Gorani: "The big frustration for people in Syria is corruption"

By Back|Story staff, CNN International

CNN Center (CNN) There is a lot of focus on the historical pattern of unrest happening in the Middle East. Syria is particularly interesting and protests there are the latest focus of the wave of events where people in the region are expressing concern and unhappiness with the status quo.

We've seen protests in the southern Syrian city of Daraa where at least 15 people have been killed at the time of this recording you see in the video above. Even surprisingly, some protests in Damascus as well; but also of note are reports of protests in the city of Hema which is significant given it's history: there was a heavy attack in 1982 by the Syrian Army to shut down a revolt involving the Muslim Brotherhood. Syria isn't a culture of protests, unlike Egypt where even before their latest revolution you would still see protests happening.

Hala Gorani of CNN International has been to Syria many times. We felt we should sit down with her to talk about some of the details that stand out about Syria's brand of unrest.

It turned out to be quite an enlightening conversation about a complex yet intriguing country.