Alexander Schinis @aschinis89

At his January 20 inauguration ceremony, President Donald J. Trump delivered many frightening assurances to his base. One particular pledge, Trump’s...

Protests in Syria are a method of resistance usually associated with residents of areas outside the control of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Even after the...

Something remarkable is unfolding in northern Syria, though you might not know it. In the largely-Kurdish populated region of Syria, an area now known as...

The Lebanese group, Hezbollah, is militant, Islamist, and portrays itself in terms of various dichotomies: resistance versus oppression, Islamic morality...

When the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution 2334 on December 23, 2016, there were two kinds of reactions from members of the...

The Syrian war has been rife with false reports and misinformation, as most conflicts are. Indeed, separating fact from fiction in a war zone is a notoriously...

Many Syrians (both in the besieged territories and in the diaspora) continue to conceive of their struggle against President Bashar Al-Assad as an ongoing...

The international community breathed a little easier in March of this year when Syrian regime forces pushed ISIS out of the city of Palmyra. The city's ancient...

The world may have become desensitized to news about the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Syria. Recently, though, a young voice has given new meaning to...

In the wake of the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, the world is scrambling to adjust its expectations for the coming year. One issue in particular that will...

To date, the civil war in Syria has turned out relatively well for the country’s armed Kurdish groups. Before the conflict erupted, Kurds faced...

Syria watchers may have noticed a disturbing trend recently. Increasingly, many commentators are denying the very existence of Syria’s bravest activists with...

U.S. presidential elections are less than one week away. In January, a new president will take over the Oval Office. This changing of the guard means there...

For many of us, there’s only one way to properly celebrate October 31: grabbing the remote, whipping up some popcorn, and watching the perfect horror flick....

Last week, medieval history received a nod from the most unlikely of places: Garden City, Kansas. There, three men, calling themselves "the Crusaders," were...

Few people envy the work of the UN envoy to Syria. The Guardian’s Janine De Giovanni, has described it as “the world's most difficult job.” The first...

If you were planning an upcoming vacation but had excluded Syria from your itinerary, you could be forgiven for thinking it is not a safe place to travel....

It’s feeling this month as though there is no good news to be had. This seems to be doubly true for anything Syria-related (particularly for those of us who...

After a week of hope, Syria is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. On Monday, September 12, a ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States...

Muftah is putting together a Special Collection of articles that will examine leftist discourse on the Syrian revolution. It is our hope that this Special...

In recent days, there has been an upswing in news about Syria’s “White Helmets,” and for good reason. Known for the color of its protective headgear,...

It is not every day that armies aligned with Al Qaeda make headlines for turning a new leaf. But on July 28, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria did just that....

It may seem that we, in the United States, are living during an exceptional time - at least when it comes to political rhetoric. Politicians are ramping up...

Regional alliances in Syria are shifting, as the conflict continues to develop well into its sixth year. The most recent breakdown of relations is taking place...

On August 15, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) released the results of a new national survey. Its purpose: to explore U.S. voter outlook on the...

To many observing the conflict in Syria, the Kurds have emerged as a distinctly sympathetic group, underdogs struggling for democratic self-determination....

No figure from Islamic scripture arouses more negative feeling than Satan. He stands as a symbol of evil and arrogance, the enemy of mankind itself. According...

There has never been a better time for chills and thrills in the United States - at least where film and television are concerned. From the campy style of...

In the spring of this year, Muftah Magazine's Sarah Moawad traveled to Egypt in April to visit family, and what she saw there made a lasting impression. Her...

On Tuesday, July 19, media activists in Syria reported a terrible tragedy. The organization “Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently,” a group famous for its...

We know them as “the Greatest Generation.” They were the men and women who overcame the Great Depression and endured the trials of a world war. They also...

Across the world, many have been horrified by the tragedy that unfolded on Tuesday, June 28, at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Journalists, experts, and...

In recent months, there has been less and less reporting on the refugee crisis. As I wrote in Muftah last February, over the last year, Europe has also taken...

To the detriment of humanity, June has been an active month for ISIS and its foreign proxies.  On June 3, ARA News reported that ISIS militants placed...

Exams are stressful for any student, even under the best of circumstances. To press through finals season from behind bars is something most students simply...

From Chinatown in lower Manhattan to Harlem's 125th Street and beyond, tourists and long-time residents know the neighborhoods that make New York City the...

Author and journalist, Charles Glass, has noticed something remarkable happening in Syria. In the years since its civil war broke out, the country has...

The U.S. presidential election has former President Bill Clinton traveling the campaign circuit once again. As a surrogate for and the husband of presidential...

Prominent linguist and political activist, Noam Chomsky, is not pulling any punches in his new book, Who Rules the World? In honor of the book’s publication...

On April 27, 2016, the world shuddered as explosions rocked Aleppo. Bombardment in Syria’s largest city has been far from uncommon these days, but this time,...

Naila al-Atrash is a Syrian actor and theater director from Damascus. She graduated from Bulgaria’s Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in 1978. From 1989 -...

The votes are counted and the results are in: New York University’s graduate student union has endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS)...

Talking torture in the United States can sometimes sound a bit clinical. Words like “isolation,” “exposure,” “method,” and “technique” are all...

His administration is not exactly known for its transparency, but even President Barack Obama can speak frankly from time to time. On April 10, Fox News...

Social justice is finding a home at New York University (NYU), one of the nation’s most expensive institutions of higher education. Students at NYU have been...

When Italian researcher Giulio Regeni turned up dead in a roadside ditch in Egypt on February 3, 2016, there was little doubt Egyptian secret police were...

U.S. presidential candidate Donald J. Trump is known around the world for his controversial statements, but one of his recurring claims stands out from the...

Few would reject an invitation to meet with President Barack Obama in the nation’s capital. This would seem doubly true for invitees from one of the United...

March 15 marks the fifth anniversary of the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al Assad. In a year that has been particularly destabilizing for all...

In an article published on February 22, Breitbart News’ National Security Correspondent Jordan Schachtel lauds the launching of “CounterJihad,” an...

It is rare to receive positive news about anything related to Syria. But, in a standout moment last week, a triumphant Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the...

Something strange is happening on Twitter, but it is unlikely to go viral any time soon. Dozens of accounts broadcasting tweets opposing ISIS are popping up in...

Conflict brings out the worst in people. Responses to ongoing hostilities in Gaza illustrate this well. Disturbingly, anti-Semitism is once again rearing its...

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has faced many challenges this year. Even before its rejection of the Umma Initiative, which unified the Islamist...