OPINION

This article was originally published by This Is Beirut on 16 February 2025. The original can be found here. By Dr. Amine Jules Iskandar | Architect, Teacher, President of the Syriac Maronite Union – Tur Levnon and Head of External Relations of the Syriac Union Party in Lebanon “If the Shiite duo, Amal-Hezbollah, persists in refusing to abide…

By Denho Bar Mourad–Özmen | Former Special Educator and Advisor at Sweden’s National Agency for Special Education The Assyrian/Syriac people, despite their historical significance and cultural richness, face a unique challenge in the modern era: persistent internal fragmentation that undermines political influence, institutional development, and cultural continuity. This paper explores the historical, ecclesiastical, political,…

By Hicham Bou Nassif | Weinberg Associate Professor of International Relations and the Middle East and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College-California  The Israeli strikes on Iran have stopped, but the crisis of its regime has entered a new phase. The news circulating in the international press over the past few…

By Bassam Ishak | President of Syriac National Council of Syria (SSNC) and member of the Presidential Council of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) Mission in Washington, D.C. The bombing of Mar Elias Church in Damascus was neither a random act nor merely a horrific crime against innocent worshippers. It was a message—deliberate…

By Joseph Sliwa | President of the Beth Nahrain Patriotic Union and former Member of Parliament in Iraq First and foremost, peace to the souls of those who perished in the bombing of Mar Ellias Greek (Rûm) Orthodox Church in Damascus, and heartfelt wishes for a full recovery to the…

By Bassam Ishak | President of Syriac National Council of Syria (SSNC) and member of the Presidential Council of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) Mission in Washington, D.C. Some of the criticism directed at the words of His Beatitude Patriarch John X during the funeral of the martyrs of St. Elias…

By Dr. Amine Jules Iskandar | Architect, Teacher, President of the Syriac Maronite Union – Tur Levnon, and Head of External Relations of the Syriac Union Party in Lebanon The global expansion of communication and information offers boundless access to a world that has moved beyond its medieval witch hunts.…

By Hicham Bou Nassif | Weinberg Associate Professor of International Relations and the Middle East and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College-California Broadly speaking, autocratic regimes typically fall in one of four ways:   Foreign invasion after losing a war, e.g. the fall of Hitler and Mussolini’s regimes in World War II…

By Hicham Bou Nassif | Weinberg Associate Professor of International Relations and the Middle East and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College-California The ongoing war between Israel and Iran could last for weeks, perhaps longer. I cannot predict when it will end, but it is reasonable to estimate that Iran will…

By Denho Bar Mourad–Özmen | Former Special Educator and Advisor at Sweden’s National Agency for Special Education Genocide leaves deep scars beyond physical devastation, inflicting profound psychological, cultural, and structural harm that resonates through generations. This article explores the Sayfo genocide— the systematic extermination of the Assyrian/Syriac people in the…