Rime Allaf
@rallaf
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Author of It Started in Damascus: How the Long Syrian Revolution Reshaped Our World, @HurstPublishers (Autumn 2025). Represented by @DHAbooks.
Joined September 2008
Days before Assad fled Syria and his violent 54-year regime collapsed in December 2024, my book nearly fully written, I could not have imagined I would be there myself almost a year later, with my book, on the day of its release. It Started in Damascus, in bookshops as of today.
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📢 Upcoming webinar | One year of Syria’s transition: Progress, challenges & prospects Join @IbrahimAlAssil, @rallaf, @HaidHaid22 & @rayajalabi for a virtual discussion. 📅 2 Dec 🕐 15.00 GMT 📍 Zoom Register now ⤵️ https://t.co/8DQQ9pdcYY
chathamhouse.org
Experts discuss achievements, challenges, and questions facing Syria’s transitional government one year since the fall of the Assad regime.
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“We are seeing a good story developing in Syria.” Jordan Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi at the #BerlinForum this morning
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I'll be talking Syria and Europe at the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum on Tuesday. Looking forward to sharing and hearing new perspectives on the way ahead. https://t.co/pSImbHkh0Z
koerber-stiftung.de
Since its establishment in 2011, the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum has become the leading annual foreign policy gathering in Berlin. The Berlin Forum convenes high-ranking national and international...
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‘A disturbing, compulsive and at times heart-in-the-mouth read.’ Read @justinmarozzi’s brilliant review of It Started in Damascus: How the Long Syrian Revolution Reshaped Our World by @rallaf👇 https://t.co/Evzf3IWrYO
spectator.co.uk
Rime Allaf takes the long view of Syria’s descent into hell. Her story begins with President Hafez al Assad, the architect of the socialist Baathist dictatorship that, from 1970 to 2000, immiserated...
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The Syrian Embassy in London has opened again. Looking forward to a new era of fruitful British-Syrian relations, and to a representation worthy of that important mission in the UK.
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Congratulations @rallaf, It Started in Damascus: How the Long Syrian Revolution Reshaped Our World publishes today. ‘Weaving her own story through an account of recent Syrian history, Rime Allaf provides a riveting insider’s perspective. She shows in painful detail how everyday
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Such a pleasant surprise to see my book already in the good hands and company of dear friends! It Started in Damascus will also be in your favourite bookshops starting 6 November. #Book #Syria
@HurstPublishers @DHAbooks
Super psyched to have a copy of my dear friend @rallaf’s new book about Syria. Can’t wait to read it 🎉🥳
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Syrian president Ahmad Sharaa is in New York, chatting at the Concordia Summit to General David Petraeus about his past, the liberation of December 2024, and what awaits Syria. Strong presence, compelling delivery.
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“In Syria today, emphasizing a precarious position for minorities implies that there is a threatening, Damascus-led Sunni majority. But this oversimplification is damaging. Even the idea that Sunni Syrians constitute a monolithic grouping is inaccurate, let alone the suggestion
Syria’s problems are more than ‘sectarian’ – only a true national dialogue will address them - @rallaf:
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Syria’s problems are more than ‘sectarian’ – only a true national dialogue will address them - @rallaf:
chathamhouse.org
Reductive descriptions of recent violence and flawed elections distract from President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s shortcomings in delivering the democracy that Syria’s complex society demands, writes Rime...
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Our differences, just like what unites us, cannot be understood in simplistic sectarian terms. Most Syrians want their individual opinions to matter; that’s why the first step to stability should be a true national dialogue, as I write in @TheWorldToday. https://t.co/WPoo1VSsOx
chathamhouse.org
Reductive descriptions of recent violence and flawed elections distract from President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s shortcomings in delivering the democracy that Syria’s complex society demands, writes Rime...
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2. The UAR is why we ended up with “Arab” in Syria’s official name. Until 1958, it was the Syrian Republic (1st & 2nd); when Syria seceded from Egypt / UAR in 1961, it kept Arab and added it to its original name, hence the Syrian Arab Republic. It therefore precedes the Baath.
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2 things about Syria that many get wrong: 1. The “opposition” current green-white-black flag was from before independence until 1963 Baath coup, EXCEPT for 1958-1961 United Arab Republic (UAR) with Egypt, when we shared a flag. Baath changed it to red-white-black & 3 green stars.
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There was little solid data in the long Assad decades because polls were outlawed. Today, we can already surmise that nearly two thirds of Syrians want democracy, and that most prefer separating religion from governance, as this important survey shows. https://t.co/W7sbJcC4Ci
syrianobserver.com
A poll of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies said 61% of Syrians believe a democratic system is the best for Syria and 74% oppose recognizing Israel, Syria TV reports.
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Israel says it killed these Palestinian Al Jazeera journalists, claiming - without providing any evidence - that Al Sharif was a terrorist. Previous Israeli claims about him were rejected as unsubstantiated smears by Al Jazeera and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Four Al Jazeera staff, including reporter Anas Al Sharif, were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent for journalists outside the main gate of Gaza's al-Shifa hospital https://t.co/MMKatjgeAa
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2254 has been resuscitated. It doesn't necessarily mean it will ever be applied like it should have been nearly 10 years ago, but nobody bothered to bring it up for several months after Assad fled. The world is paying attention to what's happening in Syria; that's a good thing.
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These techies left Syria as refugees; they are now returning to set up its tech industry and help rebuild their country of birth. https://t.co/jzpMEEbVha
restofworld.org
After the fall of the Assad regime, tech workers are coming back to help rebuild their nation.
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