Syrian Experience Research Articles

ASPECTS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE CONTEXT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT DURING MARTIAL LAW

The article represents at attempt to outline the most important aspects, challenges, and prospects for public administration in Ukraine in regional context during the wartime. It is shown that poverty and regional disbalances in Ukraine aggravated during two years of war, and the situation in comparative plane is worse than it was in Syria during first two years of war in 2011-2013. Based on Pakistani and Syrian experience and practices, vectors for public administration necessary tasks and available options concerning regional development are suggested.

Syrian futures: Percolation, temporality and historical experience in the plural

ABSTRACT A key ambition of this introduction is to bring the question of temporality to the centre of anthropological engagements with Syria and the diverse legacies of the past thirteen years of upheaval. Engaging with temporality, tempo and tempus are central to this endeavour. How can we, as scholars, speak across the moving and malleable terrain of discrepant Syrian experiences that are themselves moving in time - that are speaking back to what happened and holding on to hopes and futures envisioned in the past, while simultaneously moving towards new and different understandings and futures? By way of introduction to the issue, this article offers some theoretical reflections on this question in conversation with Syrians' varied and changing engagements with the past, which are crucial to comprehending how Syrians are moving towards the future, or more accurately different futures. Centrally, the text advances an understanding of how time and history not simply flow but rather, as Michel Serres points to, they percolate. Attending to such percolation allows us to appreciate the plural Syrian engagements with the past, present, and future.

When technology innovation is the only path to treat patients in economic crisis countries: the Syrian experience.

When technology innovation is the only path to treat patients in economic crisis countries: the Syrian experience.

İsrail’in 2011 Sonrası Bölgesel Vizyonunda Türkiye’nin Konumunun Kimlik-Güvenlik Penceresinden Analizi: Meydan Okuyucu Mu Yoksa Seyirci Mi?

Turkey’s engagement in Middle Eastern politics, significantly since the Arab Uprising, has continuously changed the direction of decades-old Turkey–Israel relations. The existing literature elaborates on several aspects of destabilising or normalizing relations between these two countries, but the dimension of Israel’s identity-based threat perception is yet to be revealed, despite Israel having long tried to balance identities in the region. By asking whether Turkey challenges Israel’s identity-based regional vision or plays a bystander role, this study presents a two-layered analysis of Israel–Turkey relations. While discussing the cognitive essence of Israel’s post-2011 regional perspective that transformed the ‘identity-based threat’ perceptions in an uncertain environment, it locates Turkey’s engagement in the region into Israel's regional understanding. Within this aim, the paper is organized as follows. First, the current literature on Israel–Turkey relations is summarized to see not only the short history of relations but also the major trends in studying Israel–Turkey relations. Second, the changing threat perceptions of Israel after the Arab Uprisings are examined to identify the continuities and changes. The third part locates Turkey in Israel’s regional vision by discussing the Egyptian and Syrian experiences of the Arab Uprisings. In the final part, the commitment policies of regional actors regarding the Palestinian issue are comparatively analysed to make sense of Israeli normalization with the Gulf States and re-normalization with Turkey. By going beyond the challenger/bystander spectrum, this study claims that Turkey’s position in all cases shows the characteristics of the ‘disobedient bystander’.

How does the war affect breast cancer quality of care? The Syrian experience.

e18724 Background: The Syrian decade-long war has severely affected the healthcare system, including almost vanishing cancer screening practices, war-destroyed medical facilities, and lack of continuous medical education. This study aims to present data on the affected breast cancer screening practices, methods of diagnosis, and stages distribution in Syria. Methods: Medical records of breast cancer patients treated at Albairouni University Hospital between 2019 and 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. Eligible patients were women diagnosed with primary breast cancer. Exclusion criteria included male gender, females receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and incomplete charts. Data regarding the patient's age, city of residence, marital status, number of children, smoking habits, method of diagnosis, tumor size (T), lymph nodes (N), and distal metastasis (M) were collected. We used Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze data. Descriptive methodology (frequency [n], percentage) was used. Results: The number of included patients after applying the exclusion criteria was 2,367. The mean age was 51.8 (SD = 11.3). More than half of the patients (58.3%) came from outside Damascus -where the hospital is located- and its suburbs. Less than 5% of the population detected cancer by screening mammography. Only 32.4% of patients were diagnosed by a biopsy, while surgical procedures were used to diagnose 64.8% of the population. At the time of diagnosis, only 8% of patients presented with local-stage disease (stages 0 & I), 73% had a regional disease (stages II & III), and 19% had metastatic breast cancer (stage IV). Conclusions: Our retrospective chart review analysis is the first comprehensive review in Syria for female breast cancer patients. We found a chocking low percentage of patients diagnosed based on a screening mammogram, much higher surgical biopsies rather than a simple imaging-guided biopsy, and much lower than the national average of early-stage disease. Factors that might explain our results include lack of appropriate education, restricted access to medical facilities, and financial restraints. Our alarming findings can serve as the base for future strategies to improve breast cancer care in Syria by detecting the disease earlier and avoiding surgical diagnostic procedures.

Telemedicine and cancer care in Syria: A promising initiative during the war and COVID-19 era.

e13680 Background: Telemedicine (TM) is the practice of medicine using technology to deliver care to patients at their locations. One of the major difficulties that cancer patients in Syria face is the ability to frequently visit Albairouni University Cancer Center (ABUH) in Damascus. The travel-related barriers to reach ABUH have increased due to the war, unsafe road, shortage of fuel, and high travel costs. Moreover, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, healthcare providers reduced unnecessary visits. Here, we present an initiative illustrating our Syrian experience of TM in cancer care. Methods: The initiative began on 2 January 2021 to serve cancer patients near to Salamyieh (a rural area, 3-hour drive to ABUH). We satellite a clinic located near to patients’ homes, and we provide it with the necessary telecommunication infrastructure to virtually contact me at ABUH. The team, consisting of physicians and volunteers, meet patients and help me gather the history, symptoms and all relevant documents to set up and complete the care plan. Patients who need to receive treatment present to ABUH where the cancer therapies are completely free of charge. The whole services of this initiative are free including the E-consults, follow-ups, and auto transportation back and forth to ABUH. The volunteers accompany and help patients in their trips to AHBU, as many of them lost their beloved caregivers due to the war. Results: Throughout the last 2 years, we served 500 new patients. The numbers of E-consults were 920 and 800 in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Few patients were uncomfortable with it due to the lack of in-person interaction. Thus, it was a challenge to build connection and trust with patients virtually. Conclusions: Collectively, despite of the limited resources, TM initiatives have a lot to offer for patients with cancer and present a great solution to follow up with them. This experience shows that TM works especially in low-income countries, during the pandemic, and in a war-affected setting, all of which are associated with poor socioeconomic status and insecurity.

Parallel Economies in Syria: A New Interpretation of the Notion

The war of sanctions initiated by the West against Russia has highlighted importance of concepts related to parallel economic processes which includes an imperative of broadening definition of the parallel economy beyond “shadow economy” and “local economy” approaches. The 11-yearlong Syrian conflict constitutes an example of genesis of parallel economies as products of warfare, foreign interventions, and terrorist assaults by the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS). Those economies encompass the “ISIS caliphate,” “Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria,” “Syrian Interim Government,” and “Syrian Salvation Government” – all non-controlled by the Syrian authorities [Matveev, 2022, p. 108]. Their features imply unequal economic potential along with high dependence on neighboring Turkey and Iraq. Reviewing siege economies and divided cities emerging on the Syrian soil together with comparative analysis of Syria and other Arab countries enables us to define conditions required for the genesis of a parallel economy. Among them deeply divided societies and/or armed conflicts on vast territories with deep fragmentation or in geographically isolated regions coinciding with large-scale foreign interventions, original diversification of income, and capabilities for foreign trade. In conclusion, the author defines the parallel economy as a system of economic relations grown within a state in coexistence with its official economy characterized by generating income, administrating economic affairs, and conducting foreign trade independently from the center. The Syrian experience of overcoming sanctions could become valuable for Russia which, in turn, using her political-military presence could assist in economic reunification of this country on the way to restoration of its territorial integrity.

Российская “матрица безопасности” в Сирии

The article reviews importance of seeking new formats and modalities (political-military, social, economic, and ideological) to achieve a long-term solution to the Syrian conflict. Until now, Russia remaining a major ally of official Damascus has not fully used its potential to create favorable conditions for the post-conflict recovery of Syria. By the Syrian case, the author puts forward a hypothesis about genesis of the “security matrix” which is embodied by regiments of the Russian military police deployed across the country. In addition to routine security functions, those people – often at risk to their lives – have been performing peacekeeping, humanitarian, economic, and diplomatic tasks. Such activities including facilitation of local reconciliations create new post-conflict realities of social life. Absence of a notion of the “security matrix” in political economy and diplomacy explains the novelty of the present research. The article also contains an attempt to present both a schematic image and description of the “security matrix” as a pattern of behavior whereas multiple functions carried out by the Russian military contribute to launching national mini-dialogues, strengthening public order and security as well as to improving the humanitarian and economic situation. A SWOT-analysis serves as the optimal proof of the mentioned hypothesis. In conclusion, the author outlines continued dependency of the “security matrix” on internal and external factors. At the same time, he speaks about perspective use of the Syrian experience in formulating Russian peace-building strategies to resolve other conflicts. This in turn might contribute to strengthening Russia’s role in international relations.

Negotiating Lebanon’s urban boundaries and sectarian space: Syrian refugees in Beirut and Tripoli

ABSTRACT As Syrian refugee numbers in Lebanon have increased, so has the hostility directed towards them, with targeted attacks against informal encampments and public restrictions on Syrian mobility through localized curfews and military checkpoints. The Syrian experience is constrained by both their precarity as refugees and the volatility of Lebanese urban politics. Syrians must navigate the complex terrain of moral and socio-spatial Lebanese boundaries: when to keep silent or remain publicly invisible, how to navigate sectarian street dynamics, and how to respond to heightened public sensibilities. This article, based on six months ethnographic research (2017–2018) among Syrian refugees in Tripoli (Bab al-Tabbaneh) and Beirut (Nab’a) examines how Syrian refugees navigate Lebanese urban spatial realities—adapting and responding to its complex hybrid sovereignties, sectarian atmospheres and everyday security practices. The findings attest to how Syrian refugees seek ‘security within borders’ through practices of rootedness, invisibility and ‘safe space’ boundary marking, while also accepting that crossing boundaries—physical military checkpoints and immaterial social barriers—can result in public confrontations, detention, and violence. Although Syrian refugees attempt to remain apolitical and deliberately disengaged from Lebanese sectarian networks of power, their everyday choices (rent, electricity fees) and physical presence connect them to local political contests and rivalries.

‘You Won’t Find Religion Here’: The (In)Visibility of Muslim Responses to Situations of Mass Displacement

AbstractThis article considers why despite mass displacement significantly affecting people from Muslim majority countries, Islamic understandings of refuge, protection and assistance remain de‐centered and made peripheral in formulations of asylum and refuge. The paper begins with an interrogation of how knowledge production on Muslim life‐worlds a priori gives emphasis to certain essential characteristics identified as Muslim. It is argued that this collapses understandings of the diversity of being and ‘doing’ Muslim in ways that make less visible everyday lived experiences attuned to the materiality, affect and emotion prompted by readings of Islamic tradition in displacement settings. To do so, I draw on Syrian experiences of displacement in Turkey and Greece to parse out the implications of this (in)visibility for Muslim responses to mass‐displacement and question whether they can be substantively different to modalities of humanitarianism and development anchored in liberal European ontologies. It is argued that by being attentive to the structures of feeling prompted by Islamic traditions pertaining to refuge and protection reveals ways of being and doing Islam outside of statist readings of humanitarianism. Here, the Islamic tradition of jiwār (a right of and to neighbourliness) provides a decolonial vocabulary to respond to state‐defined patterns of hospitality rooted in European knowledge production.

Older Syrian Refugees’ Experiences of Language Barriers in Postmigration and (re)settlement Context in Canada.

This research explores older Syrian experiences of language barriers in Canada's post-migration and resettlement context. Guided by the ecosystemic model, the qualitative descriptive method was used to describe the experiences of six older adults (three women and three men, 55-year-old and over) living in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area. Results suggest the lack of English proficiency affects refugees' resettlement and, in particular, older adults at risk of abuse. Language barriers influence older adult refugees because it limits their ability to navigate the Canadian systems, exacerbate their dependency on adult children, increase social isolation, and decrease employment and income opportunities. Participants' commitment to learning English comes from their conviction that fluency has an essential role in shaping their experiences in Canada. Conclusions can help policymakers identify specific interventions to address language barriers among older adult Refugees.

"Tribal diplomacy": Syrian experience

The article analyses new form of diplomatic activity within the context of a prolonged since 2011 Syrian conflict — interaction and negotiations with the local tribal community aimed at normalizing the situation and securing peace and stability on the ground. It highlights specific sides of such work, describes the expertise that has been worked out and that allows to address this kind of activities in other internal conflicts in the MENA region.

Providing basic services under siege: preliminary insights from interim councils and medical providers in besieged urban areas of Syria

The interim councils and medical workers operating in besieged cities in opposition-held areas of Syria have faced enormous challenges in providing services to citizens. Despite the extremely difficult operating environment, some semblance of organized government has been installed by anti-regime rebels, whose functions include provision of basic services. Data collected from interviews with interim councils and medical workers in four opposition-held areas suggest that despite the acutely constrained environment and overwhelming challenges, governance structures there demonstrate a degree of success in delivering basic services to civilian populations. Their provision of basic services constitutes more than a bargaining tool or legitimacy signalling, and is better understood as an integral part of revolutionary struggle. Although producing an objective picture of events on the ground is hindered by the conflict conditions and heavy propaganda, the Syrian experience of service provision under siege merits further exploration and has relevance for other conflict environments.

Becoming a Refugee: Reflections on Self-Understandings of Displacement from the Syrian Case

AbstractInternational law, government policy, and a range of academic disciplines all demonstrate different approaches to the task of defining who is a refugee. Yet how do refugees define themselves? When, how, and why do they come to identify with this term, or not? This essay offers reflections on these questions based on interviews with hundreds of displaced Syrians in the Middle East and Europe from 2012 to 2018. Syrian experiences illustrate how individuals’ self-understandings as refugees evolve over time as a contingent process not necessarily coterminous with actual physical displacement. I trace how these self-understandings are generated as shifts in three indicative relationships: displaced persons’ relationships to their expectations of return to their homeland; their relationships to their pre-flight lives; and their relationships to the word “refugee” itself. This focus on the bottom-up, organic development of a new subjectivity suggests how one's self-definition as a refugee might be less a quality or state that exists synonymously with forced migration than it is an identity that comes into existence gradually over time. That is, it is the product of a process of “becoming” more than “being.”

Representations of the Arab Spring in Contemporary Arabic Novels: تمثلّات الربيع العربي في نماذج من الروائية العربية المعاصرة

Literature emanates from reality in all different political and social dimensions and the fact that the Arab Spring and its revolutions form a climax in the Arab world. This paper investigates the reflections of political realities that pertain to the Arab Spring and some of Arab revolutions that took place in the last few years (Egyptian, Libyan, and Syrian). As well, it traces its manifestations, ideological visions , the most important of characteristics of these events in terms of populism, the role of media, speed of revolution and the results. in the contemporary Arab novel, with much focus on these novels. IT Is Blood tackles The Egyptian scene, The Chivalry of Slain Dreams discuses Libyan scene, The Shell and They Hear its Whisper discus the Syrian scene. This analysis shows the weak literary analysis on the level of vision and formulation that its blood was the best work that presents the Egyptian revolution; whereas, The Chivalry of Slain Dreams was very weak on the level of construction. In addition to this, the Syrian experience was confined to the ideological vision. Moreover, the study shows the literary weakness that is resulted from the political realities of the political detainees.

Transition economies in the Middle East: the Syrian experience

There have been no in-depth studies of the post-socialist transition in the Middle East. Syria’s experience is a useful one to explore given its historically important role in the region and its distinctive characteristics. The Syrian economic transition, from the early 1990s to 2011, was in two phases: an incremental liberalisation phase and a transition to a social market economy phase. During both phases, Syrian policymakers showed a preference for a gradualist approach to economic transition, rather than a big-bang approach. This was facilitated by oil revenues and subsidies from the Gulf States. The Syrian experience therefore has its own distinct characteristics, as well as elements in common with the transitions in other post-socialist economies.

The complexity of quantifying the impact of war on population health: a Syrian experience

Quantitative analysis was performed using MSF’s medical and humanitarian data to show the indirect, or less visible, impact of war on public health with a primary focus on child’s health in Northern Syria between 2013-2016. In conclusion, different ways should be identified to more systematically capitalise on quantitative and qualitative data. This way, population’s plight can be better advocated in complex emergencies such as Syria.

Evolution, retreat or rejection: Brazil’s, India’s and China’s normative stances on R2P

This paper outlines the development and evolution of the normative positions of China, Brazil and India on issues surrounding the responsibility to protect (R2P) by charting their engagement in the ‘institutionalized conversation’ within the United Nations. In doing so, it seeks to dispel characterizations of these states as having adopted individual or common positions that either wholly reject or accept R2P. The nuances of the adaption and adoption of their postures need to be appreciated. Indeed, of the three component ‘pillars’ of R2P, they find themselves in general accord regarding Pillar One (state responsibility) and Pillar Two (prevention and assistance). It is on Pillar Three (reaction and response) that they diverge from each other and find themselves most at variance with ‘Western’ agendas of intervention and regime change. This divergence is most sharply drawn at present, in light of the Libyan and ongoing Syrian experiences.

Building Evidence-Based Tobacco Treatment in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Lessons Learned by the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies.

The tobacco epidemic in Syria is characterized by high rates of cigarettes smoking in men and dramatic reemergence of waterpipe smoking, especially among youths and women. The Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies (SCTS), an NIH-funded pioneer research and capacity building institution, has developed a research infrastructure and conducted three randomized clinical trials to develop and rigorously test culturally-appropriate tobacco treatment programs integrated into primary healthcare (PHC) centers. This review aimed to discuss challenges and lessons learned from the Syrian experience. Addressing these challenges may inform future cessation research activities in Syria and other developing countries. To develop a research infrastructure, the SCTS has established Syria's first IRB and trained physicians/medical students in both tobacco treatment and research methods. Main challenges to conduct the cessation trials were difficulties of coordination between the local and international collaborators; high Smoking Rates among PHC providers; lack of pharmacological agents used in tobacco treatment; and difficulties of conducting research in a politically volatile region. Strategies to overcome these challenges were ensuring an active and regular involvement of all investigator; and advocating for a national smoking-cessation plan that involves training health care providers in smoking cessation treatment and make pharmacological agents used in smoking cessation available.

Childhood casualties during civil war: Syrian experience

In war areas a lot of children die as well as adults. According to UNICEF, almost 2 million children have died in the wars took place in the last 10 years. In this study, we aimed to evaluate demographical data and injury characteristics of Syrian children who were wounded in Syria Civil War and died while being treated in Turkey.Postmortem examination and autopsy reports of 985 forensic deaths from Hatay -a Syrian neighborhood city of Turkey-between January 2012 and August 2014 were analyzed retrospectively. Among 763 Syrian people who were wounded in the war and died while being treated in Turkey, 140 cases (18.3%) who were younger than 18 years of age were taken into the scope of this study.Among those cases 77.9% (n = 109) were male and 22.1% were female. Median ages of female cases are 14 (min–max: 2–18) and median age of female cases are 9 (min–max: 1–18). Frequency distribution is highest between 13 and 18 years of age (n: 71, 50.7%). In 70% (n: 98) of cases, cause of death is bombing and shrapnel injuries, 13.6% (19) of them were killed by gunshot wounds. According to injury sites most of the injuries were reported to be on multiple body parts (54.3%, n: 76) and only head and neck injuries (%30). Cause of death was intracranial bleeding and cerebral parenchymal injury in most of the cases (n: 66, %47.1) followed by vascular damage with external bleeding (n: 15, %10.7) and internal organ damage with internal bleeding (n: 15, %10.7). The cases had very high level Abbreviated Injury Scales and Injury Severity Sores.In conclusion, a lot of children have died in the Civil War of Syria. Their average abbreviated injury scale and injury severity score values reported very high. Children that we evaluated were mostly died of head and neck injuries predominantly caused by bombing attacks and Autopsies of them revealed fatal intracranial hemorrhages and parenchymal injuries.