Kevin Timothy Mason

Conflict Studies. Politics. Environmental Peacemaking.

[Rojava Information Center @RojavaIC]

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) cmdr. Mazloum Abdi has announced the full integration of the SDF into Syrian state structures.

The announcement marks the end of the SDF as an entity in NES, with its forces now being incorporated into the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

NOAA launches the weather balloons, floats the ocean buoys, flies the satellites, and staffs the forecasters that tell us when storms are coming. That data supports about two-thirds of the economy, roughly $1.3 trillion a year, and it paid us back $73 for every dollar we spent on it.

DOGE took a chainsaw to it anyway.

They cut 2,500 people.

They pushed out 27,000 years of experience in just a few months.

Now a charter fishing captain in Homer, Alaska has spent half a season with no idea what the wind is doing in waters he fishes every day. Kansas got hit by two tornadoes nobody saw coming. Forecasters missed how strong a typhoon was as it headed for Alaska. Farmers, insurers, airlines, and city engineers are all working with worse information than they had two years ago.

And now the Trump administration plan is to cut even deeper.

They want to pull another $1.6 billion out of NOAA next year. They want to hand the rest to private companies, so your town ends up paying a business for weather data your taxes already paid for, with no promise it will even be right.

Wrecking a 73-to-1 investment and sending the bill to fishermen, farmers, and families. Just crazy.
https://t.co/veNGkvfVTv

[Alexander McKeever @AKMcKeever]

Video from yesterday showing armed men attack returnees in the vicinity of Ras al-'Ain/Serekaniye's Armenian Orthodox and Syriac Catholic churches [three videos show the same vehicle]

36.851792, 40.067152

[SyriacPress @SyriacPress]

A Century in a Wooden Box: The Photographs That Preserved Kafno

#Kafno #GreatFamine #MountLebanon #LebanonHistory #WorldWarI #HistoricalPhotography #SyriacMaronite #OttomanEmpire #CollectiveMemory

https://t.co/Gf4ggT3ytD

[Kevin Timothy Mason @KevinTMason]

@LizHurra Syriacs made an important visit to the city last month.

https://t.co/2ZGUhbhHzl

[SyriacPress @SyriacPress]

Shamiran Istifan at the Aargauer Kunsthaus: Through the Window of Memory and Modernity

#ShamiranIstifan #AargauerKunsthaus #ContemporaryArt #Suraye #Syriac #Assyrian #Aramean #Chaldean #ManorArtPrize

https://t.co/cFShUMEP9Y

[Kevin Timothy Mason @KevinTMason]

In Defense of Christians welcomes Trump-Aoun meeting and calls for restoring Lebanese sovereignty and advancing regional peace

#Lebanon #LebaneseSovereignty #Hezbollah #USLebanonRelations #InDefenseOfChristians #ReligiousFreedom #MiddleEastPolitics #LebaneseChristians

https://t.co/slP9z5D5Hp

[Alexander McKeever @AKMcKeever]

SANA drone pics of Ain Dara which is undergoing some rehabilitation work after the Aleppo Directorate of Antiquities finally opened an office in Afrin. Clearly shows the extent of the damage, first from Turkish bombs (Feb 2018) and then SNA looting

https://t.co/rUYoMBQKNO

[SyriacPress @SyriacPress]

Urishlem report documents 83 incidents of harassment against Christians, including assaults and vandalism

https://t.co/AeRI0XxD84

[Haid Haid @HaidHaid22]

#Syria’s customs ban on #alcohol & #musical_instruments, despite both being legal inside the country, is another example of #bureaucratic_moralism at work: officials imposing their moral preferences without a clear legal basis or public debate. My latest 👇https://t.co/QfQYiNBqgE

[Aymenn J Al-Tamimi @ajaltamimi]

My latest post: a digital and ground investigation I did on the Kurdish village of Basilê in the Afrin region. Its original inhabitants are still barred from returning to it. Find out more about the village below with exclusive photos and satellite imagery https://t.co/M6RUdEZSqF

[Kevin Timothy Mason @KevinTMason]

@ajaltamimi @damascanmedusa There are also Turkish language signs still on government buildings in Afrin, which apparently aren't an afront to Damascus in the same way Kurdish or Syriac are.

[Wassim Nasr @SimNasr]

#Syrie pour @FRANCE24, j’étais le premier journaliste à mettre un pied à DeïrEzzore après la chute d’Assad. Les rues venaient d’être déblayées et déminées. La ville est à +90% détruite. Voici l’église en question et son environement immédiat.

[POPULAR FRONT @PopularFront_]

So @Patreon is withholding our hard earned money this month. They haven’t given us any explanation, won’t answer our emails, and are ignoring us every time we ask. We can’t pay our team right now. Is there anyone at Patreon that can help us? Please DM this account.

[Jake Hanrahan @Jake_Hanrahan]

Please share. We can’t pay our team as @Patreon is withholding our earnings with no explanation.

[Hans Scholl @ver_scholl_en]

I noticed this on satellite imagery some months ago and have been meaning to write something on it.

Following Operation Olive Branch, the heart of the village of Cilbirê was obliterated for the construction of a Turkish base.

What is there to return to?

(Jan 2018/Dec 2022)

[SyriacPress @SyriacPress]

What Unites Us — Part 1 | By Musa Ergin

#Sayfo #SayfoGenocide #ArmenianGenocide #GenocideAwareness #OttomanHistory

https://t.co/r5salbLfkf

[SyriacPress @SyriacPress]

Groups representing persecuted Christians file amicus brief on Torture Victims Protection Act in Supreme Court case

@AmericanSyriacU @richghazal @indefchristians @CSI_humanrights @CoptSolidarity @IconHelp1 @EasternDiocese | #ChristianPersecution

https://t.co/qpo4h7vt7G

[Kevin Timothy Mason @KevinTMason]

@JenGriffinFNC Orban already called Magyar to congratulate him and conceded in a public statement. You're quite far behind.

[Mount Lebanon @turodlevnon]

THE MOUNT LEBANON TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL
ANNOUNCES ITS FORMATION,
DECLARES THE REPUBLIC OF LEBANON HAS ABDICATED SOVEREIGNTY SOUTH OF THE LITANI,
AND ABANDONED
CHRISTIANS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

New York, April 6, 2026

The Mount Lebanon Transitional Council announces its official formation as a political body representing the Maronite, Syriac, and indigenous Christian communities of Lebanon.

The Council declares that the Republic of Lebanon has abdicated sovereignty south of the Litani River, leaving Christian communities without state protection and exposed to non-state armed groups.

The Council will initiate urgent diplomatic engagement with the United States, Israel, France, and the United Nations to address the governance and security crisis affecting these communities.

Composed of members from the homeland and the diaspora, the Council is committed to advancing the survival, dignity, and self-determination of Lebanon’s indigenous Christian communities, while engaging all relevant actors on the future of the country.

⸻

LEADERSHIP AND FOUNDING MEMBERS

Sheikh Sami Khoury
President Emeritus
President of the World Maronite Union, former President of the World Lebanese Cultural Union.

Henry Zakaria
Vice President
Founder of the Mount Lebanon Project, focused on political advocacy and Christian representation.

Lina Elias
Political Advisor
Fulbright Scholar, Ph.D. in Environmental Human Rights, specialist in international policy.

Elige Yohanna
Public Policy and Advocacy
Advocate for family, community, and technology policy.

Clay Hanna
Major (Ret.), U.S. Army, MBA, J.D., Regent Law School (May 2026)

Franck Salameh
Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Boston College, Ph.D. Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University

Robert Juhanan
Syriac Affairs
President of the American Syriac Union.