East and its complicated sectarian…
There is Nothing New about the Massacre; It is the Regime
Al-Jumhuriya, 22 August 2013 There is nothing surprising in the latest massacre by the Syrian regime in Ghouta, Damascus. The massacre has precedents in Dera’a, Karm al-Zaitoon, Houla, Traimseh, Daraya, Jdedat Artouz, Jdedat al-Fadel, and elsewhere. These attacks come on top of constant shelling by the air-force of multiple sites in the country causing dozens…
The Hajji
Al-Jumhuriya, 16 August 2013 Like most of the fighters here, the 44-year-old Hajji has a short beard, though unlike the others’, his has been recently trimmed. Hajji – as he was called by his acquaintances even prior to the revolution – now leads the “Sa’d bin Ubadah al-Khazaraji Brigade”. He is married to two women…
Help Syria now. Tomorrow it may be too late
The Guardian, 10 July 2013 An open letter to friends and leaders of public opinion in the west: current policy is short-sighted and inhumane Dear friends, Three months ago, I left the city of Damascus, where life had become too oppressive, to go to the "liberated" area of East Ghouta. An area that had 2…
Intellectuels, aidez les Syriens !
Le Monde, 05.07.2013 Il y a trois mois, je suis parti en direction de la Ghouta orientale libérée, région qui borde les faubourgs de la capitale syrienne, quittant un Damas où l'atmosphère était devenue étouffante. Mon départ clandestin a nécessité plusieurs semaines de préparation afin d'assurer la sécurité de mon déplacement de la capitale que…