We are Condemned to Hope

We Are Condemned to Hope — Saadallah Wannous This is not a passing sentence, nor a romantic slogan meant to be hung on walls and forgotten. “We are condemned to hope” feels like an existential verdict: there is no escape from hoping, even when we are depleted, even when defeats pile

Reassessing the Drought–Migration–Conflict Nexus in Syria

A 2025 UNU-INWEH report entitled “The Drought-Migration-Conflict Nexus: Was the Syrian Civil War Really Caused by Climate Change?” provides a comprehensive reexamination of the commonly held narrative linking Syria’s 2007-2009 drought to the 2011 uprising. Summary of UNU - INWEH Findings The study employs a mixed-methods approach (meteorological analysis,

Carrying Many Worlds at Once

2025 did not move in straight lines. It moved the way rivers do; splitting, rejoining, carving new paths when the old ones no longer held. 2025 was a threshold year. The kind you only recognize afterward, when you realize something irreversible has happened. I finished my PhD. Not as a

A New Year Reading for Myself

01 January 2026 Today I pause. Not for the world, not for deadlines, not for anyone else; only for me. 2025 held so much. Uncertainty, hope, small victories, moments when I doubted myself, moments when I surprised myself. I carried responsibilities that no one fully saw. I fought for my

I write my own blog for a reason

I have been asked many times why I write my own blog. Why I don’t limit myself to academic papers, project reports, or policy briefs. Why I choose to write publicly, and in my own voice, about water and environmental challenges in Syria. At first, I told myself it

5 Lessons I Learned from My PhD Abroad: More Than Just Research

When I packed my bags couple of years ago, I thought I was only leaving home to study. I didn’t realize I was also stepping into a journey that would change me at the deepest level. A PhD sounds like an academic title, but when you do it far

From Basin Tensions to Local Realities: A Pragmatic Roadmap for Water and Climate Resilience in the Tigris–Euphrates

The Tigris–Euphrates isn’t just a river system; it’s a pressure map. Climate stress squeezes from above, politics pulls from the sides, and everyday life (drinking water, crops, and electricity) gets caught in the vise. This piece distills a multiscale assessment we prepared for Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)

The Moment I Say “Syria”

The question lands like a small alarm with a smile: Who are you? Or where are you from? I’ve learned how quickly the answer can flip a room. There’s always a beat before I say it. A soft, private breath. Then I offer the word that has framed

“Home Is Where the Heart Is”, But Is It?

They say home is where the heart is. I’ve been trying to catch mine in the act, to see where it keeps slipping off to when I’m not looking. Some days it’s in a kitchen I no longer rent, humming above a gas stove that ticked like

Syria’s Next Turning Point: Who (and What) Should Run the Taps?

Syria’s most decisive reconstruction battle won’t be fought on city streets, it will be won or lost at the kitchen sink. After a decade of conflict, earthquake damage and worsening droughts, the question is no longer whether to reform water governance, but how. Two big ideas dominate the

A nation can survive shattered pipes and parched fields, but not the drought of public trust.

Syria’s water debate has reached a historic fork. One path calls for an independent national authority that finally untangles the clashing mandates of several ministries and scores of local councils involved in managing water. The other champions a Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) nexus approach that forces every sector to put its

Will water ever be a tool for peace building in the Middle East?

By the end of July 2024, the Blue Peace Middle East concluded its inaugural Youth Fellowship Programme (YFP), a ground breaking initiative that brought together bright minds from Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Türkiye. The goal was to foster sustainable development and peace through transboundary water cooperation. I had