Jane Araf
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-15-2025 3PM EDT
The U.S. military said it launched an airstrike with help from Iraqi intelligence and security forces in the country's al-Anbar province. It's a remote part of Iraq where ISIS has been hiding out and regrouping since its territorial defeat in Syria six years ago. The military said the target was the group's deputy leader for global attacks. Abdullah Malik al-Rafai.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-15-2025 3PM EDT
The Iraqi government said Rafai also served as head of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. military said the airstrike also killed another ISIS operative, whom it did not name. The U.S. maintains bases in Iraq to fight ISIS, but has agreed with the Iraqi government to disband the coalition by the end of the year. Jane Araf, NPR News, Damascus.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-11-2025 6PM EST
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NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-11-2025 6PM EST
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NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-08-2025 4PM EST
The killings targeted Alawite communities, the same religious minority to which deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belonged. The new government has been fighting loyalists of the old regime on the Mediterranean coast, and the killings began there after government forces were killed in clashes.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-08-2025 4PM EST
Syria has no army or even police force since the fall of the regime, and other fighters that the government now blames for the killings rushed in after the ambush. Syrian President Ahmed Ashara has tried to reassure minorities the government will protect them. This is the biggest challenge to central government rule since he took power. Jaina Raff, NPR News, Damascus.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-01-2025 4AM EST
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and the U.S., as guerrilla fighters have battled the Turkish military from mountain bases on the border with Iraq. The group has come under increasing pressure in Syria, where Turkish-backed militias are playing an increasing role since the fall of the Syrian regime. Jane Araf, NPR News, Damascus.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-01-2025 4AM EST
The PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, has declared a ceasefire with Turkey after a call by its founder, Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan has been in solitary confinement for 26 years in a Turkish prison. This week, he told Turkish politicians it was time for his followers to abandon armed struggle.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-23-2025 8PM EST
The funeral was held at Beirut's biggest sports stadium, the only venue large enough to accommodate mourners. Nasrallah is one of the founders of Hezbollah, created to counter the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. His killing last September deeply shocked his followers and severely weakened the organization.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-23-2025 8PM EST
But at the funeral, mourners and officials said he was more influential as what they consider a martyr than he was alive. They vowed to continue his path of resistance against Israel and the United States. Senior Iranian and Iraqi officials attended the funeral, along with what Hezbollah said were mourners from dozens of countries. Jane Araf, NPR News, Beirut.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Talk With Putin, Israel's Incursion, Weather Service Budget Cuts
Sanctions are inflicting harm, but this harm is not critical for macroeconomic stability of Russia. And actually, further escalation of sanctions would hardly be critical as well.
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Jordan's King In Washington, New Tariffs, NYC Mayor's Corruption Charges
Hi, Leila.
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Jordan's King In Washington, New Tariffs, NYC Mayor's Corruption Charges
Yeah, I would expect tense, and that's probably an understatement. It's hard to put a good face on this. That's because, as you noted, Jordan is a key ally, and without any consultation— According to Jordanians and White House officials, Trump floated that plan last week during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the U.S.
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Jordan's King In Washington, New Tariffs, NYC Mayor's Corruption Charges
to take over Gaza and forcibly push 2 million Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. Monday night, Trump doubled down, threatening Jordan if it didn't accept the plan.
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Jordan's King In Washington, New Tariffs, NYC Mayor's Corruption Charges
So Jordan is a small country with a large number of refugees, and it relies on foreign aid. But this plan is one of those rare ones that has united citizens and the country's leaders in opposition to it. And what is the king likely to say? Well, I spoke with Marwan Washer, the foreign foreign minister of Jordan, now with the Carnegie Endowment think tank.
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Jordan's King In Washington, New Tariffs, NYC Mayor's Corruption Charges
He says this is going to be one of the toughest meetings the king has faced. Let's listen.
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Jordan's King In Washington, New Tariffs, NYC Mayor's Corruption Charges
And by that, he means that creating an alternative Palestinian homeland here means that Jordan would essentially cease to exist as a country in many ways. The majority of its citizens are already descendants of Palestinian refugees. So this is something that Jordan doesn't believe it could or ever would agree to, no matter what the cost.
Up First from NPR
Jordan's King In Washington, New Tariffs, NYC Mayor's Corruption Charges
Well, the Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman al-Safadi, has quite clearly said that expulsion of Palestinians here would be a breach of its historic peace treaty with Israel and therefore seen as a declaration of war.
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Jordan's King In Washington, New Tariffs, NYC Mayor's Corruption Charges
I asked Mosher, who's also a former senior official at the World Bank, about that. Here's what he said.
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Jordan's King In Washington, New Tariffs, NYC Mayor's Corruption Charges
So he points out that Congress would be quite resistant to this because It's a friend. Many of Congress people are friends of Jordan. If the U.S. cut aid, would other countries step up? Well, there is one key friend, Saudi Arabia, and its rulers have made clear that they will not accept this plan. So in the end, that could be what stops it. NPR's Jane Araf in Amman, thank you. Thank you.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
There seems to be a different tone of emphasis, I think, with Mark Carney as prime minister now. Obviously, Mr. Trump's still talking about the 51st state stuff, but he's not called him Governor Carney. You know, he's called him a very nice man. And I think Mr. Carney certainly looks like kind of a nerdy central bank kind of guy.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
And I think for Mr. Trump, who obviously likes kind of central casting figures, you know, I think Mr. Carney looks that part.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Yeah, well, Damascus itself, of course, has changed quite dramatically. I mean, just a couple of minutes ago, there were a bunch of sixth graders who were jumping up and down on a bronze statue of toppled leader Bashar al-Assad's head. We wanted to go further afield, though, so we traveled through Syrian's southern desert to a place I have been trying to get to for years.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
It's the Rukban camp, and it's in this remote corner of the desert where people who are fleeing ISIS thought that they could go across to Jordan and then were trapped there. 7,000 people cut off for nine years. There's also a U.S. base there. It's part of the anti-ISIS coalition. They've been partnering with Syrian forces that ended up forcing the retreat of the Syrian regime.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
So those refugees, those refugees in their own countries now have the possibility for the first time to go home. They don't have the money and they don't have a lot of other things, but there is the possibility. And up and down that highway. we were seeing the same thing.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Last night near Hama, one of the key towns that were taken that led to the retreat of the regime, there was a truck stop full of families traveling home. Inside, there were Syrians crowding a sweets counter. I spoke with one young mother who was going home for the first time in 13 years. She was going to introduce her kids to their grandparents.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
There have obviously been a lot of tragedies, a lot of deaths, For the people who are able to reunite with their families, all of that time makes it somewhat sweeter.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Yesterday at the Euphrates River, about a six-hour drive from Damascus, we were at one of the dividing lines between U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces and Turkish-backed fighters who played a big role in in the retreat of the regime here. And that road from Damascus to the Euphrates River kind of mirrors the fall of regime forces.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
There were regime tanks on the road being stripped, fuel being siphoned by poor people, defaced posters of the regime, trucks with people heading home. But then when we got closer to Manbij, where Syrian Arab coalition fighters were recently in control, There was kind of a vacuum there and people were afraid.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
We drove further along to near the actual front line and we spoke to a commander of one of the factions from Lua al-Shamal. He asked us to call him Abu Suleiman. He's the military commander for the operations room. He told us, that the Kurdish-led forces, who he called terrorists, had broken the ceasefire.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
That's a ceasefire that's been negotiated by the U.S., but it is one of those fault lines and one of the areas of concern for the U.S. and others as to what happens in this new Syria.
Up First from NPR
In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
I teach Bible lessons in my church every Sunday about 35 or 40 times a year, and I've been teaching Bible lessons since I was just 18 years old, so I'm fairly familiar with the entire Bible. You can pick out individual verses throughout the Bible that shows that the verse favors your particular preference.
Up First from NPR
In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
Well, in the book throughout it, I've showed that you can interpret the Bible either way. And in modern society, we need to look on the, I'd say, the universal declaration of human rights as a basis for how to treat women and girls. And when this was issued,
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In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
The church leaders didn't speak out at that time, although throughout the Declaration of Human Rights, it prescribed absolute equality between men and women.
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In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
Ladies and gentlemen, war may sometimes be a necessary evil, but no matter how necessary, it is always evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us a capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering.
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In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes. And we must. Thank you.
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In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
And for our nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.
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In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly. It's a problem that we will not be able to solve in the next few years, and it's likely to get progressively worse through the rest of this century.
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In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
The dedication and determination of these two world statesmen have borne fruit. Peace has come. To Israel and to Egypt.
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In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
It's clear that the true problems of our nation are much deeper than deeper than gasoline lines or energy shortages, deeper even than inflation or recession. And I realized more than ever that as president, I need your help.
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In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024
is a common blood that flows in our American veins. Again, from the bottom of my heart, I want to express to you the gratitude I feel. Thank you, fellow citizens, and farewell.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And so when her kids started making connections or saying things that might be not positive about the administration, she would just shut it down.
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The State of Free Speech in America
She just didn't want to feel like she was running awry of these very vague guidelines. And she didn't want to use even her first name with us because she was so scared of what repercussions might exist. She asked us only to identify her with her first initial E. Now, we reached out to the Department of Education, of course, about the intentions of this end DEI portal and about what would happen.
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The State of Free Speech in America
You know, if somebody gets reported, what's the process look like and what are the possible penalties for that? And we so far haven't gotten a response to those repeated requests. We spoke to another teacher in Idaho. Her name is Sarah Inama. She teaches sixth grade. And she had a sign up in her classroom and And it said, everyone is welcome here.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And the letters were multicolored, and there were hands up with little hearts in the middle, and each hand was a different skin tone. She'd had it up for years in her classroom, and one day the principal and vice-principal were going through the hallway looking for things that might not comply with new parameters, and they decided it was controversial.
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The State of Free Speech in America
No parents had complained, nothing like that, and they told her, you need to take it down.
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The State of Free Speech in America
She told me, I just don't want my students to think that I no longer believe in what that sign said. that they're all welcome here, no matter what their background is. So you put the poster back up.
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The State of Free Speech in America
So we did ask the school district what happened. They pretty much confirmed Inama's account of the way things happened. And they said it wasn't the words, everyone is welcome here on the sign, that they found problematic. It was the different colors of the letters and the different skin tones of the hands.
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The State of Free Speech in America
They said it could be, quote, determined to potentially express viewpoints regarding specific identity groups.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Yeah. She's still teaching. She's gotten a lot of support from the community. And that sign is still up.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Yeah, I mean, I think that's the fundamental question, right? You know, I went back to Tina Deskovich from Moms for Liberty, right? which is the group that endorsed this portal and is anti-DEI in schools. And I asked her, what about the people who feel silenced by things like the NDEI portal?
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The State of Free Speech in America
And she told me, you know, they should fight for their right, legally fight for their right that they have to free speech, just like we fought for our First Amendment right.
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The State of Free Speech in America
I talked to this pastor in Florida, and everybody knows him as Maynard. He's retired. He's another person who didn't want me to use his full name because he said he didn't want to endanger his family or members of the churches he preaches at. He's somebody who kind of fills in now since he's retired, still gives a sermon here or there when pastors are on vacation.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And he said now when he goes and gives sermons— If a person doesn't like what he said, how he's interpreted the Bible, the message he's giving that day, they'll walk up to him and say, I'm going to put you on a list.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And then another day, he was preaching a sermon around the idea that, you know, you love your neighbor as you love yourself, and you even love your enemy, which is a very, very difficult thing to do. And that was his sermon that day.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Yeah. I mean, he was very, it was very illuminating. He'd never had this experience in his life. But in this climate, that happens to him. We also talk to lawyers, including the lawyers that are representing people in many of these immigration cases who worry about sanctions for the fact that they are taking up cases against the government at a time
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The State of Free Speech in America
law firms are making deals with the Trump administration so they won't deal with any retribution or ramifications for cases they took up that Trump saw as against him. I mean, Ayesha, also it's the media, the press. The job that we do every day is to serve our listeners and ask the hard questions of those in power and reflect the nation as it is.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And so we've seen moves that seem threatening to the press. NPR is The New York Times, Politico, and others were kicked out of their Pentagon offices and replaced. And then for the first time, the president is picking— the pool of reporters that cover his activities rather than the press picking them.
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The State of Free Speech in America
So that could lead to him being like, oh, I'm going to pick these four people because they cover me in the way that I like, which would go against a free press. And you know, President Trump has made it pretty clear that he will go after the media or perceived political enemies if he feels that they're treating him unfairly.
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The State of Free Speech in America
He spoke on the floor of the Justice Department saying that he thinks what CNN and MSNBC are doing is illegal or should be illegal. And he's saying that inside the Justice Department. And so there are big questions about the media as well and our role in this moment.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Yeah. I mean, I think it's really important not to minimize what happens when somebody gets quote-unquote canceled over speech the larger public has decided is unacceptable, right? I mean, people are barred from certain social media accounts maybe. They maybe lose their job, maybe lose friends, are completely sidelined.
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The State of Free Speech in America
But what I'm hearing from a lot of people now who feel the chilling is not that the pushback is coming from the public. This is coming from the government. It isn't that they're getting canceled. It's that they're being told, if you use these words, if you have this viewpoint, if you use this speech, you're not going to get federal funding. You're going to face retribution.
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The State of Free Speech in America
You know, what we heard a lot of was self-censorship. Like before you even figure out what the consequences are, just try to get in line. So, oh, it looks like this executive order is saying all of this type of language will probably be unacceptable. Let me take climate change out of my report. Let me take any mention of woman, of non-binary, equity, inclusion, diversity, you know, things that
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The State of Free Speech in America
they feel they need to have in their research in order to continue it. You know, we spoke to one researcher who said, you know, if I can't look at the inequities, I can't do the work. But maybe that's the point. Maybe that's the point. And there was one woman who wouldn't even let us tape her.
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The State of Free Speech in America
You know, at first she was like, well, maybe you can distort my voice, and then she didn't want even that. And she said, I'm sitting here trying to get this FEMA grant, and I'm going through with a thesaurus – trying to look for a different way to say ecologist, trying to look for a different way to say – to talk about tribes because they work with native tribes.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And then she was like, I don't want to go on tape because I'm a dual citizen. And so I'm worried that if I say something and I'm coming back from Canada – she's a dual U.S. and Canadian citizen – There could be some problem because of what I'm seeing happening with visa revocations. Of course, she's a citizen, but she's still worried.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And so I think it's a lot of sort of getting in line before there are consequences.
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The State of Free Speech in America
But then we found some people who were like, nope. I'm going to stand up. The more I thought about it, the more outraged I became. We spoke to this woman, Karen Ortiz. She's an administrative judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. So, you know, she would be who you would go to if you had a problem at work. Maybe you faced discrimination and you wanted it redressed.
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The State of Free Speech in America
You would go to somebody like Karen Ortiz. And on his first day in office, Trump signed this executive order that declared that the U.S. government now only recognizes two sexes, male, female. And about a week after that executive order, Ortiz says she received this directive from her direct supervisor to pause all their LGBTQ cases in New York and send them to Washington for further review.
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The State of Free Speech in America
I was seething. And so she decided to stand up and say no. And she hit reply all, sent an email back to her boss and the entire agency.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Yeah. I've worked in countries where the consequences are extremely severe for criticizing governments. Right. In Syria, you were actually disappeared. Nobody knew where you went and you showed up often dead or never. You know, we saw mass graves from that regime. In Egypt, you know, same thing. You could end up in house arrest.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Anybody could file a suit against you, and the prosecutor will pick it up if it's something critical of the government, and you could end up in jail for a speech. Free press. There was no thriving free press. There was a demonization of civil society organizations that were working on critical work that documented human rights abuses.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And what I will say is when we did this call out to our listeners saying, how do you feel? Do you feel free to speak in this moment? Do you feel less free to speak? I was so shocked. Our entire team was so shocked to read through all of these responses and see how many people didn't feel safe saying, this is my full name and this is what I do. That is something new in the United States.
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The State of Free Speech in America
I've worked here for a long time. I've worked abroad for a long time. And that is something familiar to me. in countries where I did live.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And the other thing that is familiar is often when the governments couldn't deal with the consequences, the social consequences from their public that they served, they would scapegoat and demonize the organizations or the press that reported on what was happening.
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The State of Free Speech in America
You know, I remember doing an interview in Egypt and there had been so much time spent on demonizing the foreign press as people who wanted to destroy the country and they were anti-Egyptian and they didn't love Egypt. That I would have people grab my notebook out of my hand or scream at me because they believed that it wasn't me trying to find facts and information and share that with the world.
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The State of Free Speech in America
It was me trying to destroy Egypt. And that feels familiar.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Yeah, well, you're right, Ayesha. The First Amendment is enshrined in the Constitution. But throughout U.S. history, there have been moments in which that right to free speech has really been threatened. People talk about the Red Scare, the McCarthy era, even John Adams in 1798 when he passed laws that he then used. to prosecute journalists and dissidents who criticized him.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Immigration, scientific research, education, the role of the press. And so we just wanted to get a sense of who was feeling silenced and why and who was feeling really emboldened and empowered in this moment. And so we put a call out to our listeners and we got responses.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And when we would reach back out to many of the people, what we noticed was a lot of them seemed really nervous to talk with us. Would you be comfortable with us using your full name?
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The State of Free Speech in America
And these are teachers, researchers, pastors, you know, regular Americans who are in our communities. And that was really, at least for me, really surprising to hear in the U.S.,
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The State of Free Speech in America
Yeah. I mean, the first thing we did was reach out to two First Amendment legal scholars who really both are seen as advocates for that amendment and for free speech, but they come from different perspectives. One is Lee Bollinger, and he's the former president of Columbia University, and we all know what's happening with Columbia University right now. They've had their funding threatened.
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The State of Free Speech in America
They've made major overhauls of their security and protester rules to try to comply with the Trump administration's guidance to get that funding back. And they also agreed to the Trump administration's demand that they appoint a provost to provide oversight now over departments that teach about the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. By the way, none of those areas of study are
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The State of Free Speech in America
are the ones that were getting the federal funding. And Bollinger is seen as one of the foremost scholars on the First Amendment and free speech in this country.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And then we also reached out to Jonathan Turley. He's another very respected legal scholar on the First Amendment. He's often on Fox News as a commentator. And he recently wrote a book called the indispensable right, free speech in an age of rage.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And they really had... different perspectives on when they have felt that speech is threatened in this modern time. So in Bollinger's view, the danger is clearly right now.
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The State of Free Speech in America
He talked about how there's a moment like every 20, 30 years where the First Amendment free speech is really threatened. And he says the U.S. is going in that direction now.
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The State of Free Speech in America
He argues it was actually the Biden administration that was anti-free speech. And he points to something we hear a lot from Republicans and Trump allies, that on social media, conservative voices were being censored. And they say there was collusion with the government to make sure these voices were shut out or sidelined in academia, on social media.
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The State of Free Speech in America
The other thing that Turley said is he sees Trump as a possible ally in free speech.
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The State of Free Speech in America
But he is still withholding judgment about where this administration will land on free speech.
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The State of Free Speech in America
So you heard there very different perspectives from Bollinger and Turley about when free speech has been threatened, under which administrations. But there was a topic where they really kind of agreed. And that is the topic that you mentioned, the students that we've seen on visas or green card holders who are being detained.
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The State of Free Speech in America
and possibly deported, having their visas revoked, over what it seems like is their choice to protest or express a point of view about the Gaza war.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And so if that's the case, if it really is about what they expressed, what their viewpoint is, that would be a violation of the First Amendment. So they're watching for that. So I should say the administration is saying, actually, the reason these students are
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The State of Free Speech in America
are having their visas revoked or possibly their green cards revoked is because the Secretary of State can do that if they deem someone's presence in this country a threat to U.S. foreign policy, a threat to national security. And the administration accuses many of them of being aligned with Hamas, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
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The State of Free Speech in America
These students have all denied being connected to Hamas. And none of them have been charged with a crime. And we keep hearing contradictory statements. And so we've tried to get clarity from the administration with some direct asks and so far haven't heard back.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Yeah. I mean, we spoke to college Republicans at UC Berkeley. And, you know, this is known as a very liberal campus. It has that reputation. And I spoke to Miguel Munez. He's a leader of the college Republicans at the university. And he described other students' reaction to their presence on campus as not exactly welcoming.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And he says nowadays they feel like, OK, it's shifting a little bit. They can go out. They can give out their flyers more openly. They still get harassed. They said it's not a sea change, but there's been a spike in enrollment in not just their club, but there's also been a spike at other campuses across California. And this is another student leader of the college Republicans, Martin Berteo.
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The State of Free Speech in America
I also spoke to members of another group that feel freer now, Moms for Liberty, which is an organization that describes itself as a parental rights organization. It's also been described by groups like Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups as extremist groups.
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The State of Free Speech in America
They push for things like book bannings, and most of the books that have been pushed to be banned are by authors of color or LGBTQ authors. They're also seen as anti-inclusion for students who are from more marginalized communities. These are all labels the group rejects. And I spoke to Tina Deskovich. She's a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, and she said...
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The State of Free Speech in America
There were multiple attacks on their organization during Biden's presidency, and that started on social media.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Moms for Liberty came to be at the height of the pandemic when parents were really frustrated with masking policies, with school closures. And it was also a time where there were a heightened amount of threats of violence against school board members.
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The State of Free Speech in America
And so this group has also framed the FBI's previous investigations into those types of violent threats against school board members as a politically motivated campaign to silence parents and organizations like theirs.
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The State of Free Speech in America
But things are very different now. There were representatives from Moms for Liberty in the White House when the president signed an executive order that aims at eliminating the Department of Education, another executive order that banned transgender athletes from playing on women's and girls' sports teams. And they endorsed an announcement from the Department of Education recently that
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The State of Free Speech in America
announcing the NDEI portal. And that's a portal where pretty much anyone in your community or beyond can go on this website and report educators if they see instances of diversity, equity, inclusion lessons in the school. And this is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to just root it out.
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The State of Free Speech in America
You know, they've threatened federal funding to schools that they think are doing these types of programs.
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The State of Free Speech in America
Yeah. I mean, when I was speaking to a teacher who was afraid of the NDEI portal that I just mentioned, she found out about it and she thought, oh, my gosh. What if I get reported? And what are the consequences? Does it mean I just lose, you know, I can't teach anymore? Will I lose my job? And so she found herself censoring herself in her social studies class where she teaches history.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
They earlier took Daraa province, which was the start of the uprising that led to civil war more than a decade ago, and they appear close to be taking the major city of Homs, which would allow the opposition to isolate regime forces in coastal areas, Latakia and Tartus, which are key to President Bashar al-Assad's support.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
Well, it appears to be pulling out its warships, according to U.S. military sources. It propped up the Syrian regime the last time that the government faced a much more limited threat. And Russia is still launching airstrikes in support of the Syrian government, but it doesn't seem able or willing to devote the resources it has in the past.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
So when the Syrian regime 10 years ago lost control of Aleppo, the major city, Russia and Iran helped retake it. But They're both now in much weaker positions because they're fighting other conflicts.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
Muaz Mustafa, who is an activist, the director of the U.S.-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, says these territorial losses we're seeing are of huge significance to Iran, which has used Syria as a corridor to send weapons and fighters to Lebanon and Iraq.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
So there are a lot of borders there, as you can see. And while speaking, Mustafa was getting calls from other activists who have been working for years for this moment and what they hope will follow. Thirteen years of gathering opposition forces, getting international support, building cases of war crimes against Syrian officials.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
You know, in this region, Syria for centuries has been considered sort of the beating heart of the Middle East. And between the civil war, the Syrian regime actions and sanctions, the country has been shattered. So for the opposition, it seems like the first time in a decade that there's a real chance of building a new Syria.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
But, Alyssa, to do that, obviously, they'll have to include regime supporters and what is still a divided opposition.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
Yeah. You know, a generation has been born as refugees outside their own country. And right now their families are glued to their phones watching news coverage, showing split screens with the rebel advances. If it were safe enough and they could rebuild their homes, many of them would return to Syria tomorrow. That's NPR's Jane Araf. Jane, thank you so much. Thank you.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
Good morning, Alyssa.
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Insurgency in Syria; South Korea's Political Chaos; Pope Creates 21
Well, the speed and the pace of this offensive is astonishing. A monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, now says that opposition fighters are just a few miles from the gates of the capital, Damascus.
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Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
Well, those were part of multinational efforts that dropped aid from the air on pallets with parachutes. Some of them ended up in the sea, and there was always the danger of those heavy pallets landing on people. So these flights, 16 a day over 18 days, have actually landed in Gaza, although on the outskirts, which makes the aid much more targeted.
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Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
They were Blackhawk helicopters and they were loaded with cardboard boxes containing anesthesia drugs, antibiotics, and other medications. They also contain things like disposable diapers and infant formula. So the helicopters can carry only a fraction of the capacity of a truck, and they are much more expensive.
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Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
These airlifts are still subject to Israeli regulations, but Jordanian aid officials say they can get medicine into Gaza this way much more reliably and much faster.
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Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
Well, we took off from an air base about an hour from Amman and flew along the Dead Sea then into Israel. In Israel, you can see built up communities and green fields. And then it's a very stark difference when you cross over into Gaza. From the air, we could see skeletons of buildings hit by Israeli airstrikes and others in rubble. And in the distance, there was that Mediterranean coastline.
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Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
So, A, we landed just within Israel's buffer zone in Gaza, not far from the city of Daraballah. And it was a very rare glimpse of Gaza, even that limited view, because Gaza journalists have been reporting from there at great risk from the start. But Israel, for the most part, bans foreign organizations, news organizations from Gaza.
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Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
It was really surreal because you don't see anything living in that part of it, Deir el-Bawah, which has been heavily hit. I mean, really, from what we were seeing, it was just rubble. And it's important to note that Israel prevented us, according to the Jordanian authorities, from taking photographs on the ground of what we were seeing.
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Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
The only thing we could take photos of once we landed were the buffer zone and the helicopter. But to actually see it real, in real life, was really unreal.
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Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
Those are going to be tough. That coveted coastline that Trump officials have their eye on is Palestinian territory, and Jordan sees the plan as an existential threat. So Jordan is a key ally and security partner, and it's made clear it would see Israel trying to relocate more Palestinians here as a breach of their peace treaty and a declaration of war.
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Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
Thank you.