Catching Up on the Syrian Civil War

This morning, I read a couple of articles on recent events in Syria...

War is Boring: Iran and Russia Are Apparently Fighting Each Other in Syria

al Jazeera: Why are Islamist armed groups clashing in Syria?

... and remembered that I've been meaning to download a ton of NPR interviews with Dr. Joshua Landis, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oklahoma. (I'd love to know the back story behind the University of Oklahoma having a Center for Middle East Studies.) My own professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern history from my undergraduate years has praised Dr. Landis' expertise and recommended his work and NPR interviews on Syria for several years, and I've never taken the time to follow up. Tonight, I downloaded a little under six hours worth of his NPR interviews, and I'm going to listen to them in chronological order to give myself a sort of crash course on the Syrian civil war.

U.N. Report on Syria Causes Ripples

Syria And Iraq Revive Business Ties

New Media Strain Government Tolerance In Syria

A Snapshot Of Syrian Protests

Unrest In Syria Raises Alarm In Washington

Protests In Syria Pose Challenges For The U.S.

Protesters Want Changes To Syria's Power Structure

Protesters Take To The Streets In Syria

Getting Real About Funding Mideast Reform

Syria's Assad Family Instills Legacy Of Fear

Landis Talks About Syria's Assad Regime

Few Good Options Remain To End Syrian Attacks

In Syria's Sectarian Battle, Who Are The Alawites?

Syrian General Defects, Heads To France As Assad's Opponents Meet There

Record Number Of Syrians Fled Country In August

Concerns Build Over Violence In Syria

Syrian Militia Leaders Depend On A Terrorist Faction

Syrian Government Fires Scud Missiles At Rebels

What's At Stake In Hotspots Across The Globe

Divisions Remain In Syrian Rebel Coalition

How Chemical Weapons Could Change Strategy For Syria

Analysts Divided On U.S. Arming Syrian Rebels

Why Syria Is More Complicated Than Libya

Syrian Loyalists 'Will Continue To Fight' For Assad

Syria Gives Up Chemical Weapons ... But A War Rages On

In Syria, The U.S. Weighs A Range Of Unpalatable Options

For Syria's President, The Year Ends Better Than It Began

How The Kurds Are Succeeding In Iraq

As Civil War Rages On, 'Life In Syria Has Crumbled'

Support For Syrian Regime Critical In Fight Against ISIS, Putin Says At U.N.

Pentagon Gets ISIS Metaphor Wrong, Critics Say

Defense Secretary Ash Carter Convenes Anti-ISIS Coalition Partners In Brussels

Russian President Vladimir Putin To Withdraw Majority Of Troops From Syria

For Aleppo Residents Under Siege, A Risky Journey To Relative Safety

Assessing The Successes And Failures Of Obama's Approach To Syria

World Views: January 6, 2017

In the coming days, I may also re-listen to a 2015 War on the Rocks podcast featuring Will McCants, author of The ISIS Apocalypse. At any rate, I figured I'd share the links in case anyone else was interested, rather than keeping the work of putting the links together all to myself.