
Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal is the Media and Advocacy Officer of the Syrian Association of Yorkshire having completed an LLM in Legal and Political Theory at the University of York, he is currently a PhD candidate at the same university’s Law School.
Items by Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
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- January 20, 2025 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
Syria beyond the House of Assad: Reconstruction and challenges
It is a little over a month after the Al-Assad regime was finally deposed after 54 years of rule in Syria. The days after 8 December, when Bashar Al-Assad fled to Moscow, witnessed joy and celebration on the streets of Syrian cities and beyond, a joy unparalleled since the...
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- December 9, 2024 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
The end of the House of Assad: How, and why now?
One of the earliest slogans of the 2011 revolutionaries in Syria was, “The Syrian people will not be humiliated.” They were right. In the end, it was their President, Bashar Al-Assad, who fled from Syria in the middle of the night without even notifying his loyalists. He made a...
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- October 7, 2024 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
In light of events in Gaza and Lebanon, has Assad finally exposed his irrelevance?
As we mark a year since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, and the killing of at least 42,000 Palestinians by the Israeli occupation army, we should pause for reflection. This has been a year of horror, which shows no sign of ending. The people of Gaza...
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- July 4, 2024 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
It’s not too late for Erdogan to back away from normalisation with Assad
A quote from Christopher Nolan’s 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight could apply to many a political career: “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” It is a warning, a shot across the bow, that encapsulates so well how, ultimately, hubris...
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- March 19, 2024 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
Revolutions don’t succeed overnight; 13 years on, Syria is no exception
As we pass the 13th anniversary of the Syrian Revolution, an uprising that was part of the broader Arab Spring movement that started in early 2011, feelings are bittersweet. It is clear that this revolution hasn’t produced the victory that the Syrian people were hopeful of in its early...
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- January 15, 2024 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
The oppression of Gazans and Syrians – Two sides of the same coin
As we cross the 100-day anniversary of the war in Gaza, it is encouraging to see that the world is still deeply preoccupied with the crisis and the plight of its civilians. The recent news of the case that South Africa has brought to the International Court of Justice...
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- August 22, 2023 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
The chemical weapons attack on Ghouta was a ‘holocaust’, but 10 years on there’s no real change
As we approach this week’s 10th anniversary of the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta perpetrated by the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad, it’s worth asking whether anything has changed. International inaction in the immediate aftermath of the attack – the first of its kind in the conflict at that...
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- June 19, 2023 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
The failure of Syrian refugees to resettle all starts with Bashar Al-Assad
History is full of stories of refugees fleeing conflict and devastation only to face untimely deaths, but as the world reflects on various wars and genocides, it seems that millions continue to turn a blind eye to the refugees’ situation. The recent news of the fishing vessel that sank...
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- May 25, 2023 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
Assad returns to the Arab League over a bloody red carpet
An old joke playing on words is that the League of Arab States — Jami’at Ad-Duwal Al-Arabiyya — is not really a league but a nursery for the Arabs. In Arabic, the word for league — jami’a — is the same as for university. The recent news that Syria...
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- February 15, 2023 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
Aid for Syria should not be politicised to push for the rehabilitation of Assad
Natural disasters are part of life on earth. Many can be predicted relatively accurately, so theoretically their impact should be able to be managed. These disasters become humanitarian catastrophes, however, due to systemic political failures such as those which afflict the people of Syria. After 12 years of conflict –...
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- August 15, 2022 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
A glance at the Turkish FM’s recent statement on Syria
Politics is at times compared to a game with Machiavellian actors and rogue figures who are out only for themselves. A former British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston once said: “We have no permanent allies, only permanent interests.” This is an adage many in international politics still follow, though it...
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- May 11, 2022 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
The massacres of Syrian civilians must not go unpunished
The recent exposure of another horrific massacre committed by forces loyal to the Syrian regime made the headlines momentarily before slipping from view. The massacre in Tadamon took place in 2013, when at least 288 civilians were killed, including seven women and twelve children. The infamous killing of 41...
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- February 22, 2022 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
The Ukrainian crisis - all roads lead through Damascus
As the situation in Ukraine reaches high-noon, and a Russian invasion seems imminent, it is worth taking stock and reflecting how we got here. A Russian incursion into Ukraine cannot be separated from Putin’s actions in Syria over the last decade or so. The two States, whilst not geographically,...
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- October 8, 2021 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
When will the world wake up to the Russian occupation of Syria?
As the Russian occupation of Syria enters its seventh year and with the Syrian crisis no longer in the news, serious questions must be asked. Vladimir Putin’s intervention on behalf of his ally Bashar Al-Assad may have offered Al-Assad a short term victory, but moving forward, both lose out....
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- August 9, 2021 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
Daraa marked the start of the Syrian uprising; will it also be the beginning of the end for Assad?
After ten long years, Syria is back in the news. Although this is likely to be fleeting, as the international community has long experienced conflict fatigue with regards to Syria, it is another opportunity to focus on the terrible situation there. In a world afflicted with the ongoing pandemic,...
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- June 4, 2021 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
What’s next after Assad’s election charade?
Elections are generally meant to be competitive affairs, with candidates and political parties vying for the public’s attention over the weeks and months prior to voting. Whilst not all elections are close run affairs, there should be a sense of competition, uncertainty even. When an election is, however, like...
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- March 11, 2021 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
A decade on in Syria’s war, Assad has no moral high ground to cling to
As the Syrian uprising approaches yet another anniversary, enough blood has been spilled to fill the country’s barren rivers. More than ten years on, almost a million people have lost their lives, millions more have been wounded and up to half of the pre-war population of 23 million have...
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- February 6, 2021 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
Has the UN simply failed in Syria, or is it complicit in the regime’s crimes?
As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Syrian uprising, the conflict rages on with no apparent end in sight. The role of the United Nations, the international organisation created to keep the peace and promote human rights in the world, has clearly been a dismal failure. Whilst no...
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- November 16, 2020 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
What direction will Biden take on Syria?
As Joe Biden is declared President-elect of the US, it is clear he has many matters to tackle. From containing coronavirus and managing the economic fall-out, to working to unite the country and begin to heal race relations after the spotlight on systemic racism earlier in the year, there...
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- August 21, 2020 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
7 years after the chemical attack in Syria, Assad has not been held to account
In the aftermath of the chemical attack in the Damascus province of Ghouta seven years ago, David Cameron, the former British Prime Minister remarked: “Our inaction in Syria shows we have not learned the lessons of the Holocaust” and “the lessons of not standing by”. The words he and...
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- June 25, 2020 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
Isn’t it time to revoke Asma Al-Assad’s British citizenship?
Events in Syria tend to revolve around the crimes committed by President Bashar Al-Assad and his regime. He has been in the news more than usual recently due to the severe economic downturn his country has faced over the past few months; it’s hardly surprising after years of corruption...
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- June 11, 2020 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
The failure of the Syrian economy goes beyond the imminent Caesar Act
The Syrian economy is in freefall. At the beginning of the uprising in March 2011, $1 was equivalent to approximately 50 Syrian Pounds. Today, it is equivalent to around 3,000 Syrian Pounds, a 600-fold increase over the past nine years. A state employee in Syria was paid what was...
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- May 11, 2020 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
Is Putin behind the split in Syria’s Assad family?
It is well understood that the Assad regime controls all aspects of Syrian life and society as dictatorships tend to do. The tentacles of the regime reach into the economy, the way it operates and who profits. The Assad regime operates like a family and those at the very...
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- March 16, 2020 Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal
The regime claims that Syria has immunity against the coronavirus
As Syria enters the 10th year of the conflict in the country, the situation looks bleak. Idlib is on the verge of falling to the regime, stopped only by a tenuous ceasefire, while in some countries the re-legitimisation of the Assad regime is slowly underway. In addition to the...