Wa'el N. Alzayat Profile picture
CEO of @Emgageaction. Proud Syrian American. Former diplomat fighting for human rights and democracy at home and abroad.
nisreen Profile picture 1 subscribed
Feb 25, 2022 10 tweets 2 min read
Something I’ve been thinking about. Russia’s invasion may have far reaching ramifications beyond obvious Euro-NATO-cold war framing. Russia under Putin (and before him) has been waging war against and in predominately Muslim countries for 100s of years. Crimea was a major theater between Czarist Russia and the Ottomans. Heck a whole war was named after it. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_W…
Feb 24, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
I’m praying tonight for the brave people of Ukraine. With news of explosions in major Ukrainian cities, I’m reminded of what Russia under Putin did to so many Syrian cities. What it did to Georgia. What it did to Chechnya. I know the US deserves a fair share of criticism over its various misadventures, especially since the end of WWII, and we must atone for them. But what Putin is doing and has been doing for the past 20 years is a serious threat to democracy and self determination.
Jan 3, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
As a former @StateDept official who worked on Iraq and Syria for a decade, two decisions taken by the Obama Administration greatly empowered #QassimSolimani. The first was allowing his #Qudsforce to successfully support #Assad. The second to play a leadership role in the #PMF We watched him ferry supplies to Assad as early as 2012 over Iraqi airspace and eventually send Iraqi and Afghan militias, and Quds Force personnel. We watched them lay siege to, and starve countless Syrian towns from Homs to Mouadmaya to Aleppo.
Oct 10, 2019 46 tweets 8 min read
A Recent, but Forgotten History: Syria 1. The Syrian crisis began in 2011 when a government decided that the only way to deal with peaceful protesters was to squash them militarily. It did not begin with the Turkish intervention.