Syria History

Based on more than five years of clandestine reporting on the front lines, No Turning Back is an utterly engrossing human drama full of vivid, indelible characters that shows how hope can flourish even amid one of the 21st century's greatest humanitarian disasters.

A pivotal crossroads of trade and culture, ancient Syria was an exhilarating and revolutionary place. Syria has always been a volatile land rocked by forces competing for power. Yet, it gave birth to the world’s first library and the first purely alphabetic writing system. An exciting epicenter of early Christianity flourished in Antioch and Damascus.

Acclaimed Israeli intelligence analyst Avi Melamed has spent more than 30 years interpreting Middle East affairs. His long-awaited Inside the Middle East challenges widely accepted perceptions and provides a gripping and uniquely enlightening guide to make sense of the events unfolding in the region. Melamed considers all the major power players in the Middle East, explains the underlying issues, and creates a three-dimensional picture, an illustration that connects the dots and provides a fascinating road map.

Initially dismissed by US President Barack Obama, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has shocked the world by conquering massive territories in both countries and promising to create a vast new Muslim caliphate that observes the strict dictates of Sharia law. In ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, American journalist Michael Weiss and Syrian analyst Hassan Hassan explain how these violent extremists evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent group into a jihadi army of international volunteers who have conquered territory equal to the size of Great Britain.

The dramatic story of freelance photographer Daniel Rye, who was held hostage for 13 months by ISIS, as told by an award-winning writer. In a tense and riveting narrative, The ISIS Hostage details freelance photographer Daniel Rye's 13-month ordeal at the hands of the Islamic State after he was captured in Syria, and the misery inflicted upon him, and 19 other hostages, by the British guards, which included Jihadi John. This compelling account also follows Daniel's family and the nerve-wracking negotiations with his kidnappers.

Against the backdrop of the wave of demonstrations known as the Arab Spring, in 2011 hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy, and human rights. The government's ferocious response, and the refusal of the demonstrators to back down, sparked a brutal civil war that over the past five years has escalated into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our times. Yet despite all the reporting, the video, and the wrenching photography, the stories of ordinary Syrians remain unheard.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria: The History of ISIS/ISIL chronicles the birth and growth of the group, including the key figures and events that impacted its formation, as well as the ideology of the group and the historical context and environment that strengthened it. This book also looks at the various tactics and strategies the group has employed to achieve its goals and further its ideology, especially its notorious terrorist attacks

Una encrucijada fundamental del comercio y la cultura, la antigua Siria era un lugar estimulante y revolucionario. Siria siempre ha sido una tierra volátil sacudida por fuerzas que compiten por el poder. Sin embargo, dio origen a la primera biblioteca del mundo y al primer sistema de escritura puramente alfabético. En Antioquía y Damasco floreció un apasionante epicentro del cristianismo primitivo.

The Islamic State, known as ISIS, exploded into the public eye in 2014 with startling speed and shocking brutality. It has captured the imagination of the global jihadist movement, attracting recruits in unprecedented numbers and wreaking bloody destruction with a sadistic glee that has alienated even the hardcore terrorists of its parent organization, al Qaeda. Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger, two of America’s leading experts on terrorism, dissect the new model for violent extremism that ISIS has leveraged into an empire of death in Iraq and Syria, and an international network that is rapidly expanding in the Middle East, North Africa and around the world.

In 2012, American journalist Theo Padnos, fluent in Arabic, Russian, German, and French, traveled to a Turkish border town to write and report on the Syrian civil war. One afternoon in October, while walking through an olive grove, he met three young Syrians - who turned out to be al Qaeda operatives - and they captured him and kept him prisoner for nearly two years. On his first day, in the first of many prisons, Padnos was given a blindfold - a grime-stained scrap of fabric - that was his only possession throughout his horrific ordeal.

Med general Hafez al-Assads militærkup i 1970 blev den syriske civilbefolkning udsat for markant undertrykkelse. Overvågning, ensretning og tortur. Regimets fængsler var fyldt til randen af politiske fanger, som blev udsat for en gruopvækkende behandling. Hensigten var at nedbryde al modstand og samtidig sende et klart signal til den øvrige befolkning: én forkert tanke, ét forkert ord kan medføre indespærring i årevis og pinefulde afhøringer med sømbeslåede stokke, elektriske kabler, barberblade, knibtænger og rødglødende metal.

In 2011, Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom. Brutal government repression transformed peaceful protests into one of the most devastating conflicts of our times, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions. The Home I Worked to Make takes Syria's refugee outflow as its point of departure. Based on hundreds of interviews conducted across more than a decade, it probes a question as intimate as it is universal: What is home?

Per tredici anni, la dittatura siriana si è aggrappata al potere, sopravvivendo a guerre, rivolte e sconvolgimenti geopolitici. Eppure, in una svolta rapida e drammatica degli eventi, il regime che sembrava incrollabile è caduto l'8 dicembre 2024.

Ancient Yamhad: The History and Legacy of Syria’s First Great Kingdom chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Syrian dynasty and what life was like during Yamhad’s era. You will learn about Yamhad like never before.

Tras la muerte de Nur-al-Din, sultán de Siria, Saladino emprendería la conquista del territorio sirio protagonizando una serie de feroces batallas en las que se tuvo que enfrentar con sus peores enemigos. Pero gracias a su grandiosa habilidad guerrera tomó posesión de dicho país convirtiéndose en el sultán de Siria y en uno de los grandes gobernantes del mundo islámico, cuya figura es símbolo de caballerosidad medieval y por ello goza de admiración en varios culturas de Medio Oriente.

Napoleon in Egypt: The History and Legacy of the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria chronicles one of the legendary French leader’s most forgotten campaigns. You will learn about Napoleon’s time in Egypt like never before.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s Invasion of the Levant: The History and Legacy of the French Campaign in Syria chronicles one of the French leader’s most forgotten campaigns. You will learn about the French invasion of the Levant like never before.

Glass has reported extensively from the Middle East and travelled frequently in Syria over several decades. Here he melds together reportage, analysis, and history to provide an accessible overview of the origins and permutations defining the conflict, situating it clearly in the overall crisis of the region. His voice, elegant and concise, humane and richly informed, is a vital antidote to the sloganizing that shapes so much commentary and policy concerning the civil war.

In 2019, Turkey’s incursion into northeastern Syria and acceptance of components for a Russian S-400 surface-to-air defense system brought bilateral tensions to crisis levels and contributed to the possibility of sanctions or other actions from Congress. Events in Syria and a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey appear to have led Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to act more independently from the United States and cultivate closer ties with Russia and its President Vladimir Putin.