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The Executive Director of DeirEzzor24 Network, Omar Abu Layla, delivered two presentations in less than a month at New York University. The first presentation was delivered in front of the graduates in the Program on International Relations on the 25th of February
This presentation addressed many points.
focusing on the issues around which the graduates are interested.
The presentation shed light on the security situation in Syria in general, and in northeastern Syria in particular, due to the presence of several international parties imposing their control over the region, in addition to the emergence of Daesh cells that play a role in the security escalation, by carrying out sporadic attacks from time to time.
It also tackled the definition of religious and non-religious extremism in areas experiencing various conflicts through factions that use power to implement their religious and other agendas.
Abu Layla also spoke about the historical evolution that Syria has witnessed since 2011 until today and the emigration of skills from the Syrians against the background of security pursuits and violations committed by the forces controlling Syria, as led by the Assad regime.
The second presentation, which was delivered on March 10, 2022, answered several questions about its content, the Executive Director of the DeirEzzor24 Network, Abu Layla, as well as his current work.
The questions touched as well on the nature of the work of the media organizations and institutions established in northeastern Syria, how they work, as well as their access to professionals. The Executive Director of the Deir Ezzor 24 Network was asked about the reasons for the asylum journey that he personally faced in 2014, and dealing with the challenges of integrating refugees in Germany as well as how he sees the results today after 8 years of the asylum journey.
Among the points that were discussed was the issue of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where Abu Layla tried to explain the view on Putin’s handling of Russia’s wars, whether in Syria or outside Syria, and to diagnose the issue of similarities between Putin’s attacks and the crimes of his forces in Syria, Aleppo, and Ukraine as well as the possibility of the participation of mercenaries. Syrians in the ongoing war against Ukraine and the reflection on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were also discussed.
Abu Layla ruled out the possibility of the expansion of Russian aggression even in its war inside Ukraine, as he suggested that the Russians were surprised by the size of the resistance in Ukraine, which interferes with the goals that Russia expected to achieve in a short time. He also ruled out the possibility of the Russian invasion and aggression of the Baltic states, Moldova, and Poland. In his view, the sanctions imposed by the international community recently against Russia will exhaust the Russian state, which will not be able to expand its hostilities because of internal crises, including economic crisis.
The presentation lasted approximately 3 hours, interspersed with a break, during which the graduate students interacted by asking many questions that were related to the topic of the session and discussion.
These sessions were moderated by Professor Colette Mazzucelli, Chair of the European Horizons Advisory Board at New York University, Founder and Principal, LEAD IMPACT, American academic and author, member of the New York University graduate faculty, and organizer of the Bosch-NYU Workshops on the Ethics of Personal Data Collection.
