The ‘Essential Collection’ on Syria’s Blighted Year

One of the reasons I started this site was to raise awareness about a country rarely in the news. A country whose stories were not being told. The past year has changed everything.

On the anniversary of the start of the revolution a couple of months ago, The Syria Report did an excellent job of collating the best writing on the uprising. You need to work your way through each one of these articles.

Of course, it starts with the now infamous WSJ Bashar interview in January – after the Arab Spring had set the region on fire, but before it arrived in Syria. He confidently predicted that Syria would remain under his thumb. Six weeks later he was proven oh, so wrong.

There are contributions from Elias Muhanna, Camille Otrakji, Robert Mackey, Bassma Kodmani, Josh Landis, Robin Yassin-Kassab, Robert Worth, Amal Hanano, Bassam Haddad, Donatella Della Ratta, Peter Harling, Sarah Birke and Nir Rosen. In other words, almost anyone who counts as an essential read on Syria. Of course there are a few names missing from that list and a few stories not included. I’m especially sad not to see A Rose in the Desert on there.

by Syria News Wire

The Syria News Wire is written from Damascus and London. It was the fourth Syrian blog to appear on the internet – back in 2004. It is a Lonely Planet favourite, award nominated, Toot-ified blog, which gets about 15,000 hits a month. In 2008, Damascus became the Arab Capital of Culture. The year was packed full of events. Every month, a programme was published – but it didn’t hit the streets until half the month had passed. In Damascus, that doesn’t matter. We find out what’s happening by word of mouth. And the same goes for news, or plans for the city’s development. This site puts some of those whispers on to the net. News from the streets of Damascus, and beyond.

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