
December 8, 2024: A Dualism of Opportunity and Threat
“Any event [no matter its nature] is simultaneously an opportunity and a threat,” said a Syrian professor a few years ago. To seize the opportunity presented by the events of
Syria is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse countries of the “Middle East” region, with at least 17 identifiable religious communities/sects & has long boasted this reality.
In the United States, where Syrians form less than 0.1% of the population, Syrians are 1.5x more likely than other Americans to acquire a Bachelor’s Degree. Syrians also form roughly 2% of international medical graduates in the country.
The Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal, the world’s oldest musical melody was discovered in Ugarit, Syria, dated to over 3,400 years ago.
In Christian tradition, it was to the street called Straight Street in Damascus that St. Paul was directed to go by Jesus, and it was from here that St. Paul set off towards Europe to preach Christianity. The street, mentioned in the Bible, still runs across Old Damascus. There had also been 7 Catholic popes and over 60 saints who were Syrian.
Damascus is identified as the oldest continuously inhabited capital in the world. Aleppo is said to be the oldest or one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world.
Syria is home to the oldest library in the world. In 1974, the ancient city of Ebla was discovered along with around 1,800 clay tablets dating from around 3,000 BC.
“No recorded event has occurred in the world but Damascus was in existence to receive the news of it… To Damascus, years are only moments, decades are only flitting trifles of time. She measures time, not by days and months and years, but by the empires she has seen rise, and prosper and crumble to ruin.” -Mark Twain
“Each civilized person in the world should admit that he has two home countries: the one he was born in, and Syria.”
-André Parrot, one of France’s most prominent archaeologists.
The very idea of civilization started in the Mesopotamian region, today in northeast Syria & northwest Iraq. For this reason, it is also known as the cradle of civilization.
“Any event [no matter its nature] is simultaneously an opportunity and a threat,” said a Syrian professor a few years ago. To seize the opportunity presented by the events of
Information that we hope is spread far and wide, as we witness the wildfire spread of false and even dangerous ideas about secularism within Syrian society. Awareness is the most
In the middle of all of these overwhelming feelings of hope, disappointment, uncertainty, and fear, I remember the voice of my father saying, “All people have the government they deserve.”