The slow torture of sanctions
While the US and EU have been slow to lift sectoral sanctions on Syria, the UK has been even slower.
We talk to @eyad_hamid of @SyrianLDP and @vittoriomaresc1 of @KShaar_Advisory.
https://t.co/zYy2F5PCYr
Lack of clarity in asylum freezes leaves asylum seekers in limbo — unable to make decisions affecting their livelihoods, housing, work, and education — and uncertain as to their ultimate fate.
By @OKurdali and @maitelsadany for @TimepDC.
https://t.co/0UjEe4N4rk
The only thing faster than the Syrian opposition forces' toppling of Assad in recent days has been European politicians promoting hate against Syrian refugees...
https://t.co/eOXnnEH348
Syria is less dangerous without Assad.
That’s NOT the same as safe.
But the UK Home Office says it has “temporarily paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation.”
https://t.co/E5Q1AIiUcy
To those panicking about “Syria becoming the new Taliban”, this is not the case.
A consensus government is being negotiated. For now, the former PM coordinating with rebels is managing Syria’s service institutions. Syria will belong to everyone
No Islamic emirates.
We have triumphed! Freedom has triumphed! Liberty has triumphed! Humanity has triumphed! Self-determination has triumphed!
This victory was not achieved through the aid of allies but through the sheer strength of our own arms and the profound sacrifices of our people.
To everyone across the globe who believed in our cause and lent us their support—thank you! This is your victory as well.
Soon, we will welcome you in Damascus, Aleppo, and every corner of #Syria to celebrate this historic moment together.
#FreeAtLast #SyriaIsFree
وزيّنوا المرجة.. المرجة لينا.. وشامنا فرجة وهيّ مزيّنة
For today there is joy and celebrations across Syria. But keep your Syrian friends close when joy makes way for grief.
Because in the coming days many families will receive the news that their loved ones have died in the prisons of the regime and will not be coming home.
A year long thread that only scratched the surface of the horror of Assad's Gulag of torture & death.
To understand the impact, human & symbolic, of the liberation of prisons in Syria in the past few days, read this thread. Remember, it only scratches the surface.
A year ago I met @anwaralbounni in Berlin. I asked why he hadn't learnt German. "Why would I waste time on a language I'm not going to use?" he replied. "It's only a matter of months and we'll be going home." I thought he was crazy. But he wasn't.
This is Raghid Al-Tatari.
He is a Syrian Air Force Pilot who refused to bomb the city of Hama on Hafez Assad orders in the early 1980s.
He was freed today from Saydnaya prison after 43 years of jail.
#Syria.
This day will bring hope to people across the region who are suffering a brutal counter-revolution, domestic fascism and foreign imperialism.
The spirit of 2010/2011 lives.
In the town of Sahnaya, in the Damascus countryside, Syrian Christians are celebrating the fall of the regime.
"One, one, one, the Syrian people are one" they chant
Most of #Syria’s population suffered at the hands of the regime - the numerous #massacres, forced disappearances, shelling, millions displaced, children born into squalor and conflict. It will take decades to know the full horrors of the last decades & more for people to heal
Those children were most likely born in prison which is common in Syria. The late Michel Kilo talked about this after he himself spent many years in prison.
https://t.co/KVAqWAvrrf
One of the detainees freed from Assad’s human slaughterhouse in Sednaya has lost his memory and is unable to speak, shattered by the horrors he endured, Rebels try to ask him about any details to take him back to his family but he’s unable to speak.
#Syria#Sednaya