Dear Deeply Readers,
Welcome to the archives of Syria Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on May 15, 2018, and transitioned some of our coverage to Peacebuilding Deeply, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on the Syrian conflict. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors contributors.
We continue to produce events and special projects while we explore where the on-site journalism goes next. If you’d like to reach us with feedback or ideas for collaboration you can do so at [email protected].
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, has been sharing her stories of life in the war. With her mother and siblings, she left Syria, stopping off in Turkey before making the precarious crossing to Greece by boat. Now in Switzerland, she describes her life in a new country.
Silicon Valley is suffering through the drought along with the rest of California, but it has not been a big player in funding solutions. That’s partly because water innovations are slow to mature and heavily regulated. Instead, government and universities often provide support to startups.
In Longyearbyen, Svalbard, a choir united by coal takes to the stage in an abandoned building – but the future for local coal mining looks uncertain. This is the first installment of “Meet the North,” a series that ventures into the lives of some of the 4 million people who call the Arctic home.
The exclusion of al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria from the cessation of hostilities could bring the truce agreement to a crashing halt. Joshua Landis speaks about the group’s heavy presence across much of the opposition-controlled area in the north and the problem this poses for any long-lasting peace.
If you look at the numbers, the severity of the drought doesn’t match the economic impacts. Despite some areas that were hitter harder than others, as a whole, California weathered the drought well in economic terms. Here’s a look at some of the biggest reasons for the difference.
California’s four years of drought pale in comparison to the 15 drought years Australians endured. But Australia’s pain may help ease California’s gain thanks to a new report, “Managing Drought,” which boils down some of the key lessons learned.
The U.S. Marine Mammal Commission flew to the Arctic for first time in almost 30 years to listen to Alaska’s coastal hunters talk about climate change and the health of seals, walrus and other marine mammals. But will what they heard translate into new policies and conservation efforts?
Silicon Valley communities have responded positively to local and statewide conservation mandates, reducing water use by letting lawns brown or replacing them with drought-tolerant plants. But what effects have their efforts had – and will they translate to more permanent water savings?
ENERGYWIRE – Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski invited Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and other high-profile politicians to Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim region to see at close quarters the infrastructure and energy difficulties that trouble rural villages in the state – and possible fixes to the problems.
The internationally brokered cease-fire had a rocky start. While the first 24 hours passed relatively quietly, Russian and Syrian government air strikes picked up again on Sunday, with airplanes targeting towns and villages controlled by the Free Syrian Army across the country’s north.
The Paris U.N. climate change conference was over in a flash. The Arctic’s indigenous leaders, who did not sit in on the state-centric negotiations, had to raise their voices to be heard in the conversation. Now, as the clock ticks on, they’re still demanding action.
For a century, farming has been synonymous with flood prevention. The thinking was that you couldn’t grow crops on land that flooded in winter. California’s drought has changed attitudes about this, and J. Stacey Sullivan explains how.
Researchers are discovering a growing amount of plastic litter in the polar landscape and in the stomachs of marine birds. The trend is predicted to worsen as Arctic sea ice shrinks and shipping traffic increases, but slowing it will require a global effort.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, has been sharing her stories of life in the war. With her mother and siblings, she left Syria, stopping off in Turkey before making the precarious crossing to Greece by boat. Now in Switzerland, she describes her life in a new country.
Figuring out how much water different users in California get is a tricky business. One statistic says that 50 percent of the water captured by our rivers goes to the environment, but here’s a look at what ‘environment’ really means and why the numbers can be misleading.
Depending on where you live in San Mateo or Santa Clara counties there are many places your water could come from – and, as the drought has shown, some of those sources are more reliable than others. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of the most important sources.
While opposition forces have been hit hard by the Russian-backed government offensive in northern Syria, Kurdish militias have exploited the turmoil to expand their areas of control, capturing territory from already weakened rebel groups being targeted simultaneously by ISIS and pro-government militias.
SACRAMENTO BEE: The drought has inspired many California residents to try and make their landscaping more climate friendly. But removing your lawn can be harder than it sounds. Here are some tips on how to get turf removal right and what drought-tolerant plants will make a great new yard.
Despite five years of war, several stints in government detention centers and a near-constant fear of being “disappeared,” one woman in Damascus has not given up on the Syrian uprising, transitioning from activist to citizen journalist and committing herself to covering ongoing human rights abuses.
FRESNO BEE: Opposition is mounting against a ballot initiative to move funding from high-speed rail toward water projects. Those opposing the initiative believe it would harm efforts to build new dams through money to be allocated from Proposition 1, passed in 2014
Industrial noise from ships, offshore development and military activity is exposing Arctic marine mammals to unprecedented amounts of man-made racket. With the retreat of the sea ice, scientists figure the Arctic Ocean will only get louder. Can they muffle the din?
Syrian painter Soulaf Abas translates bloody images of her homeland she sees on the TV screen into works of art, in part to urge the casual viewer to reconsider the violence that has become normalized after five years of war, and in part to urge herself to come to terms with what Syria has become.
The YPG has taken advantage of military support from the U.S. and a wave of Russian bombardment to make advances on the ground in recent weeks, drawing concern and artillery shelling from Turkey. But with a Syria agenda focused on defeating ISIS, the U.S. isn’t likely to renounce its support for the Kurds.
In a desperate attempt to save the Bathurst caribou herd from extinction, the government of the Northwest Territories banned the fall hunt for the second year in a row. The restriction puts local communities under pressure to find alternative foods – and may not be enough to save the herd.
Water Education Foundation’s executive director Jennifer Bowles talked to Water Deeply about why water literacy in California is so important, in both wet and dry years – and how to bring different voices to the table to work on the state’s complicated water issues.
Can cooperation on Arctic issues thaw diplomatic relations between Canada and Russia? We asked two of Canada’s leading Arctic experts – Rob Huebert and Heather Exner-Pirot – whether the two nations could mend their rapport through their shared interests in the Arctic.
Turkey’s war against Kurdish insurgents has turned into open hostilities with the Syrian Kurdish minority, judged by Ankara to be connected to the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Washington must choose between its NATO ally and its most effective ground force in the battle against ISIS.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, has been sharing her stories of life in the war. With her mother and siblings, she left Syria, stopping off in Turkey before making the precarious crossing to Greece by boat. Now in Switzerland, she describes her life in a new country.
New research using high-tech tools to measure the moisture in trees found that 120 million trees across nearly every part of California are at risk of dying. Predictions that trends of higher temperatures and decreased precipitation will continue in the future could transform the state’s forests.
Churchill’s belugas may be heading for trouble, and Jack Orr wants to help them. He is tagging the whales in order to track them – and so establish their preferred habitat as part of a program to protect the belugas from the effects of climate change.
A new report from the Pacific Institute has tallied how four years of drought has impacted electricity prices and pollution from the electricity sector. Reduced flows of surface water has meant less hydropower and more natural gas, which is not good for the wallet or the environment.
Scientists believe that some Chinook salmon “landlocked” behind California’s dams are completing their life cycles without reaching the ocean. Will these fish, stocked by hatcheries, interfere with efforts to return native salmon to the waters above the dams?
The Russian-supported onslaught on the city of Aleppo and surrounding countryside has forced more than 50,000 people to flee their homes and head north to the Turkish border. But as the border remains closed and the weather gets colder, Syria’s displaced are stranded with nowhere to go.
Hospitals across the country are becoming increasingly common targets. Air strikes hit 112 Syrian medical facilities in 2015 and have already hit at least 13 so far this year, adding up to what some experts have deemed to be a “systematic destruction” of Syria’s healthcare system.
An increase in Russian and Syrian government air strikes across northern Syria over the past week has sent more than 50,000 residents fleeing to the Turkish border. As heavy air raids continue and pro-government forces move in to rebel-held areas, residents from Latakia to Idlib to Aleppo are clearing out.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, has been sharing her stories of life in the war. With her mother and siblings, she left Syria, stopping off in Turkey before making the precarious crossing to Greece by boat. Now in Switzerland, she recounts events in a new country.
Is a bottling company about to get unlimited groundwater when locals have been conserving during the drought? Some residents of Mount Shasta City are concerned a loophole in a new groundwater law means that a planned bottling operation by Crystal Geyser could dry up local groundwater wells.
Pro-government forces tightened their siege of the Damascus suburb of Moadamiya at the weekend, capturing a strategic strip of land connecting it with the neighboring suburb of Daraya. While negotiations continue over the lifting of the siege, the community of nearly 45,000 grow hungrier by the day.
The state hasn’t had a new large dam since 1979, but that may change with the pressures of the drought and the passage of the 2014 water bond dedicating money to new water storage projects. Five options for new or enlarged reservoirs are being considered, but one may have a better chance than others.
FRESNO BEE: The gains from a wet January would be erased in the Central Valley if dry and warm weather continues for much of February. Of particular concern is a high pressure system over Central California that would prevent rain and snow from hitting the area.
Have a story idea? Interested in adding your voice to our growing community?
Learn more