Syria S Uprising And The Fracturing Of The Levant

As an upbeat and peaceful uprising quickly and brutally descended into a zero-sum civil war, Syria has crumbled from a regional player into an arena in which a multitude of local and foreign actors compete. The volatile regional fault lines that run through Syria have ruptured during this conflict, and the course of events in this fragile yet strategically significant country will profoundly shape the future of the Levant.

Throughout the turbulent history of the Levant the 'Alawis - a secretive, resilient and ancient Muslim sect - have aroused suspicion and animosity, including accusations of religious heresy. More recently they have been tarred with the brush of political separatism and complicity in the excesses of the Assad regime, claims that have gained greater traction since the onset of the Syrian uprising and subsequent devastating civil war. The contributors to this book provide a complex and nuanced reading of Syria's 'Alawi communities -from loyalist gangs (Shabiha) to outspoken critics of the regime. Drawing upon wide-ranging research that examines the historic, political and social dynamics of the 'Alawi and the Syrian state, the current tensions are scrutinised and fresh insights offered. Among the themes addressed are religious practice, social identities, and relations to the Ba'ath party, the Syrian state and the military apparatus. The analysis also extends to Lebanon with a focus on the embattled 'Alawi community of Jabal Mohsen in Tripoli and state relations with Hizballah amid the current crisis.

Since the early weeks of the so-called Arab Spring, high hopes for democratic, social, and political change in the Middle East have been met with varying degrees of frustration. In the sub-region of the Levant, regional uprisings have turned to violent conflict in places such as Syria, Iraq, and the Gaza Strip. In Syria, popular unrest has caused enormous human suffering in one of the most brutal civil wars the region ever has witnessed, yet the international community has shown an appalling inability to act. Taking the war in Syria as its central point of reference, this book raises the question of whether the developments in the Levant might lead not only to processes of regime change, but also to a fundamental alteration of its entire state system.

"This Adelphi volume brings together senior scholars as well as rising analysts of Egypt to examine the tumultuous period from the January 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, via the election and ouster of Muhammad Morsi, to the consolidation of presidential power under Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi by late 2015. The nine authors provide a sober, in-depth look at the country's contested politics, institutional and political players, struggling economy, constant foreign policy and evolving security challenges." --Back cover.

At the outset of the 21st century, perhaps the most interesting feature of the Levant (in Arabic, Bilad al-Sham), in the midst of an overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim Arab world, is the command of the entire coastal zone from Cilicia south to Sinai either by non-Arabs or by Arabs who are not Sunni Muslims. The reality overshadows the Levantine interior. In the central Levant the mountain has come to town with the Alawi political ascendance in Damascus in the south, Israeli military and economic power dominates the Palestinians and Jordanians. The transformation in less than a century is remarkable.

Syria has been at the centre of world news since 2011, following the beginnings of a popular uprising in the country and its subsequent violent repression. Eight years on, Joseph Daher analyses the resilience of the regime and the failings of the uprising, while also taking a closer look at the counter-revolutionary processes that have been undermining the uprising from without and within.Through a sharp reconstruction of the key historical developments, Daher focuses on the reasons behind the transition of a peaceful uprising into a destructive war with multiple regional and international actors. He argues that other approaches have so far neglected a global analysis of the conflict's economic, social and political characteristics. He also shows that it is impossible to understand the Syrian uprising without a historical perspective dating back to the seizure of power by Hafez al-Assad in 1970.A result of years of research and discussions with activists, students, members of political parties and Syrian academics, this book will be the go-to analysis of Syria for years to come.