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 displacement in Syria through the lens of forced evacuations, demographic shifts and the humanitarian response to the crisis.
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Muhammad Faris was the first and only Syrian to be sent into space. Selected as part of a Soviet-led mission in the 1980s, he received a hero’s welcome on his return home. But the national hero now lives as a refugee in Istanbul, forced to flee the violence in Aleppo in the first year of the uprising.
As young Syrian refugee students celebrated International Women’s Day in the Bekaa Valley this week, education advocate Nora Jumblatt highlighted the increasingly important role of women throughout the refugee community. The war in Syria, despite its chaos and sadness, she said, has given rise to a “little miracle”.
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.
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.
David Scales MD, PhD is a Third Year Internal Medicine Resident, Cambridge Health Alliance
David Scales, an American doctor, spent months working with Syrian refugee communities in Jordan. He recently returned to the country to reconnect with some of his old patients who suffer from spinal cord injuries and discusses the difficulties physically disabled Syrians face in Jordan.
For years prior to last month’s suspension of formal peace talks in Geneva, Track 2 discussions have taken place behind closed doors between parties to the Syrian crisis, experts and others. Randa Slim, a veteran of these dialogues, discusses their role in Syria as the formal peace process collapses (part 2).
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.
Since intervening militarily in Syria early last fall, Moscow has helped Bashar al-Assad shore up government control over vital parts of Syria. Middle East expert Juan Cole looks at Russian president Vladimir Putin’s major military and diplomatic successes since entering into the Syrian fray.
Manuel Langendorf Middle East Editor, Fair Observer
As winter descends upon the Middle East, neighboring countries bearing the brunt of the Syrian refugee crisis, such as Lebanon, are scrambling to put pre-emptive measures in place to ensure refugees survive freezing temperatures, despite fuel shortages and inadequate housing.
As controversy continues in the United States around the resettlement of Syrian refugees, Syria Deeply asked a former U.S. ambassador to Syria to help us make sense of the U.S.’s stance toward refugees coming from the war-torn country and whether or not increased restrictions serve American interests.
Landon Shroder Security Consultant
Instead of setting a precedent, the U.S. is falling prey to a cynical worldview that would see children as an enemy and powerless families as groups of terrorists, argues Landon Shroder.
Less than one-third of the 700,000 Syrian school-aged children who have entered Turkey over the last four years are attending school, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch over the weekend. Most students are barred from studying due to language barriers and economic hardships.
From high school golden boy to quadriplegic, from games designer to refugee, Khaldoun Sinjab has had it harder than most, but he’s not complaining. He just wants to breathe in peace.
Two Syrian refugees who attempted to swim part of the way to Europe told Syria Deeply why they made such a dangerous journey.
Syria Deeply had the rare opportunity to speak to Palestinian refugees from Syria about becoming “double refugees” as they flee the violence there and seek security in Lebanon. At least 45,000 Palestinians have arrived in Lebanon from Syria since the civil war began, according to the U.N.
Syria Deeply spoke to Syrians as refugees flee the ongoing civil war in droves with the hope of gaining asylum in Europe. Often paying smugglers their life savings, the refugees risk their lives along the way.
Syria Deeply met with Palestinian refugees from Syria displaced to difficult conditions in Lebanese camps. More than 45,000 Palestinian refugees have been displaced from their camps in Syria to neighboring Lebanon.
Peter Bouckaert
Syrian refugees have been risking life and limb to make it to Europe, and they face hostility all the way along, writes author.
President Assad’s declarations of amnesty have led to the arrest and detainment of many who accepted the offer, say activists and relatives of those now considered missing.
Mat Nashed
Nearly one in five people in Lebanon is a Syrian national – the highest refugee population per capita in the world. Struggling to cope with the weight of 1.1 million Syrian refugees, Lebanon has employed a variety of tactics to push displaced Syrians out of the country. While the government insists that these measures safeguard Lebanese citizens, there is a desperate need for a new approach that doesn’t punish Syrians for their dispossession and incite yet more anti-refugee xenophobia.
Syria Deeply had a rare opportunity to hear from Palestinians enduring violence and starvation in the Yarmouk refugee camp.
Syrian refugees document their exile in the latest installment of the Karam Foundation’s series at Syria Deeply.
Dick Simon responds to the question he was asked by Syrian refugee children in Turkey – “Why does everyone hate Syrians?”.
Mat Nashed
The European Union’s failure to provide desperate asylum seekers with legal routes leaves them with no option but to risk their lives on smugglers’ boats, writes Mat Nashed.
Syria Deeply spoke with Chris Gunness, the spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), about the ongoing struggle of Palestinian refugees in the Yarmouk refugee camp and elsewhere in Syria.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, shares her stories of life in the war. She recently moved to Damascus to continue her education, deciding to focus her college studies on prosthetics. She hopes to help heal the injured in her country’s conflict.
Syria Deeply spoke with Syrian refugees in Turkey about their concerns following that country’s recent parliamentary elections.
The ICRC’s Peter Maurer spoke to Syria Deeply about the urgent need for a political solution to end the humanitarian catastrophes plaguing Syrians.
A chronicle of one organization’s determination to bring hope and healing to Syrian refugees through innovative education.
“Many Syrians have been stuck at the borders for almost two weeks now and are suffering due to the scarcity of food and water.”.
Jan Egeland tells Syria Deeply that a real opportunity and obligation exists to pull together at an international level to change Syria’s story.
With few other options, Syrian refugees in Lebanon are forced to live as second-class citizens with ever-greater restrictions on their daily lives.
A chronicle of one organization’s determination to bring hope and healing to Syrian refugees through innovative education.
A chronicle of one organization’s determination to bring hope and healing to Syrian refugees through innovative education.
‘Syrians are using smugglers because they don’t have any other avenues to cross the Mediterranean,” Dawn Chatty tells Syria Deeply.
“We realized that running away from death in Syria could be more dangerous than staying and facing it. ” a Syrian woman tell us.
Over the past year, an increasing number of Syrians have attempted to flee to Europe, crossing the Mediterranean illegally in overcrowded boats at the mercy of smugglers.
“The trip took four days: they were the hardest days of my life; fear was our constant companion.”.
Syria Deeply met with some young Syrians who have recently made it to Europe to seek asylum.
“We face many common hardships. We have almost the same stories. We’re not entitled to work legally. It’s difficult for refugees to get work permits in Jordan. We all struggle to continue our studies. We feel like outsiders, confined by all these rules.”.
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