Syria under Bashir Assad (closed end 2014)

Book Review: Power and Policy in Syria

Entry Excerpt:

Power and Policy in Syria: The Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations, and Democracy in the Modern Middle East
by Radwan Ziadeh.
Published by I.B. Tauris, New York. 219 pages, 2011.
Reviewed by CDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, MSC, USN

Radwan Ziadeh is an academic who teaches at Harvard and George Washington University. His current book is a nuanced look at the methods by which the current Syrian regime maintains a monopoly hold on power. The book opens with Syrian independence from French colonial rule in 1946. It discusses the stressors of that period that led to the creation of more radical political parties, successive government collapses (in 1954 four governments were formed and collapsed, and the grip of ideological thinking as well as dogmatism to cope with this instability. Ziadeh offers an interesting observation of Syrian political history, dividing its period into three republics (formation in 1946, unification with Egypt in 1958, and the revolutionary state 1963 to the present). The author is able to tie together strands of political history from an Arab and Syrian perspective, which makes the volume useful for Foreign Area Officer, and those analyzing Syria within the intelligence community and United States Central Command. It lays out the birth and evolution of the different organs of the security apparatus, which now exceeds 700,000 operatives in 2004.



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Syria: The revolution will be weaponised

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

The Syrian Opposition: A Strategic Analysis

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Journalist Anthony Shadid Dies in Syria at 43

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

CNN: Thousands of Troops Needed to Secure Syrian Chemical Sites

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

What the Pentagon should learn from the Syrian rebellion

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Gentile: Realities of a Syrian Intervention

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Loose Talk on Intervention in Syria

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

This Week at War: Syria as Prologue

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Hello to the community,

While seeking out and researching non-western COIN literature, I came across this al-Jazeera report that included several primary source documents allegedly leaked from within the Syrian government. Representative of Syrian efforts to undermine the internal "insurgency" being conducted by the Free Syrian Army. Not lengthy or technical but insightful nonetheless.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...523316314.html

Please excuse the misspelled entry title - couldn't figure out how to go back and change it.

Interesting parallels between what the Syrian government is advocating and our own COIN doctrine.

Begs the question; If the U.S. Army was directed to support the current Syrian regime in its counterinsurgency fight, what would our operational directives look like?:eek:

Criminalization of the Syrian Conflict

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Syrian MiG Pilot Defects to Jordan

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

A Hot Summer in Syria

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Syrian Opposition Rejects UN Transition Deal

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

The Syrian Revolution: A Report After 15 Months of Conflict

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Misreading Russia in Syria

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Tipping Point in Syria?

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Iraq in the Middle Part IV: Maria Fantappie on Iraq’s relations with Syria

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

Moderator's Note

The developing situation in Syria is an important strategic issue and SWC has been watching closely. We simply cannot observe only, so this new thread has been started to discuss what is happening now, not what might have happened if there had been external, coercive intervention.

The discussion on the previous thread 'Syria: a civil war' was vibrant for a long time, with over six hundred posts; alas the standard of the exchange repeatedly required Moderator action and it was closed a few days ago.

Link to previous thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=12821