THE MIDDLE-EAST AGAIN AND AGAIN.......

Syria: A Homeland Kidnapped Between Two Eras Since the dawn of its independence, Syria has been the flower of the East and the rose of the Mediterranean, blooming with freedom, its streets fragrant with the breath of intellectuals, and its cafes filled with the conversations of liberals, artists, and constitutionalists. It was the Syria we love, the Syria of a free economy, independent newspapers, and a living parliament, the Syria of agriculture, the Syria of industry, the Syria that dreamed, built, and dialogued. But in 1958, on the cusp of a forced union with Egypt under the young pharaoh Gamal Abdel Nasser, time began to twist around the neck of the republic. Syria entered a dark tunnel, in which the lights of politics were extinguished, the pens of freedom were broken, and its free economy was abandoned in favor of a Soviet socialism built on chanting rather than production. That was the moment of the assassination of the Syria we love, at the hands of a military ideology that did not believe in pluralism and saw freedom only as chaos to be curbed. Syria never recovered from the collapse of unity, but a new poison crept into its heart. The leftist Baath Party came, then Hafez al-Assad, and the homeland turned into a barracks, and the people into hostages in a republic of fear. From that moment on, Damascus came to know Moscow better than it knew Beirut, and to remember the language of the Kremlin better than that of the Arabs. Russia was not a friendly state, but rather a cold occupation that infiltrated under the threshold, an occupation that trained officers, formulated doctrine, and defined the enemy and the ally. Then, in 2015, the occupation was no longer disguised. Russia entered Syrian territory with its planes, its ships and flags, and its plans. Syria no longer had control over its own decisions, neither in war nor in peace. It became a homeland whose affairs were managed from an operations room in Hmeimim, not from the People's Palace. Amidst these ashes, a scene emerged, as if opening a window in an abandoned house: a Saudi prince leading prayers in the heart of the Umayyad Mosque. The first prostration echoed a buried memory, and the final prostration was a reminder that Syria had another face—an Arab, liberal, and luminous one, one that had been stolen decades ago. That scene wasn't just about religion. It was a reclaiming of the Syria that was stolen from us, the Syria that embraced the Gulf, argued with Cairo, and laughed in Beirut's cafes. The Syria that never knew the meaning of subservience, never prostrated to the mullahs or submitted to the Tsar.  

Today, the Arabs stand in the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque, not to restore Assad, but to restore Syria.

A good description of the prevailing sentiments of many, well expressed by the talented writer, thinker and Lebanese judge Peter Germanos, thought of sharing it with my readers all over for better understanding of the fast moving changes and events throughout the Middle-East. 

Always, my many thanks to all. Stay safe and well.