The article examines efforts by the Combined Joint Task Force—Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) to enumerate the harm its forces inflicted on Syrian and Iraqi civilians between 2014 and 2018. Drawing on more than 1,300 declassified civilian harm assessments, this article examines the rationale behind the decision to count civilian casualties, the policies that governed how civilian casualties were counted, and what CJTF-OIR officials did with the data collected. Although accurate counts are critical to ethical debates, we show that, on their own, these counts are insufficient when it comes to recognizing the harm inflicted upon civilians and holding militaries accountable. We trace coalition metrics back to concerns about consequence management, showing how martial considerations about optimizing violence—rather than moral concerns about constraining violence—governed the enumerative enterprise. We argue that the way the coalition previously counted civilian casualties erased certain harms from view, including the indirect, cumulative, and reverberating violence that civilians suffered during this conflict. Furthermore, we contend that these numerical indicators tell us little about how civilians experience these harms, a lack of which can become an impediment to ethical consideration. Finally, we contrast the coalition count with Airwars figures to reveal both the numerical discrepancies between the different counts and differences in how these figures have been used. We contend that counting casualties is critical, but also complicated, contestable, and—at times—too constrictive.

L’affaire Canada et Pays-Bas c Syrie devant la Cour internationale de Justice (CIJ) repose sur des accusations de violations systématiques de la Convention contre la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants par la Syrie. Ces violations s’inscrivent pourtant dans un contexte également marqué par des atteintes massives au droit international humanitaire (DIH), qui ne font toutefois pas l’objet de la procédure engagée devant la Cour. Cette absence soulève une question: pourquoi le DIH, cadre juridique de référence en situation de conflit armé, n’a-t-il pas également été mobilisé dans cette affaire ? Pour y répondre, l’article met d’abord en lumière le rôle que la CIJ peut jouer dans la promotion du respect du DIH, avant d’examiner les contraintes juridictionnelles qui ont empêché l’invocation de ce régime juridique dans cette affaire. Après avoir identifié ces contraintes, il analyse comment le DIH pourrait néanmoins jouer un rôle indirect dans la procédure, notamment comme outil interprétatif. L’article soutient que, même en l’absence de compétence directe de la Cour pour en connaître, un tel recours au DIH contribuerait à en promouvoir le respect. Au-delà de cette dimension interprétative, l’article s’intéresse enfin aux mécanismes complémentaires susceptibles de soutenir la mise en œuvre du DIH et la lutte contre l’impunité en Syrie. Il conclut que, bien que la procédure engagée devant la CIJ constitue une avancée importante pour la justice internationale, elle demeure insuffisante sans une mobilisation parallèle du DIH et d’autres mesures complémentaires. Pour autant, loin de représenter une occasion définitivement manquée de renforcer le respect du DIH, cette affaire devrait plutôt être envisagée comme une étape vers une approche plus globale, où l’action contentieuse intentée devant la CIJ s’articulerait avec d’autres efforts afin de garantir une justice plus large et renforcer le respect du droit international des droits humains et du DIH en Syrie.

With the collapse of the regime in Syria in late 2024 and the end of a brutal civil war, Syrian higher education faces a series of challenges as it adjusts to a post-authoritarian, but Islamist, government. Institutions of higher education were significantly degraded during the war and universities became sites of resistance, surveillance, torture, and violence. This article assesses the Middle East Studies Association’s failure to adequately engage with Syrian higher education during this period and argues for a renewed effort to build connections and engage in professional dialog with counterparts in the country. At the same time, it highlights renewed threats to academic freedom and new problems including heightened sectarianization, creeping gender apartheid, and unclear legal guidance for higher education. It concludes with specific proposals including the development of Arabic-language resources on academic freedom and the expression of solidarity with the Syrian people as they rebuild their country.

This article shows that the Qarāmiṭa (a Muslim group) strategically adapted the Islamic concept of the Mahdī to align with the spiritual figure of Jesus in order to render their eschatological message more acceptable within the Christian milieu of Syria. More broadly, however, it argues that the Qarāmiṭa’s discourse engaged with Christian theology, which also involved ideas of divine manifestation, the identification of the Qarāmiṭa’s leader Yaḥyā b. Zikrawayh (d. 290/903) with John the Baptist, and even the symbolic redirection of the qibla and ḥajj towards Jerusalem. The article examines what may be described as a pseudo-Christian discourse surrounding the figure of Yaḥyā b. Zikrawayh in Syria. The study considers two pathways leading to the establishment of such pseudo discourse. First, such Christianised motifs may have been deliberately employed by the Qarāmiṭa themselves as a strategy to attract wider audiences and reinforce the legitimacy of their movement. This examination will offer a new perspective on the probability of how the Qarāmiṭa sought legitimacy via adapting their so-called Mahdīist discourse for a non-Muslim society and ideology. Second, this Christian colouring was later reinforced by sources seeking to demonise and marginalise those who stood outside the authorities’ official position. This article critically examines the development of this syncretic Mahdīist narrative by analysing the problematic nature of these sources that document these adaptations. The analysis therefore moves between the rhetoric of the preachers and the historiographical framing by their opponents, showing how both contributed to shaping the image of a pseudo-Christian Mahdīist movement in Syria.

Over a decade of conflict has ruptured protective layers for children, adolescents and caregivers in Syria, resulting in heightened mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs. Despite growing recognition of the potential of MHPSS in conflict zones, there are few documented cases of integrated, intergenerational programmes that work with children and their caregivers in parallel to strengthen child socio-emotional skills and the caregiving environment at scale. This study examines two nationally implemented MHPSS programmes, Sawa (“Together”) for children aged 6–17 years and Sanadi (“My Rock”) for their caregivers, co-created with families and delivered across Syria. Through a mixed-methods approach, early results suggest strong potential for intergenerational, trauma-informed, community-based MHPSS interventions in strengthening emotional regulation, relational communication and responsive caregiving among families living through armed conflict and protracted crisis.

This essay explores the formation of the Syria-Turkey border by examining the mobility of contraband merchants and couriers. Contraband commerce can be viewed as not only a technique of mobility but a technology of sovereignty. I parse out these linkages from within the semantic domain of kaçak (contraband; literally “fugitive”) repurposed in the hands of contraband merchants, investigative journalists, and state officials. At important historical junctures, contraband commerce between modern Turkey and Syria came to link regimes of value and territorialization, border delineation and land dispossession, and economic informality and political treason. Analyzing the paradoxically uneven distribution of physical mobility and transborder transactions among the inhabitants of the border as a central tenet of territorialization, I suggest conceptualizing the border as a palimpsest of sovereignty. This essay contends that such an approach recuperates the historicity and dynamism of arrested mobilities and their role in the spatial production of borders, and of other contingent forms they give to sovereignty over geography and history.

Cardiac hydatidosis accounts for less than 2% of Echinococcus granulosus infections. Despite Syria’s high endemicity, paediatric cardiac involvement remains exceptionally rare and underreported. We report two Syrian children (aged 5.5 and 9 years) with giant interventricular septal hydatid cysts. Case 1 presented with significant hemodynamic obstruction, while Case 2 exhibited malignant ventricular arrhythmias. Both underwent successful cardiopulmonary bypass-assisted cystectomy with capitonnage repair and adjuvant albendazole therapy. These cases underscore (1) the life-threatening nature of advanced paediatric cardiac hydatidosis and (2) the critical role of early surgical intervention in endemic regions. Written informed consent for publication was obtained.

Although the needs of conflict-affected children are well-documented, research on the post-conflict period is limited, particularly in Syria, where the fall of the Assad regime has created a rapidly evolving environment for internally displaced children. This study explores how key informants perceive the mental health needs, daily stressors and coping strategies of internally displaced children during the post-regime period. Online semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 staff members from a non-governmental organization working in psychosocial support in the Syria camps. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five major themes emerged: (1) stressors in the current camp environment, (2) challenges related to return, (3) observed emotional and behavioral difficulties, (4) children’s psychological resources and (5) needs and gaps in support services. Findings highlight the inseparability of children’s mental health from basic needs, the role of place-based attachments in return processes and the importance of a holistic approach that considers context-specific stressors and resources in this unique period.

Le 8 juin 2023, le Canada et les Pays-Bas ont saisi la Cour internationale de justice (CIJ) pour des violations de la 1984 Convention contre la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants attribuées à l’État syrien. À cette situation étatique, souvent décrite comme une zone où le droit et la justice n’avaient pas leur place, se superposent ainsi de premiers efforts pour que l’État rende des comptes. Au-delà de la possibilité dont dispose la Cour internationale de Justice (CIJ), en tant que visage institutionnel de la responsabilité étatique, de réduire ici le “fossé d’impunité,” cette affaire met également en lumière la tension existante entre deux visions opposées du droit international (“universaliste” et “souverainiste”) qui sont appelées à coexister dans le cadre de la lutte contre l’impunité. Bien que cette affaire, s’inscrivant dans une lignée jurisprudentielle favorable à l’élargissement de la fonction judiciaire de la CIJ, confirme la proximité avec le modèle “universaliste” eu égard à l’extension du locus standi devant son prétoire et à l’évolution de son mandat pour embrasser les contextes gouvernés par des violations massives des droits de la personne, il ne faudrait pas en déduire que le paradigme “souverainiste” a été effacé et remplacé.