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Studies on Hold for Syria’s Academic Elite
Housing prices and unaffordable tuition – and new demands as family breadwinners – have led to a surge in the number of college dropouts.
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Civil Society
Exploring Syrian civil society as well as grassroots and international social initiatives that deal with everyday civilian life in Syria.
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My Syrian Diary: Part 4
Marah lives in a city under siege. She was 15 years old when the uprising began. This is the third in her series of memoirs of living in the midst of Syria’s war.
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- War Economy
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Returning Home, Barzeh Residents Face the Cost of Rebuilding
Despite relative calm after months of heavy fighting, Syrians returning home to this Damascus suburb are finding their homes in need of repairs often too pricey to take on alone.
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Q+A: ‘Aleppo: Notes from the Dark,’ Changing the Syrian Narrative
A new documentary tells the city’s story from seven points of view. Its filmmakers posit that it’s changed the way we look at the civilian experience.
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Week in Review: Amid a Brutal Week, Syria’s Citizens Suffer, Struggle and Seek Out Solutions
To give you an overview of the latest news this week, we’ve organized the latest Syrian developments in a curated summary.
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In Aleppo, Civilian Groups Fill Gaps in Caring for Communities
Providing hospital transport and digging bodies out of the rubble, Syria’s organized volunteers seek to pick up where the government and opposition officials left off.
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In Homs, Residents Make ‘Siege Food’ with Turtle Meat, Weeds
In besieged areas of the city, residents have created wartime recipes including a dough made of seeds and dishes that use birds instead of meat.
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My Syrian Diary: Part 3
Marah lives in a city under siege. She was 15 years old when the uprising began. This is the third in her series of memoirs of living in the midst of Syria’s war.
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One on One: Raja Abdulrahim, Correspondent, Los Angeles Times
Painting a portrait of life in today’s Aleppo.
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Arts & Culture: Syrian Painters Fight a ‘Culture of Emptying’
Meet the organization helping Syrian artists in Lebanon traverse Beirut’s burgeoning arts scene while maintaining their identity.
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In Aleppo, Rebels Cut Off Power as a Bargaining Chip
The government has been accused of cutting Aleppo’s power supply as a way to get the opposition to bend. Now, local residents say the opposition is doing the same.
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Week in Review: A Chemical Weapons Saga Reveals the State of Syria
To give you an overview of the latest news this week, we’ve organized the latest Syrian developments in a curated summary.
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Cease-Fires Bring Patchy Peace to Damascus Neighborhoods
Syrian opposition sources says rebels are only agreeing to regime-led local cease-fires because the alternative is starvation.
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My Syrian Diary: Part 2
Marah, a teenage girl living in one of Syria’s besieged cities, shares her stories from life in war. She dreams of getting an education, despite the ongoing violence that has destroyed local schools, and checkpoints that have made the commute to school nearly impossible.
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Surviving Chronic Illness in Damascus
As Syria’s medical infrastructure implodes, sufferers of chronic illness struggle to find regular treatment. Meet Sana, a young Damascene living with a rare skin disease, and her father, who struggles to provide the care she needs.
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Fighting Decimates Latakia’s Tourism, Shutters its Beach Resorts
Once a safe haven, the Alawite province’s hotels and restaurants are in the line of fire. Widespread closures are reported, and development has been brought to a standstill.
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Conversations: A Doctor in Jayroud
There’s a temporary ceasefire in the city, but hospital staff say they and their equipment have been moved to a government-held area. Now they tell us how it’s impacting Jayroud’s residents.
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My Syrian Diary: Part 1
As part of a collaboration between Syria Deeply and Rookie, we’re publishing the memoirs of a teenage girl living in the midst of Syria’s war.
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Local Initiatives, Including Homemade Yogurt, Tackle Rising Unemployment
As joblessness skyrockets, civilians in Damascus province are tackling the problem by spearheading small projects – from ceramic painting to schools to yogurt – which provide employment.
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Syrian Government Fights to Regain Ground in Latakia
With the National Defense Forces claiming victory in a message posted to Facebook, we look at how much of its home turf the Syrian Army has managed to reclaim since the rebel offensive began Mar. 21.
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Syria ER: Psychological State of Syrian Doctors is ‘Deteriorating’
As violence unfolds around them in makeshift hospitals near the front lines, Syrian medical staffers are increasingly prone to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental ailments.
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Children Being Detained and Tortured in Syria, Violating Legal Rights, Says UNICEF
As the number of displaced children approaches 4.5 million, we look at what their rights are, and where they’re being violated.
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Arts + Culture: Images that Show Turkey the Human Side of Syria’s War
As the number of Syrians in Turkey grows, so does prejudice towards the hundreds of thousands many Turks fear are in the country to stay. But in Istanbul, a photo exhibit sought to put a human face on the conflict.
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With Syria, 3 Years In
More than three years into Syria’s war, over 2 million Syrians have fled their country. Nearly 600,000 of them are seeking refuge in Jordan. As the world deliberates about Syria’s humanitarian crisis, what are Syrians in Jordan thinking and feeling?
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UNESCO ‘Extremely Worried in Wake of Krak des Chevaliers Takeover’
The head of its Arab States Unit says the organization has reached out to parties on all sides of the conflict.
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Will This Week’s Attacks Draw Israel into the Syrian Conflict?
After the Israeli army fires air strikes at Syrian army points over the Golan Heights cease-fire line, fears grow that the country will be pulled further into the three-year-old civil war. From Herzliya, our experts weigh in on that possibility.
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One on One: Joshua Hersh, Middle East Correspondent, Huffington Post
Just back from Damascus, Hersh discusses covering the conflict from the government perspective – the “other side” – and whether Assad’s attempt to create a pocket of normalcy in Damascus is paying off.
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Q+A: Inside the Aid Efforts of Syria’s Food Distribution Program
From Damascus, Abeer Etefa of the World Food Programme details the mechanics of food aid in Syria, from its arrival in the port of Tartous to its storage in one of five WFP centers across the country.
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Amid Conflict, More Syrian Families Battle Through Divorce
Economic hardship, displacement and trauma caused by life in a conflict zone have taken their toll on Syria’s married couples, with more battling through divorce and fewer new marriages than before the war began.
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Alternative Energy Alleviates Power Outages in Syria
With power outages occurring in cities across Syria, some civilians are finding new ways to heat and power their homes, by using the natural resources around them – and even bomb craters. We report from East Ghouta.
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Conversations: A Pharmacist in Qalamoun
Nawwar, who works with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, describes his work with the group in this mountainous region of southern Syria, where rebel fighting groups are fighting hand to hand with Hezbollah-backed government forces.
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In Barzeh, Two Versions of a Truce
A ceasefire agreement was reached on Jan. 6 in this Damascus town. But people are split on whether it’s effective. We speak with an Assad soldier and a civil activist, who share light on each side’s view of the government-negotiated truce.
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- Education
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Conversations: A Woman Fighting for Education in Latakia
Mona, a college graduate in a rebel-controlled area of Assad’s homeland, is working to get displaced students back into a classroom. But she’s facing obstacles – namely how to get a makeshift school up to international standards.
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Week in Review: A Relaunch of Syria Deeply, Marking a Grim Anniversary
This is a special week in our coverage of Syria’s crisis. In a grim anniversary, it marks the milestone of three years since the start of Syria’s uprising.
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- Education
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In Deir Ezzor, Education Continues Underground
Teachers in Deir Ezzor province have created classrooms out of cellars in an effort to protect their students from aerial shelling. Here, we tell the story of three teachers struggling to continue their students’ education as war closes in.
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Syrians Take Polio Vaccine Campaign Into Their Own Hands
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between Syria Deeply and Abu Mehdi, an activist from the city of Hama.
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One on One: Anne Barnard, Beirut Bureau Chief, The New York Times
Anne Barnard reports on Syria and Lebanon for the New York Times, and has covered stories across the Arab world and Eastern Europe.
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Alone in Moadimiya, But Vowing to Stay
Amer, a 24-year-old in Moadimiya, has vowed not to leave his hometown. But he says life in this besieged pro-opposition enclave near Damascus is getting harder.
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Week in Review: Stalled Talks and Assad’s Reelection Push a Policy Rethink
This weekend saw a breakthrough in diplomacy and practical action around Syria’s crisis, in the form of a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution on humanitarian aid.
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Neighborhood by Neighborhood, Mapping a ‘Politically Heterogenous’ Aleppo
Caerus Associates, a strategic consulting firm that focuses on fragile and conflict states, has released a set of what it calls “time-series” data collected from the streets of Aleppo.