Tag: syria

How Syria Became the Middle East’s Drug Dealer | The New Yorker

How Syria Became the Middle East’s Drug Dealer

Bashar al-Assad has propped up his regime by exploiting the Middle East’s love of an amphetamine called captagon.

via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/11/11/how-syria-became-the-middle-easts-drug-dealer

Shortly after the air strike, several figures connected to the captagon trade in southern Syria received texts from an unknown number: “We know who you are, your movements are monitored, your meetings are hacked. You contribute to destroying the minds of our people, and for their sake we will not have mercy on any of you. The Jordanians will soar like eagles to hunt you down, one criminal after another. Marai al-Ramthan was the first but not the last.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/11/11/how-syria-became-the-middle-easts-drug-dealer

November 5, 2024
Impunity for Syria War Crimes Casts Shadow Over Ukraine – The New York Times

Impunity for War Crimes in Syria Casts a Grim Shadow Over Ukraine

Syria, with Russian support, used many of the brutal tactics now seen in Ukraine — and its dictator stayed in power. That conflict offers lessons for Russia’s leader, analysts say.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/world/middleeast/syria-ukraine-invasion-russia.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=World%20News

“Creating a humanitarian catastrophe is part of the war strategy, not a secondary effect, because this is how you shift the burden on to the other side,” he said.

March 15, 2022
Reëxamining Putin’s Military Interventions in the Middle East | The New Yorker

Reëxamining Putin’s Military Interventions in the Middle East

Can Russia’s conduct in Syria and Libya predict what’s in store for Ukraine?

via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/reexamining-putins-military-interventions-in-the-middle-east

So it got to a point where people in Idlib had to put their clinics literally underground. I saw hospitals that were underground because the Russians would target anything that looked like a humanitarian center or a hospital.

March 9, 2022
On Syria’s Ruins, a Drug Empire Flourishes – The New York Times

On Syria’s Ruins, a Drug Empire Flourishes

Powerful associates of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, are making and selling captagon, an illegal amphetamine, creating a new narcostate on the Mediterranean.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/05/world/middleeast/syria-drugs-captagon-assad.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=World%20News

“The idea of going to the Syrian government to ask about cooperation is just absurd,” said Joel Rayburn, the U.S. special envoy for Syria during the Trump administration. “It is literally the Syrian government that is exporting the drugs. It is not like they are looking the other way while drug cartels do their thing. They are the drug cartel.”

December 5, 2021
New York Times Says ‘Caliphate’ Podcast Fell Short of Standards – The New York Times

New York Times Says ‘Caliphate’ Podcast Fell Short of Standards (Published 2020)

The Times cited an institutional failure and determined the “Caliphate” team gave too much credence to the claims of a supposed former terrorist.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/business/media/new-york-times-caliphate-podcast.html

After an internal review that took more than two months, The New York Times has determined that “Caliphate,” its award-winning 2018 podcast, did not meet the standards for Times journalism.

December 18, 2020
America’s War on Syrian Civilians | The New Yorker

America’s War on Syrian Civilians

Bombs killed thousands of civilians in Raqqa, and the city was decimated. U.S. lawyers insist that war crimes weren’t committed, but it’s time to look honestly at the devastation that accompanies “targeted” air strikes.

via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/21/americas-war-on-syrian-civilians

December 18, 2020
How Syria’s disinformation wars destroyed the co-founder of the White Helmets | News | The Guardian

How Syria’s disinformation wars destroyed the co-founder of the White Helmets

The long read: In November 2019, James Le Mesurier, the British co-founder of the Syrian rescue group, fell to his death in Istanbul. What led an internationally celebrated humanitarian to take his own life?

via the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/oct/27/syria-disinformation-war-white-helmets-mayday-rescue-james-le-mesurier

The disinformation campaign quickly grew, its aim to sow doubt about the White Helmets and the footage they collected. As the war progressed, north-western Syria became a magnet for extremists bent on using the chaos to launch a global jihad. Propagandists exploited the confusion on the ground. Soon, claims appeared online that the White Helmets had been infiltrated by al-Qaeda, which had supposedly seized on the group as a way to obtain foreign funds. There were also accusations that the group had been created by governments determined to remove Assad from power, and that the White Helmets volunteers were “crisis actors” staging scenes to discredit Russia and Syria.

October 29, 2020