Alexander McKeever
@akmckeever.bsky.social
Amman-based New Yorker obsessed with Cape Breton (and Syria)
Author of This Week in Northern Syria newsletter, regular open sourced updates on northern Aleppo and SDF-controlled eastern Syria:
https://akmckeever.substack.com
Author of This Week in Northern Syria newsletter, regular open sourced updates on northern Aleppo and SDF-controlled eastern Syria:
https://akmckeever.substack.com
Pinned
Introducing the 'Syria resource drive'
A growing collection of articles, databases, maps and more available to paid subscribers
akmckeever.substack.com
Paid subscribers now get access to a drive full of Syria resources... includes (/will include) actor profiles, a data and document library, hundreds of academic articles and reports, maps, and a database of 8,000+ towns and villages with location coordinates
akmckeever.substack.com/p/introducin...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/introducin...
This week's newsletter: some potential movement around al-Sheikh Maqsoud, Syria joins the Coalition, Sipan Hamo speaks on potential integration & preparations for potential return to war
akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...
This Week in Northern Syria [42.2025]
November 5 - 11: al-Shar' at the White House, Gov't officials visit al-Sheikh Maqsoud, YPG's Sipan Hamo interviewed on integration talks, and more...
akmckeever.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:50 AM
This week's newsletter: some potential movement around al-Sheikh Maqsoud, Syria joins the Coalition, Sipan Hamo speaks on potential integration & preparations for potential return to war
akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...
Almost 10 years since the Nursa/Syrian opposition vs Islamic State split... Sharaa is in the White House while IS is relegated to speedboat battles against Boko Haram on Lake Chad
November 11, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Almost 10 years since the Nursa/Syrian opposition vs Islamic State split... Sharaa is in the White House while IS is relegated to speedboat battles against Boko Haram on Lake Chad
Two recent works of @ajaltamimi.bsky.social's on Twelver Shi'ah communities in Syria, those of Damascus's Sayyida Zaynab suburb, and of the neighboring Idlib towns of Fu'ah and Kafriyah, displaced via population swap in 2018
www.syriaintransition.com/en/home/arch...
www.hudson.org/terrorism/sy...
www.syriaintransition.com/en/home/arch...
www.hudson.org/terrorism/sy...
Syria in Transition – The last banner of Zaynab
A monthly magazine on Syrian politics and society that cuts through the noise
www.syriaintransition.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Two recent works of @ajaltamimi.bsky.social's on Twelver Shi'ah communities in Syria, those of Damascus's Sayyida Zaynab suburb, and of the neighboring Idlib towns of Fu'ah and Kafriyah, displaced via population swap in 2018
www.syriaintransition.com/en/home/arch...
www.hudson.org/terrorism/sy...
www.syriaintransition.com/en/home/arch...
www.hudson.org/terrorism/sy...
Reposted by Alexander McKeever
Came across a random photo of this 'Roman tower' I'd never heard of before in Sarrin, eastern Aleppo. After taking a brief look I both came across some 1909 Gertrude Bell photos of the site and managed to located it
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
Weekend notes
Sarrin's tower tomb: an obscure Roman-era archaeological site east of the Euphrates
akmckeever.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Came across a random photo of this 'Roman tower' I'd never heard of before in Sarrin, eastern Aleppo. After taking a brief look I both came across some 1909 Gertrude Bell photos of the site and managed to located it
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
Apparently no one in the last 9 years has changed the al-Bab highway sign that still reads "Wilayat al-Barakah," the Islamic State name for al-Hasakah governorate
t.me/ehtemlat2/60...
t.me/ehtemlat2/60...
November 9, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Apparently no one in the last 9 years has changed the al-Bab highway sign that still reads "Wilayat al-Barakah," the Islamic State name for al-Hasakah governorate
t.me/ehtemlat2/60...
t.me/ehtemlat2/60...
Sharaa and Shaibani's shots look like shit tbh
November 9, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Sharaa and Shaibani's shots look like shit tbh
Cizre 1938 - photo taken by French Army aircraft from about the Syria border looking NNE
November 9, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Cizre 1938 - photo taken by French Army aircraft from about the Syria border looking NNE
Came across a random photo of this 'Roman tower' I'd never heard of before in Sarrin, eastern Aleppo. After taking a brief look I both came across some 1909 Gertrude Bell photos of the site and managed to located it
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
Weekend notes
Sarrin's tower tomb: an obscure Roman-era archaeological site east of the Euphrates
akmckeever.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Came across a random photo of this 'Roman tower' I'd never heard of before in Sarrin, eastern Aleppo. After taking a brief look I both came across some 1909 Gertrude Bell photos of the site and managed to located it
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
1941 US Army map of southern al-Raqqah/Resafa badiyah
November 9, 2025 at 12:39 PM
1941 US Army map of southern al-Raqqah/Resafa badiyah
Reposted by Alexander McKeever
Check out my latest for Syria in Transition looking more closely at the Sayyida Zaynab shrine in Damascus (based on my visits there), its administration, & what observations tell us about the status of Syria's Twelver Shia community more broadly: www.syriaintransition.com/en/home/arch...
Syria in Transition – The last banner of Zaynab
[{"content":{"level":"h5","text":"The fall of Assad has left Syria’s Shia adrift. In the Sayyida Zaynab shrine, religious banners are taken down and phones are …
www.syriaintransition.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Check out my latest for Syria in Transition looking more closely at the Sayyida Zaynab shrine in Damascus (based on my visits there), its administration, & what observations tell us about the status of Syria's Twelver Shia community more broadly: www.syriaintransition.com/en/home/arch...
One of my aunts - a gym teacher on Long Island - has taken to using her Instagram account to promote hockey-themed gay (sorry, ‘double bi-awakening’) romance novels. My brother asked her if she knew we can all see it and she said she doesn’t care. Not sure what my uncle thinks
November 6, 2025 at 1:18 PM
One of my aunts - a gym teacher on Long Island - has taken to using her Instagram account to promote hockey-themed gay (sorry, ‘double bi-awakening’) romance novels. My brother asked her if she knew we can all see it and she said she doesn’t care. Not sure what my uncle thinks
Arabic vocab of the day:
أَلبَنَ
to lactate, to Albanianize*
*according to Wiktionary
أَلبَنَ
to lactate, to Albanianize*
*according to Wiktionary
November 4, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Arabic vocab of the day:
أَلبَنَ
to lactate, to Albanianize*
*according to Wiktionary
أَلبَنَ
to lactate, to Albanianize*
*according to Wiktionary
Erdogan portrait along with Turkish and Suleiman Shah flags (flags might be temporary) taken down at al-Sheikh Hadid roundabout, Ottoman seal on the billboard in the background gone as well
November 4, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Erdogan portrait along with Turkish and Suleiman Shah flags (flags might be temporary) taken down at al-Sheikh Hadid roundabout, Ottoman seal on the billboard in the background gone as well
because of curren$y i can never remember whether its spelled with a c or an s
November 4, 2025 at 1:07 PM
because of curren$y i can never remember whether its spelled with a c or an s
On the political uniqueness of City Island...
The only person I knew from there was a high school classmate (probably a 2 hour commute to our a Manhattan magnet school) whose dad, Adolfo Carrión, ran for mayor in 2013 for the Independence Party
www.michaellange.nyc/p/new-york-c...
The only person I knew from there was a high school classmate (probably a 2 hour commute to our a Manhattan magnet school) whose dad, Adolfo Carrión, ran for mayor in 2013 for the Independence Party
www.michaellange.nyc/p/new-york-c...
New York City’s Seaside Swing State
No Democrat running for Mayor has won City Island in 40 years. Can Zohran Mamdani change that?
www.michaellange.nyc
November 4, 2025 at 8:48 AM
On the political uniqueness of City Island...
The only person I knew from there was a high school classmate (probably a 2 hour commute to our a Manhattan magnet school) whose dad, Adolfo Carrión, ran for mayor in 2013 for the Independence Party
www.michaellange.nyc/p/new-york-c...
The only person I knew from there was a high school classmate (probably a 2 hour commute to our a Manhattan magnet school) whose dad, Adolfo Carrión, ran for mayor in 2013 for the Independence Party
www.michaellange.nyc/p/new-york-c...
I think this is the first time in my life I've experienced non-New Yorkers actually interested in hearing New Yorkers talk about NYC. An Indian friend I met in Syria has gotten so invested in the elections via Mamdani and IG that she now refers to Sliwa simply as "Curtis"
November 4, 2025 at 8:37 AM
I think this is the first time in my life I've experienced non-New Yorkers actually interested in hearing New Yorkers talk about NYC. An Indian friend I met in Syria has gotten so invested in the elections via Mamdani and IG that she now refers to Sliwa simply as "Curtis"
Reposted by Alexander McKeever
DOROTHY DAY MENTIONED!
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 5: Vito Marcantonio
There are many who dismiss our vision for New York as impossible. To them, I say we need look only to our past for proof of how we can shape the future.
Tomorrow is Election Day. And this is the final Until It's Done of our campaign.
There are many who dismiss our vision for New York as impossible. To them, I say we need look only to our past for proof of how we can shape the future.
Tomorrow is Election Day. And this is the final Until It's Done of our campaign.
November 4, 2025 at 5:31 AM
DOROTHY DAY MENTIONED!
Reposted by Alexander McKeever
A (extensive) collection of maps showing how the YPG and later SDF ended up in control of almost all of eastern Syria
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
Weekend notes
How the YPG/SDF ended up in control of eastern Syria, a visualization
akmckeever.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:31 PM
A (extensive) collection of maps showing how the YPG and later SDF ended up in control of almost all of eastern Syria
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
Reposted by Alexander McKeever
A 1940 French account of a Sufi uprising in Mandate Afrin, tied to both the National Bloc and Turkish machinations
akmckeever.substack.com/p/rober-lesc...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/rober-lesc...
Rober Lescot's "Kurd Dagh and the Muroud Movement" (1940) part 2
On a Sufi-led populist movement in French Mandate Afrin
akmckeever.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:30 PM
A 1940 French account of a Sufi uprising in Mandate Afrin, tied to both the National Bloc and Turkish machinations
akmckeever.substack.com/p/rober-lesc...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/rober-lesc...
Reposted by Alexander McKeever
This week's newsletter also includes:
-Several Syrian PKK cadre arrive after release from Turkish prisons
-Deir ez-Zour clashes
-SDF/Shammar tensions
-Gov't sends military cadets to Turkey & Saudi
-New Turkish ambassador
-latest al-Houl repatriations
akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...
-Several Syrian PKK cadre arrive after release from Turkish prisons
-Deir ez-Zour clashes
-SDF/Shammar tensions
-Gov't sends military cadets to Turkey & Saudi
-New Turkish ambassador
-latest al-Houl repatriations
akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...
This Week in Northern Syria [41.2025]
October 22 - 28: the reopening of al-Sheikh Maqsoud entrance checkpoints, Kurdish language classes cancelled in Afrin, White Helmets enter SDF area for rescue mission, and more...
akmckeever.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:09 AM
This week's newsletter also includes:
-Several Syrian PKK cadre arrive after release from Turkish prisons
-Deir ez-Zour clashes
-SDF/Shammar tensions
-Gov't sends military cadets to Turkey & Saudi
-New Turkish ambassador
-latest al-Houl repatriations
akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...
-Several Syrian PKK cadre arrive after release from Turkish prisons
-Deir ez-Zour clashes
-SDF/Shammar tensions
-Gov't sends military cadets to Turkey & Saudi
-New Turkish ambassador
-latest al-Houl repatriations
akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...
Reposted by Alexander McKeever
@ajaltamimi.bsky.social on the practicalities of accessing electricity in Syria's rural Aleppo: www.aymennaltamimi.com/p/electricit...
Electricity in Syria: A Sample of Practical Experience
Discussion of the availability of electricity in Syria often involves a macroview of statistics about power supply and consumption. While big picture statistics are useful, they may obscure the nature...
www.aymennaltamimi.com
November 2, 2025 at 8:16 AM
@ajaltamimi.bsky.social on the practicalities of accessing electricity in Syria's rural Aleppo: www.aymennaltamimi.com/p/electricit...
“Unexpectedly for Horkheimer, the family has made a comeback in the age of neoliberalism, yet not in its traditional form, but as a refurbished insurance firm, with the Trumps, Berlusconis, and Kaczyńskis as the clearest examples.”
americanaffairsjournal.org/2023/08/the-...
americanaffairsjournal.org/2023/08/the-...
The Rise and Fall of the Project State: Rethinking the Twentieth Century - American Affairs Journal
“We thought we knew the story of the twentieth century,” Charles Maier notes in an announcement for his new book The Project State and Its Rivals. Both haunting and tantalizing, the sentence’s past te...
americanaffairsjournal.org
November 2, 2025 at 4:35 AM
“Unexpectedly for Horkheimer, the family has made a comeback in the age of neoliberalism, yet not in its traditional form, but as a refurbished insurance firm, with the Trumps, Berlusconis, and Kaczyńskis as the clearest examples.”
americanaffairsjournal.org/2023/08/the-...
americanaffairsjournal.org/2023/08/the-...
A (extensive) collection of maps showing how the YPG and later SDF ended up in control of almost all of eastern Syria
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
Weekend notes
How the YPG/SDF ended up in control of eastern Syria, a visualization
akmckeever.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:31 PM
A (extensive) collection of maps showing how the YPG and later SDF ended up in control of almost all of eastern Syria
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...
akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...