What does the future hold for Syria after Assad’s fall? In this gripping episode, Dutch analyst and field researcher Rena Netjes joins us from Istanbul. Fluent in Arabic and Hebrew, and deeply embedded in the region, Rena shares raw insights from her extensive time on the ground in Syria, Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey. We dive into the complex fate of the SDF and PKK, U.S. sanctions, and the geopolitical vacuum left in Assad’s wake. She also recounts her harrowing arrest in Egypt — a story of journalistic courage and survival.

Read her latest article:

👉 “Lifting Sanctions Can Supercharge Syria’s Liberal Economic Opening”

https://dawnmena.org/lifting-sanctions-can-supercharge-syrias-liberal-economic-opening/

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🔹 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rena.netjes

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Tags:

Syria, post-Assad, Bashar al-Assad, Rena Netjes, SDF, PKK, Syrian Kurds, Kurdish politics, Syrian conflict, Syrian civil war, U.S. sanctions on Syria, Caesar Act, Kurdish autonomy, Rojava, northeast Syria, Middle East politics, Levant, YPG, Turkey-Syria border, Arab-Kurdish relations, Syrian opposition, Syrian refugees, postwar Syria, PYD, Qamishli, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Syrian civilians, field reporting, foreign analysts in Syria, geopolitics, U.S. foreign policy, Erdogan, Turkish politics, PKK designation, counterterrorism, Kurdish identity, Arab Spring, Egypt revolution, Egyptian police, press freedom, journalist arrest, Cairo, Sinai, Israeli-Arab relations, Arabic-speaking analyst, Hebrew-speaking analyst, linguistic politics, language and conflict, Istanbul-based analyst, Dutch Middle East analyst, field research in conflict zones, memory and resistance, authoritarianism in MENA, Syria after 2024, regional power vacuum, Syria transition, Assad fall 2024, power-sharing, Syrian governance, Turkey-SDF tensions, Iran in Syria, Russian withdrawal Syria, grassroots reporting, lived experience, voices from the ground, eyewitness testimony, Syrian political future, rebel governance, Syrian Arab tribes, US-Turkey relations, EU and Syria, Rena Netjes interview, Syria podcast, Middle East podcast, Syria deep dive, Kurdish politics explained, conflict analysis, real stories from the region, DAWN MENA, Syria economic reform, lifting sanctions, liberal economic opening.