Dr.Helle Malmvig

Senior Researcher @DIISDk, previous @BrownUniversity @CERI_SciencesPo, Middle East international politics, art, humour popular culture

[Dr.Helle Malmvig @HelleMalmvig]

https://t.co/ZP1KHTln7P

[Timour Azhari @timourazhari]

🚨 Gunmen killed at least two dozen male residents of an Alawite town in Syria's rural coastal region on Friday, two Alawite activists and a war monitor said, citing contacts in the region and video footage from the scene.

Video is very graphic, shows at least 20 men lying in close proximity - some bloodied - by the side of a road in the town centre.

Reuters was able to verify the location in the video as Al Mukhtareyah, near the main M4 highway, using a road, buildings, trees and a utility pole which matched satellite imagery of the village.

The precise date filmed, and who filmed it, could not immediately be verified but the direction of shadows showed it was filmed in the morning in the past two months.

Reuters was unable to confirm independently what had happened in the location.

Alawite activists say their community has been subjected to violence and attacks since Assad fell, particularly in rural Homs and Latakia.

Rami Abdulrahman, of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said local sources had told his organisation that 38 men from the country's Alawite minority had been killed execution-style in the town.

"Gunmen coming from the direction of the Idlib region arrived at dawn and rounded up the men while telling the women to remain at home. The men were then executed," Abdulrahman said.

The two Alawite activists, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the killings were on Friday and blamed them on gunmen affiliated with Syria's new Islamist ruling authority.

A government spokesperson and two officials linked to the ruling authority did not immediately respond to texts seeking comment.

Interior ministry source said some “individual violations” had occurred after unorganized masses of people headed to the coast amid fighting in last 24 hours.

Security forces have sent reinforcements to the coastal region from their stronghold of Idlib and neighbouring areas to crush a nascent insurgency by fighters they say are linked to Assad.

Abdulrahman said the observatory had verified several other incidents in the past 24 hours where Alawite men had been killed or were humiliated, including being made to bark like dogs. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

READ: https://t.co/BPKSCDKKSV

[NAFO 69th Sniffing Brigade @69thSB]

Post one of your favourite Trump-Zelensky memes below 👇

We will start first 😎

[Peter Harling @PeterHarling]

Although I returned to Damascus—a city where I have personal roots—I must admit: I was among the people inexplicably reticent to go.

In my circles, quite a few Syrian exiles have found reasons, like me, to dither and delay. Part of my trip was an attempt to understand why 🧵

[Dr.Helle Malmvig @HelleMalmvig]

Inger Christensen, Det, 1969.

[FRANCE 24 English @France24_en]

#BREAKING 🔴 Negotiators have reached a #ceasefire deal for the #Gaza war between #Israel and #Hamas.

The agreement will pause the devastating 15-month-long war and raises the possibility of winding down the deadly fighting between the enemies.

@NTarnopolsky with the latest ⤵️

[Nada Maucourant Atallah @MaucourantNada]

Meet Nawaf Salam, set to be named Lebanon’s new prime minister.

I had the privilege to interview him after his election as the head of the ICJ last year.

A former academic and diplomat, his friends described him as a “well-read multidisciplinary intellectual”, with a reformist bend, who cares about “Lebanon's Arabic identity”.

[Dr.Helle Malmvig @HelleMalmvig]

Glid ind i det nye år på hyggelige Thiemers. Liv Helm og jeg taler om vores to romaner “Med hjertet i hånden” og “Glemmer jeg”. Stadig billetter her👉 https://t.co/fV6DhZ3Egy

[Rime Allaf @rallaf]

Happy 1st monthiversary to all Syrians
كل شهر و انتم بخير ...

[Maher Akraa @maherakraa]

🧵 1: Overview
Years before Assad's regime fell, reports like Amnesty International’s ‘Stop the Torture and Horror in Syria’s Prisons’ (2016) ©AI and the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) ©SNHR 2019 documentation of 72 torture methods across 50 detention centers exposed unimaginable brutality. Now, with newly uncovered images post-collapse in December 2024, the world finally sees how deeply entrenched this system was.
#Syria #HumanRights
Source: ©AI, ©SNHR

[Timour Azhari @timourazhari]

It may take up to four years to hold elections in Syria, de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said in remarks to be broadcast on Sunday, the first time he has commented on a possible electoral timetable since Bashar al-Assad was ousted this month.

Drafting a new constitution could take up to three years, Sharaa said in written excerpts from the interview with the Saudi state-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya, due to be transmitted later on Sunday.

He also said it would take about a year for Syrians to see drastic changes.

[Jenan Moussa @jenanmoussa]

After days of unrest in various parts of Syria, a show of force by around 300 HTS fighters in Damascus. Notice the Islamic banners, not the new Syrian national flag. And many fighters are masked.

[Amélie Zaccour @amelzac]

Retour d’une semaine de reportage @Lesjoursfr en Syrie, ou j’ai vu les choses les plus exceptionnelles mais aussi les plus atroces de ma vie. 🧶 1/10

[Jenan Moussa @jenanmoussa]

1/ Hundreds protested in Damascus today for a secular state. One of the reasons for the protest was an interview an HTS official gave to a TV on women's rights. Below I’ll translate the interview. It gives clues about the ideas of the new leaders of Syria

[Rami @RamiSafadi93]

A drive through Yarmouk camp in Damascus.

Assad's forces besieged, starved, bombed, depopulated and destroyed this Palestinian refugee camp and the regime didn't even reconstruct a single building in the following 6 years it was in control.

[Alia Malek عليا مالك @AliaMalek]

Slightly perplexed by the messages and comments that folks had no idea how bad the regime was in #Syria. I know much of this is in good faith, but (deep breath) : Syrians, human rights orgs, journalists have been covering this and telling you this - *with much documentation*

[Mohammed Aly Sergie @msergie]

Just got back from Syria. Visited Damascus, Homs, Hama, Idlib, Aleppo + some towns in Aleppo, Idlib, Tartous, and Hama provinces. The mood in the cities is generally joyful/relief and some worry. They want power, water, security, and a functioning economy. In most towns, didn't see much life.

Millions of people will return to homes that weren't destroyed by bombs — they were gutted by thieves dispatched by the regime. Windows, doors, pipes, wires, fittings, everything stripped. Appliances, clothes, items with negligible value, taken, leaving concrete shells behind. The roads to these ghost towns are so bad that some have disappeared completely.

Immense challenges ahead. There's a widespread sense of rebirth among Syrians. Once the euphoria passes, it will be time to rebuild and establish a government that serves the people and not itself.

[Mazen Ezzi مازن عزي @MazenEzzi]

To date, Jolani has neither presented a roadmap for Syria nor called for any general opposition conference. Instead, he has initiated a series of appointments, all of whom are loyalists and Islamists, to head official institutions and ministries without any clear framework. 1

[Rami Jarrah @RamiJarrah]

Are we surprised that the remains of 150,000 detainees and disappeared are in one location in Damascus?

Sadly, no. While it was incredible to see so many released from Syrian prisons, their numbers pale in contrast to those still missing. Tragically, we anticipate more.

[Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacLeod]

Your periodic reminder that colonialism never ended.