Senior Researcher at CNRS-IREMAM, Aix-en-Provence. Tweet in private capacity. RT not endorsement. Header: A l'Est de Damas by Majd al-Dik & Nathalie Bontemps
Aix-en-Provence, France
Joined December 2011
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"Easily"? First requirement is to bring down IS cells activity to zero, because a single attack against tourists could destroy the industry overnight. They're still far from achieving it. Second, a significant part of pre-2011 tourists were Shia pilgrims who aren't coming back.
Syria can easily generate +25% of its entire GDP from tourism in the next 5 years if the gov focuses on this sector.
In 2010, tourism industry was generating ~$6bln, despite all the neglect from the 60 year old Baathi dictatorship.
+5000 years of civilizations, mountains, forests, beaches, 6 UNESCO World Heritage sites and some of the oldest mosques, churches and world historic sites... all neglected.
Syria has 20,000 hotel rooms. For perspective: Charleston, South Carolina has more.
This is the quickest win that can come after stabilizing the country & investing in this sector.
Some noticeable figures here:
- 78% of the respondents (thus excluding non-respondent surveyed persons) support a democratic system defined as political pluralism and government accountability
- only 9% support a non-competitive Islamic regime
What seems to be the largest public opinion survey in #Syria’s history just dropped.
3,600 Syrians. Every governorate. 500+ questions. Fieldwork Sept 28 to Oct 15, 2026. Margin of error ±2-3%.
What Syrians actually want, in their own numbers 🧵
damascusinstitute.org/wp-con…
-75% consider Palestine concerns all Arabs, not just Palestinians
- 82% oppose recognising Israel
- although Iran isn't popular among respondents, 84% consider Iranian retaliations during the war were justified; conversely 78% consider retaliations against Arab countries weren't
Finally, when assessing ability to criticize the government without fear on a 0-10 scale, mean response is 6.4
Thomas Pierret retweeted
بسقوط الأسد، أُدمج السلفيون في المؤسسة الدينية الرسمية، وصعد نشاط التيارات السلفية في المجال العام ونقدها بعض سياسات الدولة. يتتبع عبد الرحمن الحاج مسار السلفية السورية بين الاحتواء والتوتر، وحدود حضورها في المجتمع.
@RahmanAlhaj
لقراءة المقال:
alpheratz.short.gy/P2ujBK
Thomas Pierret retweeted
"Nous savions tous qu'un jour, les mots de la haine tueraient" : Omar Sy, Theodora, Camille Cottin, Christian Karembeu, Abd al Malik, Marina Foïs, Marie-Jo Pérec... une centaine de personnalités appellent à refuser le silence et l’indifférence dans Politis.politis.fr/articles/2026/10/…
Thomas Pierret retweeted
À Strasbourg, hier, la police a tabassé deux manifestants déjà blessés et les street medics qui les soignaient.
Le monde entier doit voir ce que la police française fait à son peuple.
Thomas Pierret retweeted
Sur CNEWS Éric Zemmour n’a eu de cesse d’attiser la haine raciste contre la ville de Trappes et ses habitants.
Voilà le résultat.
Thomas Pierret retweeted
J'en ai marre des explications simplistes de pourquoi ça casse en manif.
Depuis 13 ans, j'habite avec vue sur les cortèges, en plus d'en faire régulièrement, et je peux décrire exactement ce qu'il se passe à chaque fois. ⬇️
Thomas Pierret retweeted
French protesters tackle a suspicious individual who was attacking a firetruck during the demonstration in Paris.
Thomas Pierret retweeted
Rather shwam anecdote regarding the golden age of Islamic charitable organizations in Syria's liberal 1950s from @ThomasPierret's Religion and State in Syria
Whoever made this (up) wanted to implicate the Turks (red flag) and Hamas (it is signed by "Abu Mu'adh Aknaf", a probable reference to the Hamas-linked former Syrian rebel group Aknaf Bayt al-Maqdis)
Thomas Pierret retweeted
Hi @MonicaLMarks - we are so glad about your interest and your kind words. Here is an overview of all the chapters written by our wonderful contributors:
Thomas Pierret retweeted
Our edited volume (with @ThomasPierret) "Utopianism in the Middle East and North Africa" (@EdinburghUP, 2025) is now out in paperback - and available with a 30% discount! Check it out here:
edinburghuniversitypress.com…
Maybe because de facto, they're a state rather than an "armed group"?
Thomas Pierret retweeted
ظهور نادر للرئيس نور الدين الأتاسي وهو يخطب في دمشق بعد حريق المسجد الأقصى في آب 1969
يظهر الرئيس السوري نور الدين الأتاسي في هذا المقطع وهو يتوجه إلى الجماهير بخطاب حماسي يعدهم فيه "بتحرير كل شبر من الأرض المحتلة الطاهرة"، ويعلن أن "هذه المسيرة ستتحول إلى مسيرة مسلحة، مسيرة للتحرير والعودة".
كان الأتاسي يخطب في مسيرة خرجت في دمشق في شهر آب عام 1969 تنديداً بحرق المسجد الأقصى في القدس المحتلة، مردداً اللازمة التي عُرف بها وكان يفتتح بها كلامه: "يا جماهير شعبنا".
يذكر أن الأتاسي كان رئيساً للدولة ورئيساً للوزراء وأميناً عاماً لحزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي.
#تاريخ_سورية #نور_الدين_الأتاسي #المسجد_الأقصى
Fairly clear pattern here: most big names among signatories are either Salafis (haraki/activist type) or Ikhwan. Not many Sufi/traditionalists. – at Aix-en-Provence, France
