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The Decision to Leave Syria
Reem Alsalem
Reem Alsalem
Reem Alsalem is regional public information officer for UNHCR’s Middle East and North Africa bureau. She is based in Beirut.
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].
Exploring Syrian civil society as well as grassroots and international social initiatives that deal with everyday civilian life in Syria.
Follow via RSSReem Alsalem
Reem Alsalem is regional public information officer for UNHCR’s Middle East and North Africa bureau. She is based in Beirut.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week Syria Deeply monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
Earlier this year, Croatian weapons were discovered in Homs and Damascus. But a bigger story than the rocket pods’ appearance was that much of the reporting that unveiled it – through careful analysis of videos posted on the YouTube channels of activists on the ground –came from the desk of Eliot Higgins, a 34-year-old Brit far removed from the Syrian theater who writes under the pseudonym Brown Moses.
David Kenner
The following is a cross-post of an item by David Kenner on Foreign Policy’s Passport blog.
Dina Shahrokhi
Dina Shahrokhi is research associate at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston.
As part of our ongoing effort to talk to journalists covering the Syria crisis, we reached out to Olly Lambert, the filmmaker behind PBS Frontline’s new documentary “Behind the Lines.” The London-based Lambert spent five weeks in Syria creating both that film and a shorter piece, the 36-minute Frontline episode “The Bombing of al-Bara,” a gripping real-time account of a regime attack on a rural village. Lambert’s full-length documentary, re-titled ‘Syria: Across the Lines,’ will air on the UK’s Channel 4 on April 17 at 10 p.m.
As American journalist Jim Foley entered his fifth month missing in Syria, his mother, Diane Foley, prepared for a panel event called ‘Silenced Voices: When Conflict Journalists Go Missing,’ to be held by the Free James Foley organization on May 3 in Boston. She spoke with Syria Deeply managing editor Karen Leigh about her fears, her belief in her son and what it’s like to be the parent of a conflict journalist.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week Syria Deeply monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
Amal Hanano
Many opposition leaders have praised women for their role in the uprising against the Assad regime. But women remain marginalized in opposition politics, portending an uncertain future for female participation in the post-conflict Syrian political sphere.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week Syria Deeply monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
The deaths of veteran Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remy Ochelik (killed in a February 2012 rocket attack in Homs) proved watershed for citizen journalists in this war-torn Syrian city.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week Syria Deeply monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
As part of our series of interviews with journalists covering the Syria crisis, we spoke with National Magazine Award-winning journalist and Vanity Fair contributing editor Janine Di Giovanni, who has reported extensively from Syria for the New York Times, the Guardian and other publications. Here, she discusses what it’s like to be a woman – and mother – covering the war. “Your feelings are more raw,” she says.
Swaida, the Druze-majority province that borders Daraa, has escaped much of the violence in Syria’s brutal conflict, serving as a haven for refugees and a source for humanitarian aid. But a spate of kidnappings, and the rise of jihadist groups such as Jabhat Al Nusra, have left residents to fend for themselves as Syria transforms into a failed state.
John Wreford
John Wreford is a photographer based in Damascus. Roads and Kingdoms, an independent journal of food, politics, music and culture, can be found on Twitter @roadskingdoms.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week Syria Deeply monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
Allan Goodman
Allan Goodman is the president and CEO of the Institute of International Education. .
Karl Sharro
Karl Sharro is a Syria Deeply columnist, London-based architect and Middle East commentator. He blogs at the wildly popular karlremarks.com and Tweets @KarlreMarks.
At an anti-regime protest in Saraqeb in the northwestern province of Idlib on February 8, the three-starred revolutionary flag was ripped from the hands of a demonstrator by supporters of an Islamist faction. .
Dina Shahrokhi
Dina Shahrokhi is the research assistant at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.
As two years of conflict have spread chaos over Syria’s largest city, bands of armed fighters here in Aleppo have been routinely linked to widespread looting and extortion in the territory under their control. To mute any public complaints, rebel groups routinely detain and beat up those who publicize their crimes.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between News Deeply and a 33-year-old Palestinian activist from the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, who asked not to be named. Here, he discusses how Yarmouk became was once “safe place” for activists in the wartime capital, until the FSA moved in. .
As part of our series of interviews with journalists covering the Syria crisis, we reached out to Al Jazeera’s Basma Atassi, a Syrian who has been reporting on the war in her home country. Here, she discusses what it’s like to watch the turmoil of her birthplace through a journalist’s lens. “I did not go with the mindset ‘I’m a journalist coming to save you,’” she says. “I just went as a journalist.”.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week Syria Deeply monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
Renowned composer and pianist Malek Jandali grew up in Homs City and was one of the first Syrian creative artists to support the protests from abroad. Jandali’s parents were attacked by state security forces and have since found refuge in the United States, where their son holds citizenship. Here, he discusses the new political role of Syrian artists.
AL BARA, Idlib Province – As Syria’s neighboring countries grapple with a million refugees who fled from violence, a far greater number of internally displaced Syrians have moved away from the front lines to await the conflict’s conclusion. Life is anything but easy.
As a regular feature, inspired by your questions about the Syria conflict, we’ve rounded up answers from some of the top minds in our network. If you’d like to submit a question for us to tackle send it to <[email protected]>.
Karl Sharro
Karl Sharro is a Syria Deeply columnist, London-based architect and Middle East commentator. He blogs at the wildly popular karlremarks.com and Tweets @KarlreMarks.
As part of our series of interviews with journalists covering the Syria crisis, we reached out to ABC News correspondent and “Nightline” anchor Terry Moran, who reported last month from the streets of Damascus. Here, he discusses the changes he saw in the Syrian capital. “Part of the horror of what’s happening in Damascus,” he says, “is just… the demoralization.”.
KAFRANBEL, Idlib Province—For almost two years, Kafranbel, a small town in Idlib, has enthralled Syrians with its witty banners and cartoons, delivering a message of peaceful defiance that made it an icon of the revolution. But today its residents are split: on one side, ardent supporters of a democratic Syria, on the other, those who seek an Islamic state led by extremists such as Jabhat Al Nusra.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week Syria Deeply monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
Dina Shahrokhi
Dina Shahrokhi is Research Associate for the Middle East at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.
As a regular feature, inspired by your questions about the Syria conflict, we’ve rounded up answers from some of the top minds in our network. If you’d like to submit a question for us to tackle send it to <[email protected]>
As part of our ongoing effort to talk to journalists covering the Syrian crisis, we reached out to award-winning NPR correspondent Deborah Amos. Amos spoke from Turkey, where she was reporting not long after witnessing – and narrowly escaping – the deadly Feb. 11 car bomb blast at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Turkey and Syria. “That tells you something about covering Syria,” she says. “Being at the passport office turned out to be more dangerous than going to Aleppo.”.
On April 25, 2011, a man held up a video camera in Deraa. He was not an experienced videographer and he did not have a tripod.He stood in front of a group of Syrian army soldiers with tanks and filmed them shooting their machine guns towards civilian targets. Each time he watched the clip on his laptop, he noticed the footage was shaky due to his trembling hand, so he would go back to his exposed vantage point to film once more.
As part of our ongoing effort to talk to journalists covering the Syria crisis, we reached out to Jenan Moussa, a correspondent with Al Aan TV. Just back from conflict-torn Mali, the Dubai-based Moussa has made seven trips to Syria and covered most major events in the Middle East over the past two years. Here, she discusses “overwhelming” Syria and covering the war for an Arab outlet. “When I have to go to Syria, the excitement disappears, there’s this grip of fear,” she says. “No matter how prepared you are, you cannot be prepared enough.”.
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