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].
Patrick Hilsman has a light on in Syria’s internet blackout. The 29-year-old New York native landed in Aleppo on Thursday morning to report on the conflict from the rebel-held section of the city, one of the city’s hardest hit neighborhoods. He hopped online and did a Google Hangout with Syria Deeply, describing his journey. .
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between News Deeply and a 24-year-old Syrian architect. She’s from a middle class Sunni family in Aleppo; the situation in her neighborhood got so bad that her father sent her, her mother, and her sisters to stay with friends in the city of Tartous, an Alewite stronghold that hasn’t seen unrest. Her father is still living under siege at home. .
The Syrian revolution has been televised, tweeted and blogged. Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. We will highlight a few interesting conversations or videos in a weekly feature called Social Media Buzz.
Farida is married with three children and living in a refugee camp right inside the Syrian border at the Bab al Salam crossing. There are roughly 5,000 people living in the camp. Beidoun’s family fled Aleppo when the fighting intensified there this summer.
Abu Ammar, a former truck driver, is one of dozens of people living in a school in Azaz after fleeing their homes in Menagh, when it came under heavy bombardment. He speaks from a former classroom, which now has clothes stacked on a filing cabinet, some thin cushions on the floor, and blankets stacked in the corner.
There are an estimated 2.5 million displaced people in Syria, victims of the violence, forced from their homes. In a series of conversations, we’re highlighting their voices and stories.
George Sabra is the chairman of the Syrian National Council, a Christian and leftist dissident who has long opposed the Assad regime. He was a signatory to the 2005 Damascus Declaration, a landmark call for democracy from within the country. He spoke to Syria Deeply on the sidelines of opposition talks in Doha.
> The Syrian revolution has been televised, tweeted and blogged. Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Syria Deeply will highlight a few interesting conversations or videos in a weekly feature called Social Media Buzz.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between News Deeply and a 26-year-old artist in Damascus. He is a progressive Sunni who takes huge pride in the culture of his city. We asked him to share his impressions of what’s happening in Damascus.
For Raed Tawil, an engineering student at Damascus University, going to class had become deadly dangerous.“One day last fall, a student came in with a handgun and opened fire. He killed two people, and wounded others. One of my friends still has a bullet in him,” Tawil recalls.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between News Deeply and a 26-year-old artist living in Damascus. He’s a progressive Sunni who takes huge pride in the culture of his city. We asked him to share his impressions of what’s happening in Syria’s capital.
After 20 months of bickering, opponents of the Assad regime have agreed to unite under the National Coalition for Opposition Forces and the Syrian Revolution. The opposition named Ahmad Mouaz Al-Khatib Al-Hasani, an Islamic cleric from Damascus, as its leader on November 11th.
The Syrian revolution is televised, and tweeted and blogged. Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Syria Deeply will highlight a few interesting conversations or videos in a weekly feature called Social Media Buzz.
Syria’s business elite has long been a pillar of support for the Assad regime, in an odd alliance that linked wealthy capitalists with a socialist military dictatorship.
It comes as a surprise, just days after a failed ceasefire over the Muslim holiday weekend. But a political solution in Syria, a formula for an alternative to the Assad regime, could be right around the corner.
Syria’s civil war has been one of the most confusing conflicts in our time. As reporters we’ve suffered for the lack of free access on the ground. As readers you’ve rarely had the context and clarity to understand what’s happening. Together, it’s made the Syria story very hard to grasp.
Syria experts are hard to find, but there are some analysts with deep domain knowledge that we turn to for a trusted take. Here are some of our favorite voices
For the past two months, the bloodiest phase of Syria’s civil war, government troops and rebel forces have been fighting for the city of Aleppo. It’s a question of critical turf: Aleppo is Syria’s largest and wealthiest city, the beating heart of the country’s economy and industry, and now it’s up for grabs.
The Kurds are vital to Syria’s power balance. They make up roughly 10% of Syria’s population, or roughly 2 million people, and hold sway over a critical swath of Syria’s northeastern terrain
Salman Shaikh (@Salman_Shaikh1) is the director of the Brookings Doha Center and a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. He specializes in mediation and conflict resolution issues throughout the region and gave us the lowdown on the precarious state of Syria’s opposition.
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