Over 60,000 people have been killed in Syria. What prospects face the beleaguered country in 2013?
The growing challenge to Bashar al-Assad's regime raises the issue of Syria's chemical weapons, and whether there are any feasible military options in addressing it. Here, the decisions of the United States and Israel will be crucial.
It has become evident that the armed conflict in no shape or form is directed towards the interests of the Syrian people. We cling to the hope that time will eventually bring forth a genuine Syrian leadership which is able to save the revolution from the paralysis of opportunism.
Most of the research conducted so far into the Syrian uprising is focused on the sectarian element of the conflict, forgetting that there is a tribal dimension to the conflict as well.
One can no longer say that Syria is a moderate, pragmatic, stabilizing and secular regional centre keeping extremism at bay - a natural function of its geography, relatively diverse ethno-sectarian make-up, as well as the political sophistication of its people.
Lack of cooperation on all sides has left the doors open to the most extremist financiers from the Arab Gulf countries to force their own agendas on the brigades they are financing, agendas that have nothing to do with Syria’s cause of freedom and dignity.
Syria's conflict is approaching a decisive phase, and the United States is making intense efforts to influence the shape of a post-Assad regime. Here, the prominence of Islamist groups among the rebels is becoming ever more important.
How is it possible for those who have lived in the lap of opportunism and are by nature predatory suddenly to transform themselves into honest revolutionaries.
The pace of events in Syria is reinforcing the case for western military intervention. There is still - just - time for a Washington-led but inclusive diplomatic option to deliver an outcome that averts further great suffering.
The best way to understand what is going on in Syria is by listening to what Syrians have to say about their own country. Here, you are introduced to three different voices from the Syrian opposition, to show the diversity and richness of Syrian voices.
The peculiar enthusiasm of former colonizers of the Arab world, like France, for recognizing Syria’s representatives without waiting for the Syrian people to decide through ballots (not bullets), has delegitimized the Coalition in the eyes of many Syrians.
The thought of ruining your two thousand riyal thobe and fifteen thousand riyal diamond cufflinks by covering them in blood does not make an awful lot of sense in the materialistically infused world of Doha.
