Mouaz Moustafa is a Syrian-American activist who advocates for democracy and human rights in Syria. In 2023, he received the James W. Foley Freedom Award (humanitarian award). [1]
Born and raised in Damascus, he moved to the United States as a teenager in 1995. [2] He earned a degree in international relations from the University of Central Arkansas and subsequently worked on Capitol Hill as a staffer for U.S. Congressman Vic Snyder and U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln. [3]
In 2011, Moustafa became the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), an organization that supports the pro-democracy movement in Syria. In this role, he has coordinated advocacy efforts, led delegations to the Syrian border for journalists and lawmakers, and overseen humanitarian projects within Syria. [4] [5]
Notably, he facilitated U.S. Senator John McCain's visit with the Northern Storm Brigade inside Syria in 2013. [6] [7] He coordinated humanitarian assistance after the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes. [4] In December 2024, after Fall of the Assad regime, Moustafa reported the discovery of a mass grave near Damascus containing at least 100,000 bodies, allegedly victims of the former Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad. He emphasized the need to secure these sites to preserve evidence for future investigations. [8]
He has provided commentary in the media on issues involving Syria. [9] He was featured in the documentary film Red Lines that depicts the civil war in Syria and his efforts to raise international support for the Syrian revolution and to promote democracy in the Middle East.
In 2024, Moustafa raised concerns about the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to be the Director of National Intelligence. [10]
Bashar al-Assad is a Syrian politician, military officer, and former dictator who served as the 19th president of Syria from 2000 until his government was overthrown by Syrian rebels in December 2024. As president, Assad was commander-in-chief of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces and secretary-general of the Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He is the son of Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.
Major General Maher Hafez al-Assad is a Syrian former military officer who served as commander of the Syrian Army's elite 4th Armoured Division, which, together with Syria's Military Intelligence, formed the core of the Ba'athist regime's security forces until its collapse in 2024. He is the younger brother of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and also was a member of the Central Committee of the Syrian Ba'ath Party.
Imad Moustapha is a former Syrian Ambassador to China and the United States.
Jamal Suliman is a Syrian producer, director and actor on television, film, and stage. Suliman was born in 1959 in the Syrian capital of Damascus, then part of the United Arab Republic. Suliman studied at the acting department of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts (Damascus). He started his career acting on stage and producing television series. Suliman then continued his studies in Britain and obtained a Master's degree in theatrical studies from Leeds University. He is married to Rana Mohammad Salman, daughter of ex-minister of Syria, Mohamad Salman. They have a son named Mohammad.
The Air Force Intelligence Directorate was the intelligence service of Ba'athist Syria from 1963 until 2024, owing its importance to Hafez al-Assad's role as the Air Force commander. Despite its name, it was mainly involved with issues other than air force intelligence, and took an active part in the suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood rebellion in the 1980s. Agents of this service have frequently been stationed in Syrian embassies or branch offices of the national airline.
Turkey–Syria relations are the relations between the Republic of Türkiye and the Syrian Arab Republic. Turkey shares its longest common border with Syria; various geographic and historical links also tie the two neighbouring countries together.
Tulsi Gabbard is an American politician and military officer serving as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve since 2021. Gabbard served as U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. She also served as the youngest state legislator in Hawaii from 2002 to 2004. She was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. She left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent. In 2024, she joined the Republican Party. In November 2024, President-elect Trump selected Gabbard for the position of director of national intelligence in his second term, starting January 2025.
Syria–United Arab Emirates relations refer to the relationship between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Syria. The UAE has an embassy in Damascus and Syria has an embassy in Abu Dhabi and a consulate-general in Dubai. Both countries are members of the Arab League, part of the Middle East region and share close cultural ties.
The Syrian civil war is an ongoing multi-sided conflict in Syria involving various state-sponsored and non-state actors. In March 2011, popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring protests in the region. After months of crackdown by the government's security apparatus, various armed rebel groups such as the Free Syrian Army began forming across the country, marking the beginning of the Syrian insurgency. By mid-2012, the insurgency had escalated into a full-blown civil war.
Haitham al-Maleh is a Syrian human rights activist and former judge. A longtime critic of Syria's Ba'athist regime, he was imprisoned several times after standing for human rights and calling for constitutional reforms. In the early 2000s, Maleh was a figure of the Damascus Spring. During the Syrian Civil War, he was active in Syrian opposition groups. He was a member of the Syrian National Council and later of the Syrian National Coalition.
This is a broad timeline of the course of major events of the Syrian civil war. It only includes major territorial changes and attacks and does not include every event.
Syria established diplomatic relations with Pahlavi Iran after independence, but it was not until the Iranian revolution that Alawite-led Syria established close ties with Iran. Under the Ba'athist rule, Syria was usually called Iran's "closest ally". Iran and Syria had a strategic alliance ever since the Iran–Iraq War, when Syria sided with non-Arab Iran against neighbouring Ba'ath-ruled Iraq. The two countries shared a common animosity towards then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and coordination against the United States and Israel until the fall of the Assad regime after the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives were completed on December 8th, 2024.
Saudi Arabia–Syria relations refer to bilateral and economic relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria. Diplomatic ties between these two countries of the Middle East have long been strained by the major events in the region. Saudi Arabia has an embassy in Damascus, and Syria has an embassy in Riyadh. Both countries are members of the Arab League and share close cultural ties.
The Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) is a United States–based, 501-C(3) organization established in March 2011 to support the Syrian opposition. SETF advocates in solidarity with the Syrian rebels to inform and educate the American public and its representatives about their struggle.
Indonesia–Syria relations was officially established in 1950, and it was among earliest international recognitions on Indonesian sovereignty. Both nations have common perceptions related to Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon issues, and Indonesia always supports Syria in international forum on the issue of the Golan Heights. Regarding the current events of the Syrian Civil War, Indonesia has urged all parties in Syria to end the violence, while pledging to provide US$500,000 worth of humanitarian assistance to conflict-torn Syria in 2014. Previously Indonesia has donated the same amount to Syria in 2012 and 2013 under United Nations. Indonesia has an embassy in Damascus, while Syria has an embassy in Jakarta. Both nations are the member of Non-Aligned Movement and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Red Lines is a documentary film produced by Spark Media in 2014. It depicts the ongoing civil war in Syria and the efforts of activists Mouaz Moustafa and Razan Shalab-al-Sham to raise international support for the revolution and to promote democracy in the Middle East.
France–Syria relations refers to the bilateral relations between the French Republic and Syrian Arab Republic. France has an embassy in Damascus and a consulate general in Aleppo and Latakia. Syria has an embassy in Paris and honorary consulates in Marseille and Pointe-à-Pitre.
Majd Kamalmaz was a Syrian-American psychotherapist from Arlington, Virginia, who was detained in Syria in February 2017 and held until his death was announced on May 18, 2024.
During Tulsi Gabbard's tenure as a congresswoman and presidential candidate, she placed much emphasis on her foreign policy views and regarded them as inseparable from her domestic policy views. She criticizes what she terms the "neoliberal/neoconservative war machine", which pushes for US involvement in "wasteful foreign wars". She has said that the money spent on war should be redirected to serve health care, infrastructure, and other domestic priorities. Nevertheless, she describes herself as both a hawk and a dove: "When it comes to the war against terrorists, I'm a hawk, [but] when it comes to counterproductive wars of regime change, I'm a dove."
Italy–Syria relations refer to bilateral relations between the Italian Republic and the Syrian Arab Republic. The Syrian embassy in Italy is located in Rome, whereas the consulate was located in Milan. In 2024, Rome made the decision to start a reaprochement with Syria and reopen its embassy in Damascus.
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