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Welcome to the archives of Arctic Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on September 15, 2017, and transitioned some of our coverage to Oceans Deeply, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on the Arctic. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors contributors.
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Up until this month’s double suicide bombing in Beirut, there had been a relative lull in spillover violence from Syria’s civil war across the border. But as ISIS steadily supplants Islamist extremist groups in Lebanon with strong ties to rebel factions fighting in Syria, the lull in bloodshed might not return soon.
The numbers used to explain the California drought can often be overwhelming and confusing. Here’s a simple summary of some of the most important measurements of the drought, with an idea of how they’ve changed as the crisis continues.
While the West focuses on the fate of Assad and the defeat of ISIS, radical Islamist ideologies are gaining ground throughout the Syrian opposition. Syria Deeply spoke with Hassan Hassan about the country’s increasingly entrenched jihadist presence and its consequences for political transition.
SACRAMENTO BEE: For the first time in more than a century, California is trying to regulate groundwater pumping. Complicated legal challenges and lengthy debates are expected, starting with the issue of who gets to decide how much water can be pumped.
What do we know of the 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters David Cameron said “do not belong to extremist groups” and are able to work in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS? Does the figure include Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) or Ahrar al-Sham? Analysts investigate.
Turkmen have been involved in Syria’s civil war since the beginning of the uprising, but the group has only recently come to prominence due to Russia’s military intervention. Aligned with Turkey against Assad and Russia, and too moderate to join with ISIS, the minority militia is getting hit from all sides.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, shares her stories of life in the war. She recently moved to Damascus to continue her education, deciding to focus her college studies on prosthetics, which she hopes to use to help heal the injured in her country’s conflict.
Northeastern Syria’s autonomous Kurdish leadership has informed schools in the area they must teach core subjects in Kurdish. But while many of the area’s residents are proud to embrace their ethnic heritage, some worry about whether the change is sustainable in such a chaotic political environment.
A new industry survey found that many water-conscious Californians won’t buy a live Christmas tree this year because of the drought, and dry conditions have reduced the size of the harvest for some growers after a proportion of their trees dried out in the summer months.
ISIS has banned the use of newly pressed 500 and 1,000 Syrian pound notes, and while some residents fear this could be the beginning of a currency switch throughout the jihadist-controlled territory, others told Syria Deeply it’s a ploy by the upper echelon of ISIS to make a quick buck.
A new long-range forecast shows that all of California can expect wetter-than-normal conditions in the January through March period, the heart of winter. This is likely, because the much-anticipated El Niño has strengthened.
You probably don’t need to wash your clothes as often as you do. Here are some tricks to tweak your wardrobe and habits to cut back one of the biggest water users in the home.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, shares her stories of life in the war. She recently moved to Damascus to continue her education, deciding to focus her college studies on prosthetics, which she hopes to use to help heal the injured in her country’s conflict.
While debate over deploying large numbers of U.S. troops to Syria and Iraq is certain to intensify after the attacks in Paris, the ‘quagmires’ of Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to deter a large-scale U.S.-led ground war against Islamic State militants on Obama’s watch.
After a couple of snowy and rainy weekends, the trend for the next two weeks appears to be dry, according to the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center’s long-range forecast. This begs the questions: Where’s El Niño? And should we be worried?
ISIS controls most of Syria’s oil fields and crude is the militant group’s biggest single source of revenue. Here we follow the progress of a barrel of oil from extraction to end user to see how the ISIS production system works, who is making money from it, and why it is proving so challenging to disrupt.
More than 100,000 Syrians have left their homes in Aleppo Province over the last month, but they haven’t joined the masses heading to Europe. Most have found shelter in tents and unfinished buildings nearby, but as the nights grow colder and international aid organizations struggle to meet the displaced’s needs, they’re trying to organize themselves.
SACRAMENTO BEE: Crews clearing up fire damage have to outpace the rain, with mudslides and floods a major concern in rural areas. In Lake and Calaveras counties, workers are cleaning debris from nearly 2,000 burned homes in addition to erosion-control work.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, shares her stories of life in the war. She recently moved to Damascus to continue her education, deciding to focus her college studies on prosthetics, which she hopes to use to help heal the injured in her country’s conflict.
Less than one-third of the 700,000 Syrian school-aged children who have entered Turkey over the last four years are attending school, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch over the weekend. Most students are barred from studying due to language barriers and economic hardships.
While both Syrian and Russian state media may have us believe their recent push to recapture government territory lost to rebels over the past year is succeeding, analyst Aymenn al-Tamimi says the situation on the ground in Syria might not be as promising as Assad and his backers hoped.
As water cuts in Aleppo reach an all-time high, the Red Cross and its local partner organizations are asking for help in publicizing a GPS-enabled map that gives users the ability to pinpoint themselves in relation to a network of restored water wells throughout the city.
Working as a policeman before the uprising, Abu Luay quickly defected as the government’s crackdown on peaceful protestors grew steadily more violent. After fighting with various opposition groups for nearly a year, he put down his weapons to create a DIY-electricity project in his besieged hometown.
A hopeful southward drop in the jet stream did not materialize, meaning that a prediction of two weeks of wetter weather proved wrong, but a forecast for cold weather is promising for snowpack development on high ground – better news for water supplies in future months.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, shares her stories of life in the war. She recently moved to Damascus to continue her education, deciding to focus her college studies on prosthetics, which she hopes to use to help heal the injured in her country’s conflict.
State law prevents water agencies from offering subsidies for low-income ratepayers. New legislation provides a path forward, but it is years away and offers no promise of relief for those struggling to pay their water bills.
Amnesty International has accused the Syrian government of reaping major profits from a widespread and systematic practice of enforced disappearances, vanishing tens of thousands of people over the past four years and extorting their relatives for information about their fate.
The numbers that explain the California drought can often be overwhelming and confusing. Here’s a simple summary of some important measurements of the drought, and how they’ve changed as the crisis continues.
The strongest armed group in Douma paraded caged detainees, including Syrian army officers and women and children, for several hours on Sunday throughout the besieged city, in attempt to deter future government air strikes. Syria Deeply spoke with a handful of the city’s residents to get their take.
The drought has left California landscapes so dry that initial heavy rains could smother fish habitats under mudslides and trash, potentially harming spawning habitats for decades. Biologists hope for a gentle start to winter so the land can absorb water slowly before any torrential rains arrive.
Syria Deeply reached out to some of our foremost experts on Syria and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East to get their take on the U.S. decision to send a group of special forces troops into the war-torn country. Is it too little too late? Should we be worried about mission creep?
From war-torn homes to near permanent refugee status, Syrian children in Lebanon are living in a situation of never-ending insecurity, award-winning film-maker Mani Benchelah tells Syria Deeply. His film provides an intimate view into the lives of a generation whose world has been turned upside down.
FRESNO BEE: Westlands Water District has been told to get rid of a camp that has mushroomed on its land. Officials say a “direct correlation” is likely between drought and the explosion in size of the camp, which is composed mostly of homeless farmworkers who struggle to find work in drought times.
Zaina Erhaim has taken the road less traveled. In London pursuing her M.A. when the revolution in Syria began, she chose to go against the stream of refugees fleeing the violence and return to use her skills as a journalist to help her country and her people.
President Barack Obama authorizes the first sustained deployment of U.S. Special Forces in Syria to help out “local ground forces” in their fight against the Islamic State. The announcement came as key backers of Syria’s rival sides met in Vienna to find a political solution to the conflict.
Amid a renewed diplomatic push in Vienna that includes the United States, Iran, and European and Middle East powers, deep divisions remain over Syrian President Assad’s future.
This year’s devastating wildfires provide a peek at the future. With climate change and, now, massive tree deaths caused by the drought, it makes an ugly forecast for future fire seasons.
From high school golden boy to quadriplegic, from games designer to refugee, Khaldoun Sinjab has had it harder than most, but he’s not complaining. He just wants to breathe in peace.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, shares her stories of life in the war. She recently moved to Damascus to continue her education, deciding to focus her college studies on prosthetics, which she hopes to use to help heal the injured in her country’s conflict.
MODESTO BEE: Researchers will use excess river water, if available, to flood almond fields this winter, then track any improvement in aquifer levels.
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