Conflicted returns with another episode in our series on the Syrian Civil War, this time with a new contributor, who begins today a two episode arc where we’ll be looking at the Siege of Southern Damascus…

Thomas Small has invited on Matar Ismaeel, a documentary filmmaker and political activist from Masyaf, Syria. Now back in his homeland after years of exile, Matar speaks to us from Masyaf itself, relaying an extraordinary story of resilience and courage in the Syrian capital.

Matar tells us about his family's political background, and his early involvement in documenting protests on his digital camera in 2011. He recounts the dangers he faced as a media activist, including arrests and torture in Syrian prisons. Matar's commitment to the revolution led him to southern Damascus, where he witnessed the brutal siege by the Assad regime and the rise of jihadist groups, including ISIS. The conversation highlights the complexities of the conflict, the humanitarian crisis, and the personal toll of war.

New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.

Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

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This week, Thomas speaks with Hamza Howidy, a Palestinian activist originally from Gaza now living in exile in Germany. Hamza shares his extraordinary story of growing up under Hamas rule and the constant threat of Israeli military action on the one hand, and the brutality of Hamas on the other.

Hamza was forced to leave Gaza due to his involvement in protests against Hamas in 2019 and 2023, taking the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean from Turkey to Europe to do so. Hamza offers a vital and nuanced perspective on life in Gaza, the internal political dynamics between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, and his vision for a future free from Hamas's governance. He candidly discusses the brutal realities faced by those who dissent against Hamas and his own experiences of protest and imprisonment.

To listen to the full episode, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

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This week for the Conflicted Community we begin a series of conversations about the conflict in Israel and Palestine, with Palestinians themselves, to shed some light on the Palestinian perspective of this most complex of conflicts. And this week it is the turn of Khalil Sayegh, a Palestinian Christian political analyst, who shares his personal journey from Gaza to Ramallah, to Washington D.C. 

In this episode, Khalil tells us about his opposition to Hamas, the impact of war on his life, and gives some insights into the historical roots of Palestinian nationalism and the challenges faced by Palestinians under both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. We delve into the complex historical and political dynamics of between Fatah and Hamas, the impact of settler movements, and the ongoing challenges faced by Palestinians in their quest for rights and recognition. And by emphasizing the need for Palestinian rights and the importance of survival amidst ongoing violence, while also reflecting on the complexities of liberalism in the context of the conflict.

To listen to the full episode, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

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Conflicted brings to an end our three part series with Ronnie Hamada, a Syrian Kurdish civilian, whose experience of the Civil War has been thrilling us over the past few episodes... 

Thomas and Ronnie open with the impact of the Battle of Aleppo on the Kurdish province of Afrin, highlighting the rise of jihadist groups and the challenges faced by the Kurdish community. Ronnie also shares his harrowing experiences living under siege in Afrin, describing dire conditions, economic lockdowns and food shortages, and the desperate measures he and his family took to survive. Ronnie then recounts his journey fleeing to Turkey, as well as the broader humanitarian crisis in Syria and the role of NGOs in providing aid amidst the chaos. 

In a final conversation which helps explain the complex dynamics of the Syrian Civil War in the country’s north, the pair describe growing tensions between the YPG and the Assad regime, Turkey's military operations against Kurdish forces, and the aftermath of multiple Turkish operations in Syrian land, reflecting on what it has all meant got the future of Kurdish autonomy in Syria. 

New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.

Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

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Thomas and Aimen are back together for another Q&A! This week we answer your questions on the many and varied crises that seem to be engulfing the Middle East and the world in 2025…

Thomas and Aimen begin by analysing the complex and tumultuous situation in Syria, exploring the recent resurgence of violence, the role of disinformation, and the internal conflicts among the Alawite community which have been sparking new fears of intense violence. They also discuss the new Syrian government's response, the implications of amnesty for former regime members, and the broader geopolitical context affecting the region. We also touch on the future of Gaza and the implications of U.S. foreign policy under Trump, in the context of the shifting dynamics of global power with Russia and China.

To listen to the full episode, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

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This week on Conflicted, Ronnie Hamada is back with Thomas to describe his experiences as a Kurdish civilian during the Syrian Civil War, as we continue our retrospective on that most complex of conflicts. And this week, after setting up some Kurdish history last time, Ronnie takes us through what it was like to live through the Arab Spring protests as a university student, where he saw his classmates attacked by Assad backed thugs, and as violence increased around him by the day.

In a gripping conversation, Ronnie recounts some harrowing experiences, detailing a terrifying robbery at an internet cafe, the escalating violence in Aleppo, and the eventual decision to flee to Afrin. He shares the impact of the war on civilians, the rise of the PYD and YPG, and his family's efforts to navigate the chaos. 

New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.

Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

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This week for our Conflicted Community members, we return to Yemen for an interview with, Dr Elisabeth Kendall, an academic whose work has covered so many varied manifestations of the country’s culture, politics, and the conflict that has engulfed it for the past decade.

Elisabeth is a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Cambridge, where she is also the Mistress of Girton College. Her research explores how militant jihad groups use 'soft' culture (poetry, literature, song) and harness local grievances, to recruit and win toleration in the broader community, and she has spent significant time in Yemen, carrying out research, while also following the ongoing war.

Thomas and Elisabeth discuss her journey into the field, and the complexities of Yemeni politics, particularly during the Arab Spring, emphasising the importance of primary sources in understanding jihadism and critiques the international community's role in Yemen's political landscape. They discuss the complex dynamics of the Yemeni conflict, exploring the roles of various international and regional actors, the evolution of the Houthis, and the challenges of achieving peace. And to end, they have a fascinating discussion on the significance of poetry in jihadist culture, illustrating how it serves as a tool for propaganda and emotional engagement.

To listen to the full episode, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

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This week on Conflicted, we begin in earnest our retrospective on the Syrian Civil War, where we will be inviting actual Syrians from a multitude of different perspectives, to tell us about their experiences of the war. 

After setting the scene with our old friend Wassim Nasr last time, over our upcoming episodes, we’ll be creating a kind of narrative history for you, our listeners, as we make sense of this most complex of conflicts from as many angles as we can.

In this episode, Thomas invites on Syrian Kurd Ronnie Hamada to delve into the complexities of the Syrian Civil War, focusing on the Kurdish experience and setting the scene with their historical identity. 

Ronnie has been working in data and analysis of conflicts in Syria and the wider Middle East for the past 10 years, working alongside journalists and NGOs to map conflicts and combat misinformation, and his story of life under siege in Aleppo and Afrin is an extraordinary one… They explore the historical context of Kurdish nationalism, the impact of Arab nationalism, and the political dynamics within Kurdish communities in Syria. Ronnie shares his personal story and insights, highlighting the challenges faced by Kurds, including statelessness and cultural repression and the intricate dynamics of Kurdish identity and politics in Syria, particularly in the context of the Arab Spring.

New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.

Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

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This week for our Conflicted Community members, we have an interview with the Egyptian political activist Dalia Ziada, whose incredible personal story crosses so many of the major events in the modern middle east, from the Arab Spring, to October 7th.

Dalia is an award-winning Egyptian writer and political analyst whose work focuses on governance, geopolitics, and defense policy. In Egypt, she co-founded the Liberal Democracy Institute in 2015, she is the Executive Director of the Center for Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean Studies and also serves as a board member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Egypt's National Council for Women. She’s a frequent media commentator, advocating for women’s rights and against female genital mutilation in the Muslim World, and she is the author of multiple books, including “The Curious Case of the Three-Legged Wolf - Egypt: Military, Islamism, and Liberal Democracy”, on the Arab Spring and its fallout in Egypt.

In a wide ranging conversation, Thomas and Dalia discuss her story of liberal activism in Egypt, teaching herself out of antisemitism, the Arab Spring, October 7th, and more…

To listen to the full episode, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted

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Conflicted takes on… the Syrian Civil War. 

In the wake of the fall of Assad, with the Syrian Civil War over, at least for the moment, Conflicted is bringing you a bit of a retrospective. In the coming episodes, we’ll be inviting Syrians and other people who experienced the conflict, from a multitude of different perspectives, onto the show to tell us about their experiences of the war. In doing so, we want to create a kind of narrative history as we make sense of this most complex of conflicts from as many angles as we can.

In our first episode, we have an old friend of the show Wassim Nasr, a journalist for France24, who Conflicted Community members will remember from when we spoke to him about his incredible reporting from the Sahel Region of Africa. But Wassim’s reporting on Syria is equally enlightening, with some of the greatest access you will see anywhere. He has been on the ground in Syria throughout the conflict, and was in fact one of the first Western journalists to meet with Ahmed Al-Sharaa, now the country’s interim president, after Assad’s fall. 

In this episode, we’re setting up some crucial context for the Syrian Civil War through the surprising rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), providing a nuanced understanding of their evolution from an Al-Qaeda affiliate to a pragmatic political force that ultimately took control of the country. And then to top it all off, we’ll hear all about Wassim’s two meetings with Al-Sharaa…

New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.

Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you’d like to find out how we can help get your organisation’s message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to [email protected]!

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

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