Freedom’s price
Syria Notes no. 30, spring 2025.
On the 8th of December, Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, and with that, over half a century of dictatorship came to an end. Prison gates opened and thousands of prisoners emerged, but for the families of many more still missing, anxiety turned to horror and grief as the scale and detail of the regime’s slaughter was confirmed.
Our cover painting shows Marjeh Square in Damascus, where many families have posted pictures of their missing relatives, hoping to learn something of their fate.
In this issue, our first of this new era, we take an in-depth look at two topics central to the country’s future: economic sanctions, and challenges faced by independent news media.
While many have expressed fears about Syria’s new government, what our interviewees told us was that sectoral sanctions originally imposed in response to Assad’s repression are now making it harder for Syrian civil society to hold the new government accountable. At the same time, aid cuts are hobbling Syria’s independent news media just when they are most needed.
Syria is at a critical moment, we heard, and the worst we can do is to just watch and wait.
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In my own name
A letter to the reader After Assad
The challenges of a new age in Syria An update on UK sanctions
Amendments lift sectoral sanctions on Syria The slow torture of sanctions
An in-depth look at the UK’s sectoral sanctions on Syria Syria’s health system is on the brink
Eleanor Nott on how sanctions are impacting healthcare Rumours and lies
Ahmad Primo of Verify Syria tells of the fight against disinformation A freedom with rules
Yara Bader on the needs of journalism in today’s Syria ‘The Grapes of our Country’
Kholoud Helmi talks about the revolutionary newspaper Enab Baladi Invasion timeline
Following Enab Baladi’s reporting on Israel’s advance into Syria A critical moment for Syrian media
Camilla Bruun Randrup of IMS tells of old and new challenges