Reddit mentions: The best syria history books

Regarding reasons for 'many' military interventions in the Middle East: for most of the last 100 years, core essence of most of these were relations between various foreign powers, and their attempts to directly influence developments in preferred direction. 'Oil' did play its role, no doubt, but by far not as often as generally accepted. In period 1991-2015, reasons were slightly different (i.e. primarily related at outside powers attempting to re-shape the Middle East once again), but more recently relations between the West and Russia are dominant once again.

Here I would recommend readings like A Line in the Sand and The Great Syrian Revolt - as 'starters'.

In the first, you can read how mutual relations between Great Britain and France - plus their relations to various other powers (Germany, Russia) - influenced their shaping of the modern-day Middle East. The second is a rare insight (even more so because it's based on French documentation, but published in English) into one of early reactions of local people (and their motivation) to such behaviour.

It remained very much that way during the subsequent times, i.e. after 1945. For example, at least a part of British involvement in the Suez War of 1956 was British concern about 'raising Soviet influence in Egypt' - and London's failure to convince Nasser to join the Baghdad Pact. French, on the other hand, were curious to remove Nasser because - between others - he was providing support to Algerian insurgents and various other anti-colonial movements in Africa. For a very good insight into contemporary way of thinking I would recommend Roy Fullick's and Geoffrey Powell's Suez, the Double War.

Similar reasons were crucial for the British intervention in Jordan, and the US in Lebanon, of 1958: both operations were launched in reaction to what was seen as a 'threat' of 'Soviet clients' - Egypt, Syria and Iraq - prompting local uprisings that threatened pro-Western governments. By 1961, this came so far that Britain launched another intervention in Kuwait after Baghdad merely 'thought loudly' about a possibility of invading its southern neighbour.

Through the 1960s, the USA were gradually dragged into openly supporting Israel - out of Israeli interest in securing US military aid but also the US interest in securing Israeli support for the US intervention in Vietnam. These efforts went so far that President Johnson granted permission for export of F-4 Phantoms to Israel expecting Israeli government would express its support - which never happened. Versa-vice: in 1970, Soviets launched a military intervention in Egypt in reaction to what they saw as US providing Israel with vastly superior military capabilities - F-4 Phantoms - which in turn required bolstering Egyptian defensive capabilities. 'Bonus' were basing rights in places like Marsa Matruh and at Cairo West: these bases were interesting for Soviets exclusively within the context of the Cold War rivalry with the USA. In this regards, I would recommend Taking Sides.

1970s were characterised by the Nixon Doctrine (see: 'we arm our allies so they can defend themselves on their own'), and 1980s by most of involved parties maintaining the status quo. Thus, there were relatively few military interventions. Exceptions were such like operations against Libya in 1981 and 1986, and the intervention in Lebanon of 1983. A fine study of backgrounds is El Dorado Canyon.

Motivation for more recent interventions - i.e. those launched since 1990-1991 - was slightly more complex, though still dominated by the same topics like before, including 'maintaining the status quo' (Iraq, 1991), or 're-shaping the Middle East' (Iraq, 2003; Libya 2011).

The Soul of Man Under Socialism by Oscar Wilde -- an introduction to libertarian socialism, a foreign topic to most people ("isn't that, like, an oxymoron?") but pretty rewarding and interesting once you get into it.

If you care about current events (and this one is highly important), you can read about what's going on in Rojava, in Northern Syria. To understand the character of what they're doing there and their social revolution you can read Murray Bookchin and Abdullah Ocalan. They've both written a lot but it doesn't take much to understand the gist of their ideas and, more importantly, how they're being applied right now in Rojava. Democratic confederalism is the name of the specific system at work in Rojava.

Books I can recommend that have to do with the above:

A Small Key Can Open A Large Door: Rojava Revolution

Rojava: An Alternative to Imperialism, Nationalism, and Islamism in the Middle East

To Dare Imagining: Rojava Revolution

Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women's Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan

Most everything on this list

War and Peace in Kurdistan

Democratic Confederalism

Obviously that's a fairly dense list. You don't have to read all those. But I do suggest you at least look into Rojava and the ideology behind it on a basic level, as in my opinion it's one of the most important developments in the world right now and it's fascinating to see the application of democratic confederalism, autonomous self-organization, ethnic and religious plurality, and women's liberation on such an impressive scale.

On the topic of movies, it just so happens that there are a number of Rojava documentaries which might help you gain a basic understanding of what it's like there. You can find plenty by looking up "Rojava documentary". Here's a good one. This is the most recent, I believe.

Good studies!

Here’s yesterday’s Op Ed from Mazloum Abdi, Commander-In-Chief of SDF

> e provided services through local governing authorities for Arabs, Kurds, and Syriac Christians. We called on a pluralistic Syrian national identity that is inclusive for all. This is our vision for Syria’s political future: decentralized federalism, with religious freedom and respect for mutual differences.

>The forces that I command are now dedicated to protecting one-third of Syria against an invasion by Turkey and its jihadi mercenaries. The area of Syria we defend has been a safe refuge for people who survived genocides and ethnic cleansings committed by Turkey against the Kurds, Syriacs, Assyrians, and Armenians during the last two centuries.

And if you’d like to read a more in depth version, I suggest buying Wladimir Van Wilgenburg’s book about Northern Syria, where he explains it all in detail

This is a very large expanse of time in which many events took place and I unfortunately don't have time right now to cover the whole thing (nor the proper expertise) but if you have perhaps a more specific question I can likely give an informed and sourced answer (i.e. the rise of the Baathist party specifically or the Assad family within the Baathist party.)

In terms of some good sources to check out, David Lesch has written a ton about Syrian history, specifically in his twin books The New Lion of Damascus and The Fall of the House Assad between the two you should get a good glimpse of Syrian history under the Assads (with a definite focus on Bashar.) Just a word of caution, Lesch had a lot of personal interaction with Bashar (which is partially what makes him so informed) but this also leads to a bias towards Bashar in the first book which he is in a way trying to rectify in his second book.

Hopefully this helps, sorry I couldn't answer more completely.

It all depends on what kind of angle you're looking for.

Here is by no means an exhaustive list. I must say I haven't read all of these but have come across them in research and from previous recommendations on here, but here goes:

Background/Social & Historical contexts/Other relevant stuff

Patrick Seale - Assad (rather old, good for history)

Tarek Osman - Islamism (2016, broad coverage of Islamism in theory and practice, good context)

John Robertson - Iraq (2016)

John McHugo - Syria (2015)

Sami Moubayed - Syria & The USA (2013)

Sami Moubayed - Damascus Between Democracy and Dictatorship (2000, very good for Syrian history and experience with democracy)


Perceived pro-original opposition bias

Diana Darke - My House in Damascus (new version came out 2015)

Michael Weiss & Hassan Hassan - ISIS (2015)

Charles Lister - The Syrian Jihad (2016)

Perceived pro-government bias

Patrick Cockburn - Rise of the Islamic State (2015, this might not be as detailed as you'd want it to be)

Kurds

Michael Knapp, Ercan Ayboga & Anja Flach - Revolution Rojava (2016, the detail in this is beyond insane)

Here you go, this is a start:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Syrian-Civil-War-Centurys-Deadliest-x/dp/1537358650/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481882657&sr=8-3&keywords=syrian+history

If you google US interest in Syrian pipeline, as well as read some independent journalistic work from Syria you will see this instantly. If I have to prove that an easy supply of oil in the east from Arab nations would undercut Russian gas prices dramatically, that would be like asking to prove 1 + 1 = 2... Supply and demand.

As of US involvement in the rebel forces, I would start at looking up the US financing of the Arab states. As well as the major weapons trade with them. After that I would start looking into the Qatars connection to Al-Nusra. Simply by skimming the surface you can instantly see the involvement from both the US side and the Russia side.

Honestly, you want me to link sources to probably the most known reason why we have the Syrian conflict, besides there isn't one source, its multiple. Seems like you haven't even tried Googling it.

https://www.rt.com/news/370270-msm-agenda-siria-war/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-secret-stupid-saudi-us-deal-on-syria/5410130
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/10/62769.html
https://ftmdaily.com/what-jerry-thinks/whysyria/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_naval_facility_in_Tartus

Sure!

Baumstark, Anton. Geschichte der syrischen Literatur [Only if you can read German.]


Brock, Sebastian. An Introduction to Syriac Studies

Brock, Sebastian and George Kiraz (eds.) Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage [This is worth just poking around in and reading some articles. Each article has its own little bibliography.]


_____. The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem the Syrian


Murray, Robert. Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition


Wright, William. A Short History of Syriac Literature


Also tagging /u/DrDankMemesSJ here since he's likewise interested.

This guy thought Assad was the tops, interviewed him all the time, respected his ideas on reform and modernization. At the time I thought it was utter garbage:

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Lion-Damascus-al-Asad/dp/0300109911/

Then this same guy continued to follow the situation and changed his mind:

http://www.amazon.com/Syria-The-Fall-House-Assad/dp/0300186517/

>A widely respected Middle East scholar and consultant, Lesch came to know the president better than anyone in the West, in part through a remarkable series of meetings with Assad between 2004 and 2009. Yet for Lesch, like millions of others, Assad was destined to disappoint. In this timely book, the author explores Assad's failed leadership, his transformation from bearer of hope to reactionary tyrant, and his regime's violent response to the uprising of his people in the wake of the Arab Spring.

There aren't many examples of sane, well-adjusted, authoritarian fellows. They tend to turn out wicked regardless of their background or previous moral stances. Going to western university doesn't mean you become a sensible rational thinker, and leading a dictatorship or supporting your family even in its time of ultimate struggle is more fun than being a western professional (See: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi).

Not sure which country you are from, but my understanding of Syria pre-Arab Spring is that it was (other than Saudi Arabia) maybe the most heavily controlled, 'totalitarian' systems of any of them. Lisa Wedeen's Ambiguities of Domination was a great survey of the pre-2012 political control system. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/022633337X?keywords=assad%20syria&qid=1453415444&ref_=sr_1_8&sr=8-8

Just a counterpoint to the idea that dissent could possibly be more monitored and quashed than ever before.

I like to think of it more along the lines of "ensure that human capitol is not destroyed so a failed state does not become the status quo".

I'll recommend some reading on the Syrian conflict.

https://www.amazon.ca/SYRIA-Descent-Abyss-Robert-Fisk/dp/1633533700/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=syria&qid=1554928375&s=gateway&sr=8-4

this one is the best:

https://www.amazon.com/Kurds-Concise-History-Fact-Book-ebook/dp/B00YUY70W8/

if you need for Rojava, this one is freshly published:

https://www.amazon.com/Kurds-Northern-Syria-Governance-Diversity-ebook/dp/B07VT7WYCX/

The kindle version is currently on sale for $15.68. The only "free version" would be through piracy.

If you want an actual answer to this question, it is not enough to examine Assad's (and the regime's) conduct since the beginning of the uprising in 2011. You can only get the full picture if you understand the composition and the statecraft of the regime since Assad pere wrested power from his intra-regime opponents in 1970. Some books worth reading are Hinnebusch's excellent primer on the rise of the Ba'ath Party (and later, the Assad clan) to power (Syria: Revolution From Above), Hanna Batatu's classic examination of [Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics]
(https://www.amazon.com/Syrias-Peasantry-Descendants-Notables-Politics/dp/0691002541), Lisa Wedeen on the cultural and ideological methods the regime uses to maintain power (Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria), and Patrick Seale's highly readable book on Hafez al-Assad and his Struggle for the Middle East. A more recent work dealing with the economic underpinnings of the regime (Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience) is also worth your time.

In short, take a good look at the nature of the regime and its policies over the last four decades and decide for yourself whether it is incapable of committing the war crimes it is accused of. You could also go through the many detailed reports human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch have put together alleging regime crimes, most recently their report on the Khan Sheikhoun nerve gas attack and the regime's ongoing use of chemical weapons.

And it wasn't the first time. If you're interested, The Fall of the House Assad and The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics and Society under Asad and the Ba'th Party were both informative. The second one gives the back story of the rise of the Ba'ath party and the inter-sectarian struggles for power. The first is about the early years of the up rising.

This book is "the" book about Rojava. Though if you plan on buying it, you should buy it from here if you can because you will be supporting independent publishing. If you want the PDFs at any time just shoot me a PM and I will send them to you on email or google drive or something.

this book is rather objective and to the point in discribing the rise of al-Assad to power.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Struggle-For-Power-Syrian/dp/1860640249