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].
Urban activists and residents in Syria’s third-largest city say Assad’s forces have intentionally destroyed traditional buildings in the city center, but not for military reasons – the driving force is a controversial urban planning scheme called ‘Homs Dream.’
We’ve compiled our best coverage of the biggest issues in Syria this year – from safe zones and increasing foreign involvement to new avenues for pursuing justice, and the impact of Syria’s war economy.
Despite the de-escalation deal, a ban on humanitarian aid in Eastern Ghouta, where 94 percent of besieged civilians in Syria reside, has created a man-made disaster, writes Syria expert Aron Lund.
The Syrian war has transformed women’s role in the workforce, giving way to opportunities previously reserved for men. As women take on more responsibility and autonomy, for many opportunity does not mean equality.
As international powers push for a settlement for the Syrian conflict, Syria Deeply talks with AUB Senior Fellow Rami Khoury and Al-Monitor Russia Coverage editor Max Suchkov about the prospects and challenges of a peace deal.
Syrian military intelligence-run detention centers are responsible for some of the worst crimes committed by the security apparatus. Their highly bureaucratic operations, however, have helped build bodies of evidence against high-level officials.
Ayman Aldassouky Researcher at Omran for Strategic Studies
With unreliable allies and lack of experience when it comes to local power dynamics, Russia’s influence in Syria is built on fragile foundations, writes Middle East researcher Ayman Aldassouky.
During the same week the U.S. and Russia declared victory over ISIS in Syria, the militant group launched a series of surprise attacks around the country. Despite the triumphant claims of world leaders, these offensives suggest such statements are a little premature.
In Damascus, war profiteers are leveraging the scarcity of burial spots in the capital to rent out graves as one would apartments, charging as much as $1,000 per year for a plot of land.
As U.S. and Iran escalate their battle against ISIS in eastern Syria and western Iraq, no one is thinking about the fate of local communities after the militant group’s potential military defeat, writes journalist Lorenzo Trombetta.
The Syrian Female Journalists’ Network was founded to ensure better coverage of gender issues and better representation of women in newsrooms in the midst of the country’s protracted conflict. Milia Eidmouni tells News Deeply how they do it.
Farah is a young woman living in Syria’s capital city, where she faces the daily struggles of trying to maintain a normal social and professional life in a country being ripped apart by war.
Tom Fletcher Global Strategy Director, Global Business Coalition for Education
In an exclusive open letter addressed to the children of Syria, the former U.K. ambassador to Lebanon, and advisor to NGO Theirworld, Tom Fletcher, points to failures of the international community in keeping its promises to fund the education of Syrian refugees.
This is the final diary entry of Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, who recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is struggling with her first pregnancy and the potential breakup of her family.
Daniel Masterson PhD Candidate in Political Science, Yale University
In the second part of our series with the Issam Fares Institute on sustainable futures for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, researcher Daniel Masterson argues that cash aid frees refugees from dependence and enables them to become active contributors to local economies.
Sharif Nashashibi Cofounder and Chairman, Arab Media Watch
Instead of driving a wedge between regional players, the Syrian conflict’s duration and intractability has forced proxy powers to prioritize cooperation over rivalry for their wider interests, according to Middle East analyst Sharif Nashashibi.
In Syria’s besieged areas, civilians are planting their own urban gardens to make up for the lack of humanitarian aid and exorbitant cost of black-market food.
Motivated by a desire to rebuild Syria’s devastated economy, enterprising young women in the war-torn country are turning to tech to help others of their generation find employment – and better futures.
Alexandra Tohme Program Coordinator, The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies in Beirut
The impending siege of Aleppo will have horrific ramifications for Syria, the region and global security. If the current U.S. policy in Syria does not change, the war-torn country risks falling into the hands of both Assad’s regime and the Islamic State group.
Islamist groups fighting in Syria have influenced events far outside the Middle Eastern country. In the first installment of our “Experts to Watch” series, meet eight top experts who can help make sense of Syria’s Islamist groups.
An estimated 4,500 Westerners have joined ISIS so far – leaving behind devastated parents who never saw the signs of radicalization. One Canadian mother tells her story, and calls for more support for families who have lost their children to terror groups.
Nonviolent activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently discusses the gruesome and widespread torture methods used by the so-called Islamic State inside its de facto capital Raqqa in northern Syria.
Dr. Maja Janmyr Affiliated Scholar, Issam Fares Institute
In the first part of our series with the Issam Fares Institute on sustainable futures for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Dr. Maja Janmyr discusses the precarious legal situation of more than a million people in the country, which intends to make sure they don’t stay.
As Aleppo comes under siege by Syrian government forces, Syria Deeply goes inside one of the last remaining proper hospitals in the eastern opposition-held areas of the city.
In the first installment of our series on chronic illnesses in Syria, we explore how the war has left millions of Syrians unable to manage their conditions and led to severe complications and untold unnecessary deaths.
After more than five years of war, many areas of Syria have been reduced to rubble. Despite the ongoing conflict, Hisham Dirani, director of Binaa, an engineering and management NGO, discusses how the organization is spearheading rebuilding projects inside the country.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, Syria Deeply spoke to Abu Abdo, an antique shop owner in Eastern Ghouta, one of the heaviest-hit areas in the war-ravaged country, who has kept his business open in the face of the utmost adversity.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is struggling with her first pregnancy and the potential breakup of her family.
Umm Abdu abandoned her education when she got married. But after the war broke out in Syria, she fled the opposition-held neighborhoods of Aleppo for government-controlled Tartus, and devoted her life to tutoring children.
It may have been 16 years since the death of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, but his legacy still lives on in the war-torn country’s sectarian politics.
World Vision’s Lindsay Gladding discusses the everyday difficulties faced by parents as they try to raise their children in the refugee camps of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
Whether it’s with the Free Syrian Army or the pro-government National Defense Forces militia, ISIS or the Kurds, children across the war-torn country have consistently been recruited to fight in Syria’s war.
Syrian medical staff with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) discuss what it’s like working at Al Salamah hospital in the Syrian town of Azaz on the Turkish border.
Residents of Maarat al-Numan in rural Idlib have been protesting against the rule of al-Qaida’s Jabhat al-Nusra for more than 100 days – one of the longest protest campaigns since 2011.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is struggling with her first pregnancy and the potential breakup of her family.
Over the past two years, bombs and shelling have made it too dangerous for students to attend official schools in Aleppo city, so a group of volunteer teachers decided to open their own.
Natasha Hall of the Center for Civilians in Conflict discusses enhanced protection mechanisms and ways to put survival in Syria back in the hands of civilians themselves.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is struggling with her first pregnancy and the potential breakup of her family.
Mercy Corps is one of the only international humanitarian groups providing food aid to opposition-held areas of Aleppo city. Its humanitarian director for Syria, Ashley Proud, explains how it delivers aid and how it is preparing for an impending siege of Aleppo city.
For the past two years, rebels in the northern Aleppo town of Marea have repeatedly fought off attempts by the so-called Islamic State to take control of the area. Last week saw them successfully break the group’s siege and force it to withdraw.
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