{"id":11210,"date":"2011-08-04T12:18:54","date_gmt":"2011-08-04T16:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=11210"},"modified":"2011-08-04T14:45:42","modified_gmt":"2011-08-04T18:45:42","slug":"wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials&#8217; Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/headline\/2011\/08\/04-3\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/teamofmonkeys.com\/html\/images\/Bashar-al-Assad.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"292\" \/>WikiLeaks: Bush, Obama Passed on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders<\/a><br \/>\nby Kevin G. Hal, Thursday, August 4, 2011 by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mcclatchydc.com\/2011\/08\/03\/119333\/wikileaks-bush-obama-passed-on.html\">McClatchy<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>WASHINGTON \u2014 Two U.S. administrations declined in recent years  to place sanctions on Syrian officials who now are involved in that  country&#8217;s harsh crackdown on dissidents, despite the officials&#8217;  involvement in crushing internal opposition previously, according to  secret State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks.<\/p>\n<p>The struggle continues &#8230; demonstrators shout slogans against Syrian  President Bashar al-Assad in front of the Syrian Embassy in Turkey.  (Photo: Reuters)  In one instance, the top diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in  Damascus asked the State Department in 2007 to impose sanctions on Ali  Mamluk, the chief of intelligence for Syrian President Bashar Assad.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The role of the organization he heads in suppressing internal  dissent is publicly known in Syria and stating as much in our statement  would resonate well here,&#8221; wrote Michael Corbin, the embassy&#8217;s charge  d&#8217;affaires.<\/p>\n<p>But no action was taken against Mamluk until this April, after  security forces had killed scores of civilians in the Syrian town of  Deraa in protests that have since spread to much of the country.<\/p>\n<p>In the same cable, Corbin opposed sanctions for Mohammad Suleiman,  who at the time was a special Assad adviser for arms procurement and  strategic weapons. Corbin argued that Suleiman&#8217;s activities weren&#8217;t  well-known enough that the Treasury Department could impose the  sanctions without revealing classified information.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His activities are not widely known, which will make it difficult to  obtain unclassified material&#8221; needed for the Treasury Department to  cite when sanctioning Suleiman, Corbin wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Suleiman never was sanctioned. On Aug. 1, 2008, a sniper killed him  in the Syrian coastal town of Tartous. Syria blamed Israel&#8217;s Mossad  intelligence agency but offered no proof. A secret cable dated April 9,  2009, offers another possibility: that Suleiman was killed because he  had $80 million in cash in the basement of one of his homes, which  investigators who were looking into his slaying later found.<\/p>\n<p>How to deal with Assad&#8217;s inner circle clearly has been a difficult  problem for the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack  Obama, according to the cables, part of the vast trove of State  Department communications that WikiLeaks has shared with McClatchy and  other news organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Despite suggestions as long ago as 2006 that Assad was falling short  on promises to open his country&#8217;s political system, neither  administration was willing to take firm action against his closest  advisers, though such sanctions \u2014 which would have prohibited U.S.  citizens and companies from doing business with them \u2014 often were  discussed, the cables show.<\/p>\n<p>That same ambiguity exists today, with the Obama administration  refusing to call for Assad to leave office, even as the White House  regularly denounces the harsh crackdown in which as many as 1,600 people  are thought to have died. The most recent White House statement came  Sunday, after Syrian troops moved into the restive city of Hama and  killed an estimated 75 people.<\/p>\n<p>A Jan. 4, 2006, confidential cable from the previous charge  d&#8217;affaires in Damascus, Stephen Seche, spelled out why the Bush  administration was reluctant to target Assad&#8217;s inner circle.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Most Syrians we talk to believe that President Assad still  represents their best hope for change without instability. It is their  fear of instability that stops the majority of Syrians from pushing  harder for internal change,&#8221; Seche wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The hesitancy to pressure Assad&#8217;s inner circle as a way to bring  political change to Syria that&#8217;s reflected in the cables recalls the  conflict between how officials today describe the Libyan regime of  Moammar Gadhafi and the way Gadhafi&#8217;s regime was portrayed in diplomatic  cables before the current uprising in that country.<\/p>\n<p>As McClatchy outlined in a story in April, those cables often  portrayed Gadhafi&#8217;s regime as moving toward greater openness and  described Gadhafi&#8217;s son Saif as one of the main proponents of greater  respect for human rights. The International Criminal Court indicted Saif  Gadhafi on war crimes charges in June, along with his father.<\/p>\n<p>Corbin raised the issue of sanctions in several cables, including one  classified secret and dated Jan. 24, 2008, in which he suggested that  the U.S. target four men who make and move money for Assad.<\/p>\n<p>The four included Assad&#8217;s father-in-law, Fawas Arkhas; financier  Zufair Sahloul, who was said to be able to &#8220;move $10 million anywhere in  the world in 24 hours&#8221;; and Assad&#8217;s uncle and financial adviser  Mohammad Makhlouf. The U.S. still has made no move to sanction them,  although the European Union sanctioned Makhlouf on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The fourth person Corbin suggested the U.S. move against was Nabil al  Kuzbari, whom Corbin identified as an Assad confidant who ran  investment schemes on behalf of Syria&#8217;s top business families. The U.S.  moved to sanction him only this May.<\/p>\n<p>Despite its refusal to move in some cases, the Bush administration  did impose sanctions on some Assad confidants, including Assad&#8217;s cousin  and economic power broker Rami Makhlouf, after the embassy in Damascus  suggested that they be targeted.<\/p>\n<p>A secret cable sent Jan. 31, 2008, described Rami Makhlouf as the  &#8220;poster boy&#8221; of corruption, squeezing out legitimate businesses and  benefiting from his family ties to make money in banking, the power  sector and cellular-phone service contracting. Sanctions were imposed  the next month.<\/p>\n<p>The Bush administration in November 2007 sanctioned his brother  Hafiz, a colonel and head of intelligence in Damascus, for Syria&#8217;s  meddling in Lebanon. In May, the Obama administration modified his  sanction to include his alleged role in stifling dissent in Syria.<\/p>\n<p>But to date, the United States hasn&#8217;t sanctioned the family patriarch, Mohammad Makhlouf.<\/p>\n<p>The Bush administration also imposed sanctions on Assad&#8217;s  brother-in-law, Asif Shawkat, in January 2006. Shawkat, who&#8217;s married to  Assad&#8217;s sister Bushra, headed Syrian intelligence at the time, but he  fell from grace after the death of Lebanese terrorist mastermind Imad  Mugniyah, whom the U.S. sought for killing Navy diver Robert Stethem  during the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jet.<\/p>\n<p>A car bomb blew Mugniyah to pieces on Feb. 12, 2008, in Damascus. A  secret cable dated April 14, 2008, suggested that Assad stripped Shawkat  of some of his power in response to the assassination, which proved  embarrassing since Syria had denied for years that Mugniyah was in the  country.<\/p>\n<p>Theories abound about who killed Mugniyah and why, ranging from  Shawkat, whose office was near the bomb site, to Assad&#8217;s violent brother  Mahir. Known as the family enforcer, Mahir Assad escaped sanction until  late April, when the Obama administration targeted him through an  executive order.<\/p>\n<p>In a secret cable from Paris, dated Sept. 12, 2008, the U.S. Embassy  cites a French security adviser as saying that Mahir Assad, described as  &#8220;a bit of a wild man and determined to increase his power,&#8221; may have  killed Suleiman and possibly Mugniyah. The motive was effectively doing  away with headaches from people who &#8220;knew too much&#8221; about the activities  of the Assad family.<\/p>\n<p>Another secret cable \u2014 from Damascus on June 3, 2009 \u2014 paints an  unflattering portrait of the Western-educated leader of Syria. The memo  was sent as the Obama administration considered ways the U.S. government  could engage Assad and take a less hostile tack.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is neither as shrewd nor as  long-winded as his father but he, too, prefers to engage diplomatically  on a level of abstraction that seems designed to frustrate any direct  challenge to Syria&#8217;s behavior,&#8221; noted the cable, sent by a new charge  d&#8217;affaires, Maura Connelly. &#8220;Bashar&#8217;s vanity represents another Achilles  heel: the degree to which USG visitors add to his consequence to some  degree affects the prospects for a successful meeting.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The cable suggested that playing to Assad&#8217;s &#8220;intellectual pretensions  is one stratagem for gaining his confidence and acquiescence; it may be  time-consuming but could well produce results.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If U.S. diplomats under Obama sought to butter up Assad, the Bush  administration tried a hostile approach designed to keep him  diplomatically off balance.<\/p>\n<p>A Dec. 13, 2006, secret cable from Damascus by charge d&#8217;affaires  William Roebuck suggested that the diplomats try to sully Assad&#8217;s  international image since he was preoccupied with how the outside world  viewed him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Actions that cause Bashar to lose balance and increase his  insecurity are in our interest because his inexperience and his regime&#8217;s  extremely small decision-making circle make him prone to diplomatic  stumbles that can weaken him domestically and regionally,&#8221; the cable  said. &#8220;While the consequences of his mistakes are hard to predict and  the benefits may vary, if we are prepared to move quickly to take  advantage of opportunities that may open up, we may directly impact  regime behavior where it matters \u2014 Bashar and his inner circle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Yet, as the documents show, both administrations chose not to  sanction much of his inner circle until the Arab Spring spread this year  to Syria. The Obama administration and European allies haven&#8217;t yet  declared Assad an illegitimate leader who must go, as they did with  Libya&#8217;s Gadhafi.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>READ THE CABLES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mcclatchydc.com\/2011\/08\/03\/119321\/cable-to-pressure-syrias-assad.html\" target=\"_blank\">Cable: To pressure Syria&#8217;s Assad go after his &#8216;money-men&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/corruption-currents\/2011\/08\/04\/treasury-sanctions-syrian-businessman\/\"> Treasury Sanctions Syrian Businessman<\/a>: <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/corruption-currents\/2011\/08\/04\/treasury-sanctions-syrian-businessman\/\">CorrptionCurrnts:<\/a> 2011-08-04<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday it imposed sanctions on a Syrian businessman who serves in the country\u2019s parliament. Muhammad Hamsho and his holding company, Hamsho International Group, which has about 20 subsidiaries, provided services &#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WikiLeaks: Bush, Obama Passed on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders by Kevin G. Hal, Thursday, August 4, 2011 by McClatchy WASHINGTON \u2014 Two U.S. administrations declined in recent years to place sanctions on Syrian officials who now are involved in that country&#8217;s harsh crackdown on dissidents, despite the officials&#8217; involvement in crushing internal opposition previously, according to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wikileaks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials&#039; Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad - Syria Comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials&#039; Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad - Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WikiLeaks: Bush, Obama Passed on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders by Kevin G. Hal, Thursday, August 4, 2011 by McClatchy WASHINGTON \u2014 Two U.S. administrations declined in recent years to place sanctions on Syrian officials who now are involved in that country&#8217;s harsh crackdown on dissidents, despite the officials&#8217; involvement in crushing internal opposition previously, according to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-04T16:18:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-08-04T18:45:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/teamofmonkeys.com\/html\/images\/Bashar-al-Assad.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@joshua_landis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@joshua_landis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/\",\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials' Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad - Syria Comment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/teamofmonkeys.com\/html\/images\/Bashar-al-Assad.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-04T16:18:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-08-04T18:45:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/teamofmonkeys.com\/html\/images\/Bashar-al-Assad.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/teamofmonkeys.com\/html\/images\/Bashar-al-Assad.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials&#8217; Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Syria Comment\",\"description\":\"Syrian politics, history, and religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80\",\"name\":\"Joshua\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.joshualandis.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/joshua_landis\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/author\/syriacomment\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials' Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad - Syria Comment","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials' Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad - Syria Comment","og_description":"WikiLeaks: Bush, Obama Passed on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders by Kevin G. Hal, Thursday, August 4, 2011 by McClatchy WASHINGTON \u2014 Two U.S. administrations declined in recent years to place sanctions on Syrian officials who now are involved in that country&#8217;s harsh crackdown on dissidents, despite the officials&#8217; involvement in crushing internal opposition previously, according to [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/","og_site_name":"Syria Comment","article_published_time":"2011-08-04T16:18:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-08-04T18:45:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/teamofmonkeys.com\/html\/images\/Bashar-al-Assad.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Joshua","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@joshua_landis","twitter_site":"@joshua_landis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joshua","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/","url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/","name":"WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials' Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad - Syria Comment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/teamofmonkeys.com\/html\/images\/Bashar-al-Assad.png","datePublished":"2011-08-04T16:18:54+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-04T18:45:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/teamofmonkeys.com\/html\/images\/Bashar-al-Assad.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/teamofmonkeys.com\/html\/images\/Bashar-al-Assad.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wikileaks-us-embassy-officials-views-on-sanctioning-syrian-insiders-and-on-assad\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials&#8217; Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/","name":"Syria Comment","description":"Syrian politics, history, and religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80","name":"Joshua","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.joshualandis.com","https:\/\/x.com\/joshua_landis"],"url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/author\/syriacomment\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p38J3A-2UO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}