This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Christoph Reuter of Der Spiegel magazine, an award winning journalist and conflict reporter. They talk about Captagon, criminal networks, and Syria's war economy. Later, Jon continues the conversation with Natasha Hall and Lubna Yousef, and they explore the intersection between criminal networks and war zones.
Tr ... Show More
May 22
Babel Special: Jon Alterman's Next Chapter
This week on a special edition of Babel, Will Todman speaks with Jon Alterman, the creator of Babel and the show’s host since it began in 2019. They discuss Jon’s reflections on 22 years directing the CSIS Middle East Program, his analysis of how the Middle East policy ecosystem ... Show More
34m 59s
May 15
Mohanad Hage Ali: Hezbollah and the Captagon Trade
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director for research at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. Mohanad's latest paper for Carnegie investigates the rise of a new form of drug smuggling in Lebanon. Together, they discuss Hezbollah’s i ... Show More
50m 16s
May 8
Analysis: Will Trump’s Houthi Deal Stick?
On Tuesday, May 6, President Trump declared that the United States would immediately halt its bombing of Houthi targets, bringing an end to months of intensified U.S. strikes across Yemen. The president linked the policy reversal to what he described as the Iran-backed Houthis’ c ... Show More
6m 13s
May 2013
The debate over intervention in Syria
The death toll in Syria is now estimated at a horrifying 70,000, and the pressure on the United States to intervene is mounting, particularly with the suggestion that the Syrian government may have used chemical weapons. Geoff Dyer in Washington and Abigail Fielding-Smith in Beir ... Show More
9m 56s
Jun 2023
Syrie: la normalisation amorcée?
Le 19 mai 2023, le sommet de la Ligue arabe à Djeddah a marqué le retour en grâce de Bachar el-Assad auprès de ses pairs du Proche-Orient. Tapis rouge pour un président que l’organisation avait exclu, fin 2011, pour sa répression sanglante du soulèvement démocratique en Syrie, da ... Show More
50 m
Nov 2021
Fmr. CIA analyst on the hidden realities of Syria's war and new novel, 'Damascus Station'
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As a CIA analyst, David McCloskey covered Syria from 2008 to 2014. He draws on his experience for his new spy thriller, "Damascus Station," set during the early years of the Syrian war.
David McCloskey joins Aaron Mat ... Show More
1h 20m
Mar 2024
Thirteen years later, has the world forgotten Syria?
Thirteen years ago, Syrians took to the streets to stand up against the government of Bashar al-Assad. The war that followed has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than 12 million. Today, al-Assad is still in power. Has the world abandoned Syria?
In this episode:
Al ... Show More
17m 18s
Oct 2022
In Syria, facing cholera and corruption
When a war is forgotten, the problems do not go away. In Syria, a cholera outbreak could threaten the whole region, just as the World Health Organization is investigating complaints of corruption from within its ranks. Meanwhile, the ways in which the world has adapted to the Syr ... Show More
21m 6s
Mar 2021
The price of freedom: Syrians fight displacement and poverty after a decade of war
10 years ago this month, protesters took to the streetss broke out across Syria the country demanding an end to the rule of Bashar Al-Assad. Inspired by similar protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and across the region, Syrians sought a democratic and just society, free from oppr ... Show More
38m 45s