Broken Bangles: Putting Together Life and the World

Ahmed al-Sharaa ( Abu Mohammed al-Julani) is a former Al Qaida leader with USD 10 million designated as a reward by the US for information on him. He is the leader of the organisation, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant, which works for freedom for the entire Levant. He has been declared a terrorist by the US, the UN, and many countries.  If we look closer, we will realise that his personality as a Middle Eastern leader has been transforming as he has walked a path of fire his entire life as a foot soldier of Islam and the Middle East’s self-determination. Despite checking all the boxes for being a terrorist as defined by the West, his life reflects the complex socio-political situation that every citizen of a Middle Eastern country faces. Hence, it demands a better understanding from those who believe in freedom and democracy.  In so many words, he has often claimed to have changed himself from an extremist to a moderate in his journ...

  Two Martyrs and a Heritage Site In 2015, when ISIS took control of major parts of Syria, along with millions of people killed, one major casualty was the ancient ruins of Palmyra. As it became clear that the city was going into the hands of ISIS, Qassim Abdullah Yehya and Khaled al-Asaad, the custodians of the archaeological artefacts of the city, evacuated the city museum and shifted many of these valued objects of heritage to another location. When ISIS took over, these two archaeologists were in the city, as they wanted to protect the monuments of great historical value. They paid in their blood for that decision. Khaled al-Asaad was 82 years old, and Qassim Abdullah Yehya, 37, when their lives ended abruptly in a violent manner. When the ISIS fighters executed Asaad by decapitation, and as they hung his headless body from a traffic light post in Palmyra, the world mourned the loss of two selfless martyrs who made the ultimate sacrifice for humanity. A few days before the exec...

Aleppo and the New Regime in Syria When the Bashar al-Assad regime was toppled in Syria, the rebel troops first took over the Syrian city of Aleppo in a surprise attack on the Syrian army. They claimed the city’s control and, in a show of strength, paraded the streets, fully armed. A civil war was simmering on the country's margins for a long time. Russia, Iran, the US, Turkey, and Israel had intervened in Syria's many conflicts at their different stages and moments. This time, Russia bombed Aleppo, trying to push back the rebels. The same multiple rebel groups who were driven out of the city by the Syrian army were the ones who have come back now. Bashar al-Assad, the incumbent Syrian president, had been fighting the opposition groups for about 30 years continuously, as a civil war raged on and off since 2011. More than half a million people had been killed in this conflict, and no respite was in sight. Around 6.8 million Syrians became refugees, internally displaced or fleein...