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Daraj
Primary focus: World
The problem is not that Syria lacks institutions, but that the institutions now taking shape do not perform the function of mediating between Syrians. They do not translate the diversity of society into politics, nor do they enable equal participation. Instead, they organize communities from above and grant them only symbolic representation, while questions of crime, responsibility, and collective memory remain outside their reach.
The attacks included the burning of the home of a Coptic resident, while other Christian homes were pelted with stones and Molotov cocktails. Demonstrators marched through the streets of the Christian neighborhood chanting, Long or wide, we'll bring the church down. The Molotov cocktails and other incendiary materials set fire to two additional Coptic homes. After security forces restored order, construction of the church was suspended.
Iraqi writer and feminist Enan M. Blai did not know that when I began reaching out to her frequently to arrange this interview, I was in a state of shock-induced paralysis. I had taken to doing wall-pushing exercises in an attempt to break free from that state. I would press both palms firmly against a wall for thirty seconds at a time, pause, then repeat the exercise, trying to coax my nervous system back to equilibrium so I would no longer freeze in the face of memories of violence.
Iraqi writer and feminist Inan M.bly did not know that when I began reaching out to her frequently to arrange this interview, I was in a state of shock-induced paralysis. I had taken to doing wall-pushing exercises in an attempt to break free from that state. I would press both palms firmly against a wall for thirty seconds at a time, pause, then repeat the exercise, trying to coax my nervous system back to equilibrium so I would no longer freeze in the face of memories of violence.
In a country whose courts continue to struggle to investigate and hold senior figures accountable for the financial collapse, the IBL Bank case, along with similar cases uncovered by foreign judicial authorities, raises a deeper question: Does Lebanon genuinely have both the capacity and the political will to hold any banking institution accountable if a court establishes that it knowingly, or through gross negligence, facilitated the movement of funds belonging to international criminal organizations through the Lebanese financial system?
The digital revolution has also transformed spectators from passive viewers into active participants. Every controversial refereeing decision or disputed moment is quickly followed by thousands of posts, short videos, and comments offering competing interpretations. As these explanations circulate widely, viewers can easily become convinced by the version they encounter most frequently, even when it is not the correct one.
According to the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, medical staff were forced to kneel in the hospital corridor on the day the facility was stormed, and one volunteer was executed, as documented by the hospital's surveillance cameras. Images that later circulated also showed dozens of bodies piled up inside the hospital and in its surrounding grounds.
Lebanon does not need someone to free it from one set of weapons only to leave it captive to another center of decision-making. Nor does it need a military victory that merely reproduces political defeat. What it needs is a state capable of telling everyone, at home and abroad, that this country is no one's platform, no one's bargaining chip, and no space for others to compete over.
I had to search for my father, my brother, and my uncle among 53 bodies, Fida recalls. I turned over each one, staring at their swollen faces. During my search, I saw the bodies of elderly men, women bearing signs of physical abuse, and children who had been beheaded.
Many of the victims' families now refuse to complete the official death registration procedures, viewing them as a public denial of the massacres they witnessed firsthand. They say the process has only deepened the crisis of trust between the people of Sweida and the government in Damascus.
