Kareem Fahim
@kareemf.bsky.social
Middle East reporter @washingtonpost.com
Beyond the Caesar files: A newly revealed trove of photos depicts 10,000 people who had died in Bashar al-Assad’s brutal prison system during his last decade in power. www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...
Syria’s killing machine
A newly revealed trove of photos depicts 10,000 people who had died in Bashar al-Assad’s brutal prison system during his last decade in power.
washingtonpost.com
Some personal news: I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting. Thread incoming. substack.com/@karenattiah...
The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced.
I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.
substack.com
Surrounded by ICE facilities in rural, remote Louisiana, an immigration lawyer tries to keep up with the churn of Trump’s deportation operation. New in @washingtonpost.com’s Deep Reads today: wapo.st/41W1NMa
A last lifeline in ‘detention alley’
Most of immigration lawyer Christopher Kinnison’s clients in rural Louisiana are detainees. Every week, more calls come in, and Kinnison hasn’t been able to process what his days at work are becoming.
wapo.st
@washingtonpost.com's @kareemf.bsky.social and Zakaria Zakaria on how the Shara' government's attempts to impose control nationwide through force actually risk breaking Syria apart: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Could Syria unravel? Fearful minorities resist new leader’s bid for control.
Staggering violence in various regions is fueling minority demands for autonomy, posing a challenge to President Sharaa’s plans for a strong centralized state.
washingtonpost.com
@washingtonpost.com's Ed Ram and @kareemf.bsky.social on the devastating impact of Western aid cuts to Syria at its moment of greatest need. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Syria loses a lifeline as the United States and Europe slash global aid
The fall of Syria’s dictatorship last year brought the end of a long and bloody civil conflict — but no quick relief to millions of Syrians living in the war-shattered nation.
washingtonpost.com
For a long time, gulf countries saw “Iran as the biggest destabilizing force in the region,” and a threat they needed to counter. “That calculus has changed. The most destabilizing actor is Israel." www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Gulf states fear an unrestrained Israel will hurt fragile ties with Iran
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others in the region have sought closer relations with Iran over recent years in hopes of fostering stability.
washingtonpost.com
“What is happening is more than just the ceasefire being violated,” Chaabane said. “It is the transformation of the south of Lebanon. … It has become a de facto security strip.” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Israel strikes Lebanon in one of biggest attacks since November ceasefire
One person died and 21 others were injured, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Israel said it was targeting an underground Hezbollah site.
washingtonpost.com
Sigh of the times: “I may emigrate,” says Gülsüme Oğuz, a clinical psychologist. “My usual white-collar clients can’t afford regular sessions anymore, and I can’t afford the rent.” www.ft.com/content/5999...
Turkey’s economic woes catch up with Erdoğan
A cost of living crisis and social unrest are throwing the strongman leader’s plan to stay in power into jeopardy
ft.com
Rich People And Pundits Really Do Not Want Zohran Mamdani to Be Mayor Allies of former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo are breaking New York City spending limits trying to make him mayor. Mamdani is still closing the gap.
Rich People, Pundits Really Do Not Want Zohran Mamdani to Be Mayor
Groups aligned with former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have spent $24 million on his campaign to defeat Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani.
rollingstone.com
“We have been working for years to avert such a showdown, because we will be the ultimate victims,” said Bader Al-Saif from Kuwait University. "Those who assumed people in the Gulf were happy with the strikes against Iran should think twice. This is such an intertwined, interconnected region.”
Arab gulf states work to contain fallout from Israel’s attack on Iran
Oman and Qatar were leading efforts to begin ceasefire talks, while mediators said Iran was open to resuming nuclear negotiations if Israel’s attacks stop.
washingtonpost.com
New IPC assessment of hunger and famine risks in Gaza: ”The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people (one in five) facing starvation.” www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-webs...
Video obtained by @nytimes.com confirms the IDF fired on and killed clearly identified Red Crescent medics in Gaza. 15 were killed. Satellite pics analyzed by @ckoettl.bsky.social & @sanjanamv.bsky.social show the IDF then buried the medics andambulances. Story 👇 www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/w...
Video Shows Aid Workers Killed in Gaza Under Gunfire Barrage, With Ambulance Lights On (Gift Article)
The U.N. has said Israel killed the workers. The video appears to contradict Israel’s version of events, which said the vehicles were “advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals.
nytimes.com
US issues broad order to consulates to vet student visas over ‘terrorist activity’ by @jgedeon.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
US issues broad order to consulates to vet student visas over ‘terrorist activity’
State department shares new standard for denials based on social media posts, financial donations and memberships
theguardian.com
Turkey detains journalists covering protests in house raids bianet.org/haber/turkey...
Turkey detains journalists covering protests in house raids
Several journalists have been injured during police response since the protests began on Mar 19 while covering the events on site. Also, police reportely damaged journalists' equipment in some cases.
bianet.org
In the days after Assad’s fall, rescue workers began to receive calls about the trail of bodies that his loyalists had left in people’s homes. They had lived with them for years, scared they would be blamed for murder if they told the authorities. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Syrians unearth horrors of the Assad years in their basements
Syrians had remained silent about the bodies dumped in countless basements by Assad’s forces. Rescue teams now are moving from home to home excavating remains.
washingtonpost.com
“They bombed again,” Isleem told him. “Who bombed?” the man asked. “Who do you think?” Isleem said. @leloveluck.bsky.social @cheesemanab.bsky.social @kareemf.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Syrians emerging from dictatorship bristle at new threat from Israel
Israeli attacks are angering Syrians and unsettling the country’s new leaders, who are dealing with multiple crises after the end of Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
washingtonpost.com
“Our bookshop has made noise for them for many, many years. I know in my mind, they are trying to frighten us.” Israeli police raid storied Palestinian bookstore, seize books @cheesemanab.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Live briefing: Trump says Palestinians displaced by U.S. proposal would not return; Hamas delays hostage release
Hamas on Monday said it would delay “until further notice” the release of three Israeli hostages set for Saturday.
washingtonpost.com
🧵 A friend in Gaza told me “The first thing I will do after the ceasefire is go to my mother’s grave and share the news with her. I wish she were here with me in this moment.”
It's people who don't have much who are showing up for others. www.latimes.com/delos/story/...
As fires rage, day laborers volunteer to clean up Pasadena streets
The Pasadena Community Job Center is a gathering spot for day laborers. As fires burned across the region, workers and staff launched a fire relief brigade.
latimes.com
“They said the sanctions were meant to hit the powerful, but look around here. Who is suffering the most?” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0... by @leloveluck.bsky.social, Zakaria Zakaria and Emin Özmen
International sanctions have left Syria’s health system on life support
U.S. and E.U. sanctions aimed at punishing the former Assad regime have made it more difficult for Syrian hospitals to maintain equipment and provide care.
washingtonpost.com
A peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet estimates more than 64,000 deaths in Gaza due to traumatic injury between Oct. 7, 2023 and June 30, 2024 — a figure 41% higher than the Gaza Health Ministry’s official count. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Gaza war toll likely significantly undercounts deaths, says study
An official Palestinian tally of direct deaths in the Israel-Hamas war likely undercounted the number of casualties by 41% through the middle of 2024 as the Gaza Strip's healthcare infrastructure unravelled, according to the study.
reuters.com
#Hezbollah-backed candidate Sleiman Frangieh says he is withdrawing from #Lebanon’s presidential race and will back army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun
A statement from the Washington Post Guild on today's unconscionable layoffs.
@washingtonpost.com's @kareemf.bsky.social and Zakaria Zakaria on fear among some Alawite Syrians, as reports circulate of killings and abductions and militants – not always identified clearly – target what they say are old regime "remnants": www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Alawites live in fear as Syrian rebels hunt members of Assad’s regime
Syria’s minority Alawite community is gripped by terror as reports spread of killings and disappearances under the country’s new Islamist rulers.
washingtonpost.com
“Nobody chooses how he is born." Fear in Alawite communities amid hunt in Syria for regime felool, Zakaria Zakaria and Alice Martins www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Alawites live in fear as Syrian rebels hunt members of Assad’s regime
Syria’s minority Alawite community is gripped by terror as reports spread of killings and disappearances under the country’s new Islamist rulers.
washingtonpost.com
These yearly roundups are always great, but everything put out by @turkeyrecap.bsky.social is worth reading if you're interested in Turkey—or in something that interests Turkey, like Syria. Really a quality newsletter!
Bear in mind that one of the three DEM representatives who met with Bahceli today is Ahmet Turk. Mardin's elected mayor, Turk was ousted in early November, upon the appointment of a government trustee. In his address to the party group the day after, Bahceli criticised the ousting of Turk +
On a chilly Friday in Damascus, a rally to support families of people detained and missing, and to demand “truth and justice.”
“He hadn’t shaved his white beard for five days, and when Rudaw asked about it, he just lit another cigarette without saying when he’d shave it.”
Aron Lund@aronlund.bsky.social · 2y agoRudaw’s Hevidar Ahmed interviews Syrian ex-PM Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali about what broke Assad’s regime and about his own role in the transition. Also touches on the economy and Iranian support. www.rudaw.net/english/midd... @rudawenglish.bsky.social via @abujamajem.com
“We don’t just want to put up Christmas trees and not to be called minorities, we want all our rights.” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1... @mohamadelchamaa.bsky.social @salwangeorges.bsky.social
For Syria’s Christians, Christmas is a time to grapple with hope and fear
Although members of the Christian community said they are happy to see the Assad regime go, many are wary of their new Islamist leaders.
washingtonpost.com