Khuzama and Cedric from the Interstices-Fajawat grassroots initiative return to STIR to talk to Leila about the July unrest in Sweida province, which included massacres against members of the Druze community. Our guests were in Sweida during the unrest, so share their moving first-hand testimony as well as provide analysis on implications for the future of Syria as a whole.

STIR is part of the From The Periphery Media Collective. To support all of our projects please head out to ⁠Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery⁠

STIR is also on ⁠Bluesky⁠!

Credits and More:

• Leila Al Shami (Host, Lead Researcher). More: ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠Mastodon⁠ and her ⁠Blog⁠

• Aydin Yildiz (Producer)

• Elia Ayoub (Producer). More: ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠Mastodon⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠ and his ⁠Newsletter⁠

• Hisham Rifai (Illustration)

• Omar Offendum and Sami Matar (Music)

Date of recording: 5 September 2025

Leila is joined by Armenian writer, scholar and member of From The Periphery media collective, Dr Karena Avedissian. 

Karena recently returned from a trip to conduct research and build ties with the Armenian community in Northeast Syria. We spoke about an article she wrote - Armenians in Rojava: A quiet revolution - looking at the experiences of Islamized Armenians, descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide who were forcibly ‘assimilated’ during and after 1915. 

STIR is a podcast by ⁠Leila Al-Shami⁠ (⁠Burning Country⁠, The Peoples Want) and Elia Ayoub (⁠The Fire These Times⁠, ⁠Hauntologies⁠) and is part of the From The Periphery Media Collective. To support all of our projects please head out to ⁠Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery⁠

Credits and More:

• Karena is on Bluesky. For more on this topic, watch another recent interview with her here.

• STIR is on Bluesky

• From The Periphery is on ⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Bluesky⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠ Instagram⁠⁠, and has a website⁠⁠⁠

• Leila Al Shami (Host, Lead Researcher, Editor). More: Bluesky⁠, ⁠Mastodon⁠ and her ⁠Blog⁠

• Aydin Yildiz (Producer). More: Antidote Zine

• Elia Ayoub (Producer). More:⁠ ⁠Bluesky⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Mastodon⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and his⁠ ⁠Newsletter⁠⁠

• Hisham Rifai (Illustration)

• Omar Offendum and Sami Matar (Music)

Date of recording: 18 July 2025

Leila is joined by Swiss-Syrian academic, researcher and author Joseph Daher to talk about the removal of sanctions and future economic prospects for Syria.

Daher is the author of Syria After the Uprising: The Political Economy of State Resilience (Pluto, 2019) and Hezbollah: The Political Economy of Lebanon’s Party of God (Pluto, 2016), and founder of the blog Syria Freedom Forever.

STIR is a podcast by ⁠Leila Al-Shami⁠ (⁠Burning Country⁠, The Peoples Want) and Elia Ayoub (⁠The Fire These Times⁠, ⁠Hauntologies⁠) and is part of the From The Periphery Media Collective. To support all of our projects please head out to ⁠Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery⁠

Credits and More:

• STIR is on Bluesky

• From The Periphery is on ⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Bluesky⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠ Instagram⁠⁠, and has a website⁠⁠⁠

• Leila Al Shami (Host, Lead Researcher, Editor). More: ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠Mastodon⁠ and her ⁠Blog⁠

• Aydin Yildiz (Producer). More: Antidotezine

• Hisham Rifai (Illustration)

• Omar Offendum (Music)

Date of recording: June 3rd 2025

It's been 20 years since the Assad regime assassinated Samir Kassir, the Lebanese-Syrian-Palestinian historian, journalist and writer in Beirut on June 2nd 2005. Joining us today is Lebanese-French political researcher and academic Ziad Majed, a friend and comrade of Kassir, to talk about his legacy in the two decades that have passed given how much has changed since for Lebanon, Palestine and of course Syria.

This is a special cross-over episode between The Fire These Times (TFTT) and Syria: The Inconvenient Revolution (STIR). We are both part of the From The Periphery Media Collective. To support all of our projects please head out to⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery⁠

Resources:

• Dans la tête de Bachar al-Assad by Ziad Majed, Farouk Mardam-Bey and Subhi Hadidi

• Syrian melancholy in Lebanon’s revolution by Elia Ayoub and Dara Foi’Elle
• The 2020 TFTT episode (26) with Ziad Majed

Samir Kassir:

• Beirut (History)
• Being Arab/The Arab Malaise
• Archives of Samir Kassir in the Revue d'études palestiniennes (French)

Credits and More:

• Hisham Rifai (Illustration)

• Omar Offendum and Sami Matar (Music)

Date of recording: May 30th 2025

Leila is joined by two Sweida-based activists, Khuzama and Ian from the Interstices-Fajawat grassroots initiative, to talk about the recent unrest in Syria in which members of the Druze community were targeted.

In the first part, they got into what happened, the fault lines, the role of Israel as well as the agreement that was reached. 

The second part, starting at roughly 23 minutes in, is a dive into Sweida and the Syrian revolution, the role of women and the situation since the fall of the Assad regime.

STIR is part of the From The Periphery Media Collective. To support all of our projects please head out to ⁠Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery⁠

STIR is also on ⁠Bluesky⁠!

Credits and More:

• Leila Al Shami (Host, Lead Researcher). More: ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠Mastodon⁠ and her ⁠Blog⁠

• Elia Ayoub (Producer). More: ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠Mastodon⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠ and his ⁠Newsletter⁠

• Aydin Yildiz (Producer)

• Hisham Rifai (Illustration)

• Omar Offendum and Sami Matar (Music)

Date of recording: May 8th 2025

Welcome to Syria: The Inconvenient Revolution (STIR)! In this episode, ⁠Leila Al-Shami⁠ (⁠Burning Country⁠) and Elia Ayoub (⁠The Fire These Times⁠, ⁠Hauntologies⁠) introduce themselves and the podcast.

What is STIR about? From the Assad regime to the Arab Spring and beyond, we will dive into questions of reconstruction, prisoners, the forcibly disappeared, transitional justice, minority rights, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, environmental politics, culture and more.

STIR is part of the From The Periphery Media Collective. To support all of our projects please head out to ⁠Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery⁠

STIR is also on ⁠Bluesky⁠!

Credits and More:

• Leila Al Shami (Host, Lead Researcher). More: ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠Mastodon⁠ and her ⁠Blog⁠

• Elia Ayoub (Host, Producer). More: ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠Mastodon⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠ and his ⁠Newsletter⁠

• Hisham Rifai (Illustration)

• Omar Offendum and Sami Matar (Music)