Wearing my Bellingcat Productions hat for a moment, if you were going to watch a new documentary about Syria, which subject would you find the most compelling?
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I would like to learn more about what inspires lasting friendships among Syrians, and how to make friendly overtures to Syrians.
They deposed a dictator.
I want to be their friend.
Think investigating and documenting/mapping out who were the individuals within the security state responsible for administering the institutional abuses of prisoners.
It would have tremendous value to justice bodies (Syrian and international) and could aid any truth and reconciliation programmes
I feel like I am lacking the historical context for understanding the current moment. Especially regarding the various factions and how they came about, how they relate to ethnic and religious communities in Syria.
I’d be curious about how daily life has gone for civilians—in particular, life in Idlib could provide a preliminary test to how HTS handles governance.
Syria, bounded by the Med. Sea to the west, Türkiye to the north, Iraq to the east & southeast, Jordan to the south, & Israel & Lebanon to the southwest, is central to the region. I would like to see if the Assads used this to assert regional control by blocking.
One conversation we had this week was about how it should now be possible to gather more open, honest and detailed stories of the inner workings of the regime side during the revolution and war.
What prompted the decision to violate the norm against use of chemical weapons, what were the effects compared to conventional weapons of similar type, and how likely would the actors involved be to violate those norms in a similar situation again? (To the degree you can get such info.)
How the various groups within the country arose and the relationship between them. Also the different Christian churches there and where they came from.
Something that follows up on the BBC’s Syrian School documentary. Like a “where are they now”. The documentary came out just before the civil war. It’s unsettling realizing everyone’s lives are about to get much worse.
I'd be interested in the political-economic effects and consequences of Captagon production and trade within the wider Middle East, esp Saudi. Als the future of that trade.
As an American, here are some topics that I recommend:
1) Assad & his father were brutal dictators for 50 yrs
2) Chemical weapons used on civilians
3) Prisons full of people who criticized Assad
4) Assad wasn't a protector of Christians
5) Russia, Iran, & Hezbollah involvement in Syrian civil war
How people manage with schools closed and education infrastructure destroyed. Numbers out of school and further/higher education. How that affects Palestine's future.
Like you said, chemical weapons / warfare. I think that a documentary on the Sednayah prison and the whole penitentiary repression system that has been put by the Assads would be compelling too.
I'd like to hear stories of refugees who are forced back into a broken Syria just because Assad is no longer in power. We sponsored a family a little over ten years ago. The kids are now teens who grew up here. I'm worried they'll be deported.
I would love to see something on who the different factions in current Syria are, and which external entities are supporting them. What is the role of Turkey, USA, Iran, Israel and Russia? What kind of power struggle can we expect in the future?
A breakdown of the areas of Syria controlled by different factions.
Who they are & what they do. Any specific regional factors(oil, buffer zone, food production).
Plus what, if any, country supports them.
I'd want to see something about how groundbreaking the conflict was from beginning to end in how regular people told the story of what was happening through what started as "UGC" and evolved into something far more complex and far more organised.
I'd like to do something like that, I don't think people appreciate how important Syria was in how the conflict in Ukraine was covered and the impact it had on the justice and accountability community.
During these long years of war, many apologists tried to convince the international community that Christians and other minorities were strongly pro-Assad because of his "secular" views. But what was their actual life under the regime?
I mean, i think the stories of the survivors of the regime's prisons is probably the most compelling, but my personal curiousity relates to any new information that could be found on Alois Brunner and his relationship with Syrian intelligence.
What Russia gained from backing Syria & the consequences to them and others of it unravelling.
I’m thinking gas pipelines, staging post to Africa, local influence etc.
Historical timeline of the many different factions, where they began, how they evolved, and how power struggles and exterior manipulation led to today's construct.
Whether the Kurds will be abandoned by the West now that Assad is gone + the NATO member Turkey supported HTS/SNA takeover. How the opposition was funded and armed, the weird competition between various "western friendly" nations & the militias they backed. I'd love to understand it better.
To further wreck Putin’s credibility by showing he is unable to protect his clients even when they bail out to Russia, which discourages states from wanting to be in Russia’s sphere in the first place. These are selfish leaders who need to see that alignment with Russia won’t end well for them.
It would also be interesting to see how common soldiers were drugged on captagon. From what I heard, it reminds me of the taking of amphetamines that the Wehrmacht took in WWII.
Comparing Idlib/rebel held areas with Assad held areas showing why the Assad regime collapsed with barely any resistance . I think alot of , even sympathatic , people still missunderstand what the Assad regime was and was not and what the rebel are and were and what not.
How the different groups came to be, what differentiates them in everyday life (not theoretical/theological theories), and how this relates to other peoples in adjacent countries, and how this relates to the nation states involved (israel, russia, turkey,... ).
I'm mesmerized & confused by that.
Wondering how or if the country is going to stay together though not sure how to make a documentary about it. I think it would be basically experts and people in Syria speculating about a chaotic future likely having little better chance getting it right than the weekly astrologers in a tabloid.
The last days of the Assad regime and his inner workings incl. how he fled and which riches he and his wife took with them vs. what they left/had to leave back.
And the role of local players and allies in enabling/helping him to flee (HTS, other local factions, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Russia, etc.)
personally i would like to see Asma Assads role exposed, how she blended the world and got away with it. i think her presence and influence on the international is underestimated and underreported.
I'm already working on getting a documentary about chemical weapons off the ground, there's a already a lot to work with, and now we'd have access on the ground and the ability to speak to witnesses.
2 things for me, why chem weapons denialism spread and how it might affect current chem weapons discoveries in Syria. Also, what changed on the ground for such a swift collapse of the regime, presumably incl 🇷🇺 decline +other factors. Esp would like to know more about success of local admin vs regime
Comments
They deposed a dictator.
I want to be their friend.
It would have tremendous value to justice bodies (Syrian and international) and could aid any truth and reconciliation programmes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qtp9x
1) Assad & his father were brutal dictators for 50 yrs
2) Chemical weapons used on civilians
3) Prisons full of people who criticized Assad
4) Assad wasn't a protector of Christians
5) Russia, Iran, & Hezbollah involvement in Syrian civil war
Thx for your work!
(I mean, maybe a thought?)
Who they are & what they do. Any specific regional factors(oil, buffer zone, food production).
Plus what, if any, country supports them.
I’m thinking gas pipelines, staging post to Africa, local influence etc.
Drug trade and production
Food security after Assad’s collapse now Russia stopped its supply
Who helped? Who didn’t?
Who’s working on geolocating Al-Assad’s dacha? Could Ukraine’s long-range drones hit it? Would they want to?
I'm mesmerized & confused by that.
And the role of local players and allies in enabling/helping him to flee (HTS, other local factions, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Russia, etc.)
e.g. https://bsky.app/profile/gbutensky.bsky.social/post/3lbn2lh2kmk2q
and
https://bsky.app/profile/gbutensky.bsky.social/post/3ldbspw5my22q
Minority Ethnicities
Russian support for Assad
Exiles