Sami Moubayed ( ar, سامي مروان مبيّض) (born 16 July 1978) is a

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

historian and writer who has written extensively on the modern history of Damascus from the late Ottoman period until creation of the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...

in 1958. In 2017 he co-founded The Damascus History Foundation, a non-governmental organization aimed at preserving the archives of the ancient city of Damascus, threatened with extinction because of age, poor preservation, or neglect, becoming its founding chairman.

Biography

Sami Moubayed, a native of Damascus, studied at the Faculty of Political Science at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

(AUB). Moubayed, obtained his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

Middle East Studies Middle Eastern studies (sometimes referred to as Near Eastern studies) is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the history, culture, politics, economies, and geography of the Middle East, an area that is gene ...

from the

University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

, specializing in the founding years of the Syrian Republic. During his college years, Moubayed was mentored by

Munir al-Ajlani Munir al-Ajlani (Dr. Munir Ajlani, منير محمد علي العجلاني) (August 1912 or 1914 – 20 June 2004) (nationality: Syrian/Saudi) was a politician, writer, lawyer, and scholar. He made history as the youngest Syrian minister. He ...

, a ranking parliamentarian and politician from the pre-Baath Era. His first book, ''The Politics of Damascus 1920–1946'', was published under Ajlani's supervision in 1998. In 2000, Moubayed joined the Arab Political Document Center at AUB and worked as a journalist with

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

-based '' The Daily Star''. Between 2005 and 2011, Moubayed taught at the Faculty of International Relations at the

University of Kalamoon The University of Kalamoon ( ar, جامعة القلمون الخاصة) is a private, accredited university located in Deir Atiyah An-Nabek District Rif Dimashq Governorate in Syria, located between the Qalamoun Mountains and the Eastern Lebanon M ...

Deir Atiyah Deir Atiyah or Dayr Atiyah ( ar, ديرعطية) is a town in Syria, located between the Qalamoun Mountains and the Eastern Lebanon Mountains Series, north of the capital Damascus and on the road to the city of Homs. According to the Syria Cent ...

, 88-km north of the capital Damascus, while serving on its Board of Trustees. Between January 2007 and December 2011, he was editor-in-chief of

Forward Magazine ''Forward Magazine'' was a Syrian English-language newsmagazine published monthly in Damascus existed from January 2007 to November 2011. It was the first private English-language periodical to be licensed in Syria since all private media was na ...

, Syria's premier English-monthly. In 2012, he joined the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded i ...

in Beirut, serving as a scholar on Syria until early 2014. Over the last 20-years, Moubayed has interviewed leading regional and international figures including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Former Indian President

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

, Former Iraqi Prime Minister

Iyad Allawi Ayad Allawi ( ar, إيَاد عَلَّاوِي ; born 31 May 1944) is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the ...

and Former French Foreign Minister

Bernard Kouchner Bernard Kouchner KBE (born 1 November 1939) is a French politician and doctor. He is the co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde. From 2007 until 2010, he was the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs ...

. Moubayed has also interviewed Former Lebanese presidents

Amin Gemayel Amine Pierre Gemayel ( ar, أمين بيار الجميٌل ; (born 22 January 1942) is a Lebanese Maronite politician who served as President of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988. Born in Bikfaya, his father was Pierre Gemayel, the founder of the K ...

Elias Hrawi Elias Hrawi ( ar, الياس الهراوي, 4 September 1926 – 7 July 2006) was president of Lebanon, whose term of office ran from 1989 to 1998. Early life and education Hrawi was born in Hawch Al Umara, Zahlé, to a wealthy landowning Mar ...

, and Émile Lahoud, in addition to Former Lebanese Prime Ministers Salim al-Hoss and

Tammam Salam Tammam Saeb Salam ( ar, تمّام صائب سلام, ; born 13 May 1945) is a Lebanese politician who was the Prime Minister of Lebanon from February 2014 until December 2016. He also served as the acting President of Lebanon from May 2014 unti ...

. In December 2008, he was the first Syrian to interview a US president, being

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

. Additionally, Moubayed has been accredited with landmark interviews with Brazilian best-selling author

Paolo Coelho Paulo Coelho de Souza (, ; born 24 August 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002. His novel ''The Alchemist'' became an international best-seller and he has published 28 more books ...

and Wikipedia founder

Jimmy Wales Jimmy Donal Wales (born August 7, 1966), also known on Wikipedia by the pseudonym Jimbo, is an American-British Internet entrepreneur, webmaster, and former financial trader. He is a co-founder of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipe ...

Sami Moubayed with US President Jimmy Carter - October 2010

Works

In 2004, along with Syrian web-designer Sahban Abd Rabbo, Moubayed co-founded www.syrianhistory.com, an online museum of Syrian history containing over 10,000 photographs, documents, and rare audiovisual material on Syria during the years 1900–2000. The website also contains unpublished audio clips from historical Syrian figures. Moubayed has written much about pre-Baath Syria, and in 2016, was voted into the London-based

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

Selected works

He is the author of several books on modern Syria, including: *''The Politics of Damascus 1920-1946,'' (Damascus, 1998) *''Damascus Between Democracy and Dictatorship,'' (Maryland, 2000) *''Steel & Silk: Men and Women Who Shaped Syria 1900-2000,'' (Cune Press, 2005) *''Syria and the USA: From Wilson to Eisenhower,'' (IB Tauris, 2012) *''Under the Black Flag: At the Frontier of the New Jihad,'' (IB Tauris, 2015) *''Forgotten Tales from Damascus: Four Stories 1916-1936,'' (Arabic, Riad El Rayyes Books, Beirut 2016) *''East of the Grand Umayyad: Damascene Freemasonry 1868-1965,'' (Arabic, Riad El Rayyes Books, Beirut 2017) *''West of the Damascus Synagogue'' (Arabic, Riad El Rayyes Books, Beirut 2018) *''The Makers of Modern Syria 1918-1958: The rise and fall of Syrian Democracy 1918-1958'' (IB Tauris, London 2018) In 2015, he compiled the correspondences of Syrian nationalist Abdul Rahman Shahbandar and Prime Minister Hasan al-Hakim, penned during the years 1926–1936. In 2018, he edited and compiled the memoirs of

Husni al-Barazi Husni al-Barazi ( ar, حسني البرازي; 1895–1975) was a Syrian Kurdish politician who served as prime minister. Origins and youth Husni al-Barazi was born in the Syrian city of Hama into a prominent landowning family of Kurdish o ...

, Syria's Prime Minister during World War II, and Ahmad al-Sharabati, Syria's defense minister during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.

Biography

Works

Selected works

References

External links