It's been 20 years since the Assad regime assassinated Samir Kassir, the Lebanese-Syrian-Palestinian historian, journalist and writer in Beirut on June 2nd 2005. Joining us today is Lebanese-French political researcher and academic Ziad Majed, a friend and comrade of Kassir, to talk about his legacy in the two decades that have passed given how much has changed since for Lebanon, Palestine and of course Syria.

This is a special cross-over episode between The Fire These Times (TFTT) and Syria: The Inconvenient Revolution (STIR). We are both part of the From The Periphery Media Collective. To support all of our projects please head out to⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery⁠

Resources:

• Dans la tête de Bachar al-Assad by Ziad Majed, Farouk Mardam-Bey and Subhi Hadidi

• Syrian melancholy in Lebanon’s revolution by Elia Ayoub and Dara Foi’Elle
• The 2020 TFTT episode (26) with Ziad Majed

Samir Kassir:

• Beirut (History)
• Being Arab/The Arab Malaise
• Archives of Samir Kassir in the Revue d'études palestiniennes (French)

Credits and More:

• • Leila Al Shami (Host). More:⁠ ⁠Bluesky⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Mastodon⁠⁠ and her⁠ ⁠Blog⁠⁠
  • Elia Ayoub (Host, Producer). More:⁠ ⁠Bluesky⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Mastodon⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and his⁠ ⁠Newsletter⁠⁠
• • STIR is also on⁠ ⁠Bluesky⁠⁠
  • TFTT is on Bluesky,⁠ Instagram⁠ and has a⁠ ⁠website
  • From The Periphery is on⁠ ⁠Patreon⁠⁠, ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠,⁠ Instagram⁠, and has a⁠ website⁠⁠

• • Hisham Rifai (Illustration)

  • Omar Offendum and Sami Matar (Music)

  Date of recording: May 30th 2025