Country: Syria

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Mesut Hancer holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter Irmak, who was buried by rubble and died during the devastating quake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey (image: Adem Altan/AFP/Gettyimages)

Turkey-Syria earthquake

Polarising religious narratives

Religious discussions on the causes and aftermath of the earthquake disaster in Turkey and Syria have dominated Arab discourse recently, revealing the urgent need to support marginalised, humanist religious voices and those placing the human above polarisation and the instrumentalisation of events. By Mustafa KarahamadMore

Turkey-Syria earthquake: What future for President Erdogan and the AKP? Manifesto published by Muslim intellectuals: For Islam and democracyAuthoritarianism and underdevelopment in the Islamic world: Islamic clerics and statesmen in an unholy alliance
Iraqis leave the city of Basra after the U.S. attack (image: Nicoletti/dpa/picture-alliance)

20 years Iraq War

Farewell to the old world order

It is 20 years since the USA began its invasion of Iraq. Alongside the countless dead Iraqis and U.S. soldiers, it was the West’s credibility in the Arab world that would fall victim to this war. As Karim El-Gawhary argues, this loss is still having consequences two decades laterMore

The Iraq War fifteen years on: "America destroyed my country"Tony Blair and the Iraq war: A case of smoke and mirrors Depleted uranium munitions in Iraq: Deadly dust falls in silence
Udo Steinbach at an event in Cafe Shabander on Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad (image: private)

Udo Steinbach on Europe and the Gulf

Let's have none of the old arrogance

Middle East expert Udo Steinbach has been advocating closer relations with the Gulf states for years. Genuine interest in regional development, however, needs to look beyond the stereotypes. Birgit Svensson spoke to him in BaghdadMore

FIFA World Cup: Qatar 2022 Qatar critics and their blind spotsQatar 2022 and the Arab world: 'It’s our World Cup'Germany and the Gulf: Balancing ethics and economics
Syrian women huddle together to pray in an emergency shelter in Idlib following the massive February 6 earthquake (image: ABDULAZIZ KETAZ/AFP)

Syria earthquake aftermath

Life is a whole lot worse for women

For women in northwestern Syria, the aftermath of the February 6 earthquakes has deepened the trauma of 12 years of war. By Diana HodaliMore

Earthquake aid for Syria: Bashar al-Assad – pariah no moreEarthquake politics: Syria – do EU, U.S. sanctions stop aid deliveries?Northern Syria's humanitarian disaster: Syria's IDPs – waiting for death in Idlib
Assad on a state visit to Oman (image: Sana/AP/picture-alliance)

Earthquake aid for Syria

Bashar al-Assad – pariah no more

While hundreds of thousands of people in northern Syria are still waiting for tents, water and medical aid, the Syrian regime is celebrating its comeback in the Arab world. Earthquake relief is serving as a fig leaf for Assad's rehabilitation, writes Kristin HelbergMore

Assad's rehabilitation: At the expense of the Syrian peopleSyria and the Arab world: Assad's return to the foldTurkish-Syrian relations: A menacing rapprochement
A man cries as he sits on the rubble of a collapsed building in the rebel-held town of Jindayris, Syria (image: Aaref Watad/AFP/Getty Images)

Earthquake politics

Syria – do EU, U.S. sanctions stop aid deliveries?

On social media, calls to lift sanctions on Syria and expedite earthquake aid recently went viral. But are such calls genuine, or are they part of a cynical campaign to further Bashar al-Assad's rehabilitation on the international stage? By Cathrin SchaerMore

Assad's rehabilitation: At the expense of the Syrian peopleThe war in Syria: Overshadowed, yet still a major issueWar in Syria: The horror of IdlibQantara photo essay: Idlib, life among the ruins
Online portal "Islamic Art", homepage, (source: National Museums in Berlin, Museum of Islamic Art)

Berlin Museum of Islamic Art

"Islamic Art” goes digital

The Berlin Museum of Islamic Art’s new online portal is the first digital platform in the German-speaking world to present Islamic cultures in an innovative and entertaining way. By Ceyda NurtschMore

No Europe without Islam: "Europe's history is rooted in migration"Europe's ''Judeo-Christian heritage'': The fiction that it always wasInterview with historian Michael Borgolte: "Islam was always part of Europe"
A Syrian boy in the Medyen refugee camp in Bar Elias Lebanon (image: DW/D.Hodali)

Syrian refugees in Lebanon

No education for this generation?

More than a decade since hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled into neighbouring Lebanon, the educational level of the younger generation is disastrously low and their future prospects correspondingly dim. By Mona NaggarMore

Lebanon's economic collapse: Staring into the abyssLebanon's chronic medicine shortage: Zero state support, much Lebanese solidaritySyrian refugees in Lebanon: More scared of starving than of coronavirus
U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the American nation (image: Patrick Semansky/AP Photo/picture-alliance)

Turkey-Syria earthquake

Biden's farewell to empathy

Mourning the deaths of earthquake victims in the Middle East or sympathising with the suffering of survivors doesn’t win you political points. Joe Biden's State of the Nation address completely ignored the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. Is the Arab-Islamic world gradually disappearing from U.S. politics? Essay by Stefan BuchenMore

The war in Syria: Overshadowed, yet still a major issue9/11 twenty years on: How the 'War on Terror' destabilised the Middle EastJoe Biden and the Middle East: Farewell to Trumpism
Elederly woman sits on a pile of rubble in the Turkey-Syria earthquake zone (image: Reuters)

Hope for earthquake survivors fades

Over a week since the earthquake that devastated towns and cities along both sides of the Syrian-Turkish border, the death toll now exceeds 41,000. As rescue efforts move into the recovery phase, questions are inevitably being asked. More...More

Earthquake in Turkey: Germany’s Turkish community sends aidEarthquake diplomacy 2.0: New dawn for Turkish-Greek relations?Turkey earthquake: Whatever happened to Turkey's earthquake tax?
The town of Sarmada in Idlib province, Syria was among those hit severely (image: MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Turkey-Syria quake

Weak buildings, shallow shock caused deaths

The instability of old buildings was responsible for much of the wreckage in Monday’s earthquake along the Turkey-Syria border. But the earthquake was also abnormally strong for its magnitude. Clare Roth has the detailsMore

Urban renewal under Erdogan: Istanbul shantytown residents in limboEarthquake report: In Syria’s rebel zones, volunteers dig mass gravesThe war in Syria: Overshadowed, yet still a major issueWar in Syria: The horror of Idlib
Screenshot of a video showing residents digging a mass grave in Urm al-Kubra, a town in western Aleppo governorate, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 (source: Twitter / @bkdadaksa)

France24 earthquake report

In Syria’s rebel zones, volunteers dig mass graves

As rescue workers continued to search for survivors of the earthquake that happened on 6 February, residents of Syria’s northwestern opposition-controlled territories were forced to start digging mass graves to bury victimsMore

Syria and Ukraine: Humanitarian aid is Russia's political footballWar in Syria: The horror of IdlibUrban renewal under Erdogan: Istanbul shantytown residents in limbo
Erdogan and Assad – here in a photo from 2011 (image: SANA/AP/picture-alliance)

Turkish-Syrian relations

A menacing rapprochement

Any reconciliation between Turkey and Syria’s Assad regime would have disastrous consequences for many Syrians, explains Syria expert Kristin HelbergMore

Turkey-Syria-Russia relations: Is Erdogan planning a deal with Assad?Assad's rehabilitation: At the expense of the Syrian peopleSyrian conflict's impact on international law: The future cost of normalising Assad
Vladimir Putin (left) and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan smile broadly as they greet each other at a meeting in Tehran in 2018 (photo: picture-alliance/AA/R. Aydogan)

Turkey-Syria-Russia relations

Is Erdogan planning a deal with Assad?

There are signs of an imminent normalisation of relations between Turkey and Syria. This would allow Erdogan to score political points domestically before the upcoming elections in Turkey. It would also be opportune for Putin. By Ronald MeinardusMore

Russia, Ankara and Damascus: Who decides Turkey's foreign policy?Turkey's Syrian problem: Refugees – a hot topic in Turkish politicsUAE's Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan: Iran and Islamists a threat to Gulf safe haven
Children gather outside tents at al-Hol camp, Hasakeh province, Syria, 1 May 2021 (photo: Baderkhan Ahmad/AP/picture alliance)

Al-Hol camp in Syria

Bring extremists' children out — but leave mothers?

As Syrian camps housing families of Islamic State fighters get more dangerous, there are calls to bring children out, even if the mothers don't want to go. The idea of separating families is a controversial one. By Cathrin SchaerMore

Middle East: In Iraq, sectarian prejudice goes beyond the graveJoey Lawrenceʹs "We came from fire": A tribute to the KurdsTurkey isolated amid international pressure: Erdogan's captive audience Qantara dossier: Kurdish-Turkish Conflict Kurdistan's decline: Iraq's beacon shines no more
A man holds up a sign that reads "Democracy betrayed" at protests against Tunisian President Kais Saied, Tunis, February 13, 2022 (photo: Hassene Dridi/AP Photo/picture alliance)

Middle East and North Africa

The next Arab Spring will come

Where are the measures to deal with the looming challenges facing the Arab world? In this commentary, Marwan Muasher warns that the region is in grave danger of falling behind when it comes to human developmentMore

COVID-19, COP27 and World Cup 2022: Crisis management in the Arab worldMiddle East: A new Arab Spring, thanks to the Ukraine war?Interview with Asef Bayat: Examining the Arab Spring revolutions from within Arab Spring 2.0: The Middle East's fearless protestersMilitary coup in Sudan: Is the Arab Spring about to die in Khartoum?

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