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Week in Review: Moderates Under Fire, As Snowfall Hits Refugees
The kidnapping of Razan Zeitouneh this week was a shock and blow to what’s left of the original Syrian uprising.
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Features, analysis and in-depth coverage from Syria Deeply’s network of on-the-ground and remote correspondents and individual voices from Syria.
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In Focus: On Lebanese Border, Unregistered Syrian Refugees Left Out in the Cold
ARSAL — In the midst of snowstorm Alexa, tens of thousands of unregistered Syrian refugees in this Lebanese border town have been left outdoors.
- Opposition Groups & Rebel Forces
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Could al-Qaida’s Extreme Tactics Backfire?
Civilians, activists and opposition fighters in Raqqa say they are facing an increasing level of brutality from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the al-Qaida linked group whose often violent governing tactics in the city are starting to alienate constituents there.
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State of the Battle: ISIS Detonates Suicide Car Bombs in Qamishli
Early this week, a car bomb detonated near a paramilitary building in a Kurdish-majority village in northeast Hassekeh province.
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Syria Deeply Asks: What is the State of Syria’s Opposition Ahead of Geneva Talks?
On Nov. 22, seven of the largest non-extremist fighting brigades in Syria came together to form the Islamic Front.
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Rooting for the Rebels, From Inside Assad’s Camp
Mohammad, 25, is a Syrian soldier who supports the rebel opposition from his barracks in Bashar al-Assad’s army.
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State of the Regime: Two Major Offensives, Oil Fields in Rebel Hands
This week, the Syrian army secured the much-contested area of Qalamoun near the main highway between Homs and Damascus.
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Homeless Syrians in Southern Turkey Wait for Relocation
Earlier this month, Turkish authorities moved 65 refugee families from a makeshift camp in a parking lot to a government-run refugee camp outside of Gaziantep.
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Syria’s New Working Women Challenge Gender Stereotypes
DAMASCUS — For women from conservative Syrian communities, war has had an unexpected consequence: the freedom to ignore longstanding conventions and traditional gender roles, and they have begun to rely on themselves. .
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Reflections of a Revolutionary, Imprisoned by Al-Qaida
In Syria, you can chart the course of the uprising through the journey of one man: Osama Mansour al-Hilali.
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Conversations: Cross Border Relief Worker
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between Syria Deeply and a young Syrian relief worker. Amer, 30, was a lawyer before he joined a team of relief workers in Hatay, Turkey, last spring, making daily trips to deliver aid across the Syrian border.
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Week in Review: Assad in the Ascendant, Chemical Weapons at Sea
With a series of battlefield gains and a consensus that it’s generally ahead in the fight, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad was vocally confident this week that it would keep the reigns of power.
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A Blend of Laws Keep the Lid on Crime in Syria’s Deraa Province
RAMTHA, JORDAN // The first case taken on by the Islamic court in Deraa was a trivial affair, especially viewed against the backdrop of a devastating conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people.
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Chemical Weapons Convoy Faces Enemy Territory, Threat of Roadside Bombs
U.S. officials said this week that the Pentagon is rigging a 647-foot cargo ship with high-tech equipment in order to destroy hundreds of tons of Syrian chemical weapons at sea. .
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State of the Battle: Fighting Tooth and Nail for Qalamoun
For months, government and opposition forces have been fighting for Qalamoun, a mountainous stretch of land near Damascus. Situated along a highway that runs from Homs to Damascus, it’s a key strategic point for both sides, and for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been suffering casualties as it fights alongside Bashar al-Assad’s troops.
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Watching Her Son and Husband Get Kidnapped In Eastern Ghouta
DAMASCUS COUNTRYSIDE — As she cooks rice on the stove in her home in the suburb of Douma in eastern Ghouta, Um Khaled recalls the fateful night her husband and son were taken from her.
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Out and Down in Syria’s Civil War
BEIRUT — When Syrian rebels first captured Raqqa in March, seizing the northern city from President Bashar al-Assad’s regime seemed enough for them. They didn’t interfere with citizens’ private lives, said Amir, a Syrian from the city.
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Voice from Israel: Humanitarian Aid is About ‘Being a Good Neighbor’
This week, Israel announced that it would be sending humanitarian aid across the border to civilians in Syria, a bitter enemy. “We can’t sit by and watch the humanitarian difficulties on the other side,” said Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon.
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Syrian Journalists Face Abduction, Oppression from All Sides
ALEPPO — With the emergence of opposition-held districts and territories held by the Free Syrian Army, newly “liberated” zones became a shelter for media activists and journalists — a place where they could work freely, away from Syrian intelligence.
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A New Education Center in the Damascus Suburbs
Many teachers are among those who have fled Syria as the country’s conflict worsens. But in the Damascus suburbs, a group of activists are working to fill the knowledge gap with a new education center. .
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Worsening Violence Against Syria’s Women
Last week, the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network released a report that said more than 6,000 women had been raped since the start of the Syrian conflict.
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Q+A: On Foreign Fighters Flowing Into Syria
The flow of foreign fighters to Syria has become a regional concern: the number of fighters from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Tunisia and Iraq has spiked, as groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra have consolidated their power and expanded their fighting forces.
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Week in Review: Women and Children, Suffering in the Spotlight
It’s been an eventful week in and around Syria. The regime has been taking back bits of terrain, including the strategic town of Qalamoun. Where the regime isn’t in control – in the northern parts of the country – al-Qaida is gaining ground and growing more influential. .
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Syria’s Children, Forced to Be the Family Breadwinners
Today, the United Nations released its new report on the crisis facing Syria’s refugee children, the first such in-depth report it has conducted since the start of the conflict.
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What Syria’s Government and Opposition Will Bring to Geneva
A second round of peace talks is set to begin on Jan. 22 in Geneva. The talks, brokered by the U.N. and supported by the West, come after the first set of talks failed to negotiate a truce, or even concessions, between the Assad government and its opposition.
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Rebel-Held Raqqa Sees Electricity Cut, in a Patchwork of Public Services
RAQQA — Last week, activists in this Islamist-held provincial capital said the government had drastically cut their electricity supply.
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In Hama, A Paramedic Turned Paraplegic
EHSIM, IDLIB — Khaled, who uses a wheelchair, remembers how his daughters used to ask him for piggyback rides around their house. That was before he lost his feet to shrapnel.
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Q+A: How Syria’s New Islamic Front Could Change the Game
On Friday, Syria’s six largest Islamist rebel groups declared a new Islamic Front, forming the largest opposition alliance thus far in the conflict. Syria’s rebel fighters have tried to unite before, with dismal results.
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After Four Brits Die in Syria, Questions About Impact of the ‘Western Jihad’
Last week, four British nationals were reported killed while fighting in Syria. The deaths raised questions of exactly how many Western jihad are currently working on the ground with ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other extremist groups.
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With Two Sons in the Army, Saying a Prayer for Assad
TARTUS — In a small village on the Syrian coast, a shopkeeper in her 60s tends to her customers. She wears the shimmering black abaya prevalent in the countryside, wisps of gray hair protruding from her headscarf.
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Is Malnutrition Syria’s Next Epidemic?
EHSIM, IDLIB PROVINCE — A five-minute delay on the walk over was just enough time for Um Abed, a 38-year-old widow, to lose her usual spot in her town’s long milk line. Everyone here is desperate for milk from the town’s only living cow.
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Conversations: Baking by Night in Deir Ezzor
DEIR EZZOR — Abed Rahman al-Khodor is known across this eastern city for his perseverance in providing the most basic edible essential, bread, to its most vulnerable residents.
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Week in Review: Regime Makes Gains, While Everyone Loses
A week that ended with an Iranian nuclear deal – one that could reshape the geopolitical contours of the Middle East – was punctuated by a devastating attack on Iran’s embassy in Beirut.
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Syrian Refugees Hit End of the Line in Arsal
ARSAL, Lebanon — Thousands of Syrians refugees have been driven from town to town before ending up in Arsal, a dusty, rebel-friendly border town in Lebanon. For civilians, prospects for return are dim. For fighters on the mend, the goal is to rejoin the battle against President Bashar al Assad.
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WSJ: A Violent Year in the Life of the Syria-Turkey Border
HATAY, Turkey—Along this porous frontier, Syria’s conflict is increasingly migrating onto Turkish soil, reshaping communities and feeding fears that Ankara’s support for rebel groups could backfire, igniting fresh violence on this side of the border.
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One on One: Joe Parkinson, Istanbul Bureau Chief, the Wall Street Journal
This week, the Wall Street Journal launched Borderlands, an interactive multimedia platform using video and text to track uprooted Syrians now living on or near the Turkish border.
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A Shabiha Visits with His Mother
ALEPPO — Um Walid, a widow in her 50s, was finally able to set up a brief meeting for this journalist with her son, Walid, at their family home at the edge of a liberated area of Aleppo.Her son is a member of the shabiha, a pro-Assad fighter who aids the regime whenever needed.
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Beirut Attack Strengthens Hezbollah’s Resolve in Syria
BIR HASSAN, BEIRUT — Hezbollah members and leaders say their resolve to fight in Syria has deepened, after a double suicide attack on the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. The attack killed 25 people on Tuesday. .
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Polio Vaccine Stops Short of Rebel-Held Aleppo
ALEPPO — Doctors in the country warn that the current polio vaccine campaign, triggered by the discovery of cases in Aleppo province, is still not reaching children in opposition-controlled areas here.
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Will Abdelqader Saleh’s Death Spell Doom for Aleppo’s Rebels?
Yesterday, Abdelqader Saleh, the leader of Aleppo’s prominent, moderate Liwa al-Tawhid Brigade, was killed in a government attack on a base near the city.