March 05, 2010

Syria once again at the regional pivot

Last week, there was considerable fuss in much of the U.S. media because, just a couple of days after the Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Bill Burns, visited Damascus...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:19 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

February 19, 2010

WaPo's hate propaganda against Syria

Today, the WaPo had an editorial filled with inaccuracies about Syria's record and just oozing pure venom for the Syrian government. The title is, "Don't expect progress from talking to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:30 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

August 31, 2009

Turkish FM mediating between Iraq and Syria

As long-time JWN readers are aware, I have always been worried about the prospect that as the US military decreases its presence in Iraq, many of the country's neighbors would...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:58 AM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

August 26, 2009

Syria-Iran tussle over Iraq?

As the US withdrawal from Iraq become an increasingly firm prospect, the tussle is now quite predictably intensifying among the war-shattered country's neighbors for influence over what remains of it....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:18 PM | Fulltext link (28 comments)

August 15, 2009

West Bank Palestinians and Golan Syrians at joint camp

I was intrigued to see the news from Maan that a summer camp has brought some 350 Palestinians from the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and from inside Israel, along...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:50 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

July 21, 2009

Eldar and Kipnis on Golan

Akiva Eldar recently published a short piece in Haaretz about the recent book on Golan and the history of the Israeli-Syrian conflict written by Yigal Kipnis. Kipnis is a resident...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:05 PM | Fulltext link (26 comments)

June 24, 2009

US, Syria, Iran, Hamas

The Obama administration has decided to return a US ambassador to Syria, the WaPo's Scott Wilson reports today. This is a long overdue move-- see below. However, the timing of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:08 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

June 13, 2009

Syrian negotiations with Israel: the short version

So presidential envoy George Mitchell has now had his meeting with Pres. Bashar al-Asad in Damascus. Afterwards he said, ""We are well aware of the many difficulties ... yet we...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:40 AM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

June 12, 2009

Mitchell mission getting very serious

Most people in the western MSM have for some days now seemed strongly fixated on the elections in Iran. (And my thanks to Scott Harrop for getting his excellent post...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:37 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

June 10, 2009

Analysis of the Mitchell visit, Moualem interview

... is at IPS, here. Also archived here....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:03 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

My Moualem interview on ForeignPolicy.com

... is here. I will just add to everything else I've written about Syria-Israel in recent days that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was in Washington last week, where he...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:27 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

My book on Syria-Israel talks, being reprinted

I just heard from the good folks at the US Institute of Peace Press that they will be reprinting my 2000 book The Israeli-Syrian Peace Talks: 1991-96 and Beyond. The...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:46 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

Highlights from my interview with Syrian Foreign Minister Moualem, June 4

On his impressions of Pres. Obama, his hopes from Obama’s [at that moment underway] Cairo speech, and Sen. George Mitchell’s peace mission: We think Pres. Barack Obama seems very sincere....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:47 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

June 09, 2009

Mitchell includes Syria, Lebanon

It's now confirmed. US peace envoy George Mitchell, now on his fourth trip to the Middle East, will travel to both Syria and Lebanon this week. He met this morning...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:43 AM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

June 03, 2009

Big days ahead for the Middle East...

Tomorrow, Pres. Obama will give his much-awaited address "to the Muslim world" in Cairo. On Sunday, Lebanon holds parliamentary elections-- and Iran holds its elections June 12. I'm in Damascus...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:02 AM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

April 05, 2009

T. Strouse report from Damascus

I am happy to publish here a report that Thomas Strouse penned from Damascus on March 31. I thought it gave some useful background flavor to recent developments in the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:22 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

February 23, 2009

Syria, as the US pressure for regime change eases

The Syrian analyst, professor, publisher, and general man-about-town Sami Moubayed had a very informative article in Asia Times Online two days ago, assessing the generally very positive recent developments in...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:32 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

February 16, 2009

Syria's position strengthening internationally, regionally

Syria's place in the world community-- which the ideologues in the Bush White House did so much to attack and delegitimize-- has been strengthening noticeably in the past few days/weeks....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:28 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

January 23, 2009

IPS articles from Syria and Washington, DC

I've been really busy these past couple of weeks-- plus, figuring out too much new technology. So, to catch up a little, here are the last two pieces of News...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:36 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

January 19, 2009

Echoes from Syria

I seem to have been incredibly busy since I left Damascus last Thursday evening. I've also been on an emotional roller-coaster, torn between the mounting excitement around Barack Obama's inauguration...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:03 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

January 10, 2009

Going to Syria

This afternoon I'm leaving for Syria. I'm part of a delegation of (non-governmental) US citizens-- most of whom are considerably closer to the "Establishment" here than I am-- whose goal...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:44 AM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

December 22, 2008

This guy's been outside the US for too long!

I was reading a recent interview with Andrew Tabler, an American who's spent the past 14 years in the Arab world, most prominently in Syria, and who's about to take...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:11 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

November 25, 2008

Iraq's international 'Contact group' becoming stronger?

The Security Cooperation and Coordination Committee of Iraq's neighboring countries held its third meeting in Damascus Sunday. This 'Contact Group' brings together representatives of the UN, the US, Iraq's neighbors...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:12 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

November 10, 2008

The Syria raid and a whole White House gone rogue

As I argued here October 27, the raid that US Special Forces undertook against Syria Oct. 26 had indeed been authorized by the White House. In fact, by President Bush...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:12 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

October 28, 2008

Iraqi, Iranian dimensions of the Sukkariyeh raid

Well, as was quite predictable Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh has now trotted out new lines condemning Sunday's raid in which US ground forces took off from (presumably) Iraqi territory...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:04 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

October 27, 2008

Syria raid, additional notes

I see that Pat Lang is speculating that the raid might have been some kind of rogue operation on the part of the US Special Forces Command. I certainly respect...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:35 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

Attack on Syria: White House misjudgments

Without a doubt, last night's attack by heliborne US forces against a farm compound inside Syria must have been authorized by the President or Vice-President himself. Josh Landis has provided...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:11 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

July 12, 2008

France brokering Lebanon-Syria embassy deal

This is win-win-win all the way. The Lebanese people win by getting their national independence finally recognized by their Syrian neighbor. Syria wins by escaping both from the burden of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:25 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

May 24, 2008

On 'flipping' Syria, prospects for peace

Much of the American MSM commentary on the news about the Syrian-Israeli proximity talks in Turkey has focused on the long-mentioned hope of the west (whatever that is) being able...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:41 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

January 16, 2008

Text of interview with Bushra Kanafani

Interview with Ms. Bushra Kanafani, Director of the Foreign Media Department at the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Conducted for Just World News by Helena Cobban, Jan. 15, 2008....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:52 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

Syria's policy, post-Annapolis

The director of the Syrian Foreign Ministry's Foreign Press Department yesterday expressed disappointment with the outcome of the Arab-Israeli peace conference held in Annapolis, Maryland, in late November. Syria...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:52 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

January 13, 2008

Syria, Annapolis, and after

Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:08 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

November 27, 2007

Golan, the human story

Much of the western media follows the Israeli-initiated habit of thinking and speaking about the issue of Golan only in (very threatening) strategic terms. But Golan is also-- like the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:17 PM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

November 25, 2007

Golan: Getting it straight

Whoa there, AP! The generally well-regarded US newswire is putting out an extremely tendentious little "fact-box" today, on the situation in the Israeli-occupied Golan. Tendentious and, need I add, one-sided....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:44 PM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

April 06, 2007

Pelosi and Damascus, part 2

When we left Nancy Pelosi earlier this week she was still in Damascus. Yesterday, she was in Saudi Arabia. (She said she raised with her Saudi governmental hosts the Kingdom's...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:05 AM | Fulltext link (20 comments)

April 02, 2007

Pelosi's spring break in Syria

(This post has been cross-posted to 'The Notion'.) If it's spring break in Washington, then that must be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi-- accompanied by, my goodness, the perpetually pro-Israeli Tom...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:21 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

March 13, 2007

West's relations with Syria starting to thaw

US Assistant Secretary of State for Migration Affairs Ellen Sauerbrey was in Damascus yesterday, discussing the situation of the million-plus Iraqi citizens who have found a temporary refuge there. The...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:38 PM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

March 05, 2007

Human rights, democracy, the US, and Syria

(This post has been cross-posted to The Notion.) I spent a few days in Damascus at the end of February, and was able to get a ground-reality view of the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:23 AM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

March 03, 2007

Mouallem interview, part 3 (final)

Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:01 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

March 02, 2007

Mouallem interview, part 2: Iraq, Lebanon, peace process

Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:16 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

March 01, 2007

Syrian Foreign Minister Mouallem on Iraq, etc

Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:26 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

February 27, 2007

Returning to Damascus

Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:15 PM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

January 31, 2007

Interview with Amb. Imad Moustapha

Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:35 AM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

January 16, 2007

The Syrian-Israeli back-channel, Part 2

Akiva Eldar does, as I had hoped, have a follow-up piece in Wednesday's HaAretz to the article he had today about the existence and negotiating "achievements" of an unofficial Syrian-Israeli...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:44 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Akiva Eldar's leak about Syrian-Israeli contacts

There are many interesting aspects of the story that HaAretz's Akiva Eldar published today, telling about some back-channel negotiations pursued-- somewhat indirectly-- between Syria and Israel, from September 2004 through...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:15 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

December 13, 2006

Bush losing control of the agenda?

Sen. Bill Nelson (Dem., of Florida) is the first of four U.S. senators who plan to visit Syria over the congressional break. (The others are Kerry of Massachusetts, Dodd of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:34 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

September 13, 2006

Patrick Lang: "The Best Defense..."

On 9/11, the Miller Center at the University of Virginia featured a talk by Colonel Patrick Lang - who returned here by reputation as a voice of reason, experience, "independence,"...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:28 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

November 14, 2005

Resources on the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood

I wanted to put in a link to Anthony Shadid's informative recent interview with Syrian MB head Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni (also here). Shadid wrote: "Syrian society today is destroyed," [Bayanouni]...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:41 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

Syrian crackdown, conference canceled

I got a sad email this morning, from a staff assistant at a reform-oriented organization in Damascus called the Tharwa Project. Just ten days ago, Dr. Samer al-Ladkany, the assistant...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:56 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

October 31, 2005

The UN and Syria

So the US has not so far been successful in persuading the UN Security Council to slap sanctions onto Syria in connection with Detlev Mehlis's interim report. That's good...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:08 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

October 20, 2005

Mehlis Report accusing Syria

UN-appointed German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis handed his report on the Hariri killing over to Kofi Annan, the Security Council's 15 members, and the government of Lebanon today. AFP was one...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:31 PM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

October 12, 2005

Syria: 'suicide' and uncertainty

Earlier today, Syria's powerful and well-connected Interior Minister, Brig.Gen. Ghazi Kanaan, was found dead in his office, an apparent suicide. Prior to taking up his present job Kanaan had for...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:24 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

May 19, 2005

Bloggers and Kurds in Syria

Joshua Landis's blog from Syria, SyriaComment is always a really informative read. Today he has a great post about the explosion of blogging there, especially this year: I met with...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:11 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

March 26, 2005

Bush escalating against Syria

I was going to write a post here noting that the Bushies have taken a serious step toward escalating their battle against Bashar al-Asad's regime in Syria. That link there...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:06 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

November 24, 2004

Syria-2

(From Damascus. Written Tuesday evening.) As I started writing this, the plaintive quarter tones of the evening call to prayer were reverberating from the minaret very near to us. Now,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:32 AM | Fulltext link (37 comments)

November 22, 2004

Syria-1 (and Lebanon)

(Written Sunday) This morning we visited the 1,300-year-old Omayyad Mosque. We saw a 1,000-year-old Islamic madrasa (school) and a stunning 250-year-old palace and nearby khan (a merchant's lodging- and meeting-house)....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:55 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

November 21, 2004

A little closer to Fallujah

Ha! I've got a very expensive connection here at our hotel in Damascus. Last night we took a really interesting quick tour of the Old City etc by car, then...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:24 AM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

February 14, 2003

FROM NEW YORK, Valentine's Day

I've had a busy couple of days of work here, talking to some really interesting folks about my 'Violence and its Legacies' project, and starting to make plans for the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:16 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)